Is the Bundesliga a model for the A-League?

There's a difference between a 'club' as a independantly run club such as an AFL member owned one - - but, when talking about privately owned franchises with a bunch of business folk - - and thus far, most those involved are rather more broad minded (sports wise) than soccer only - - - surely it risks discouraging involvement. Really - - in that environment - - the 'club' is a fairly intangible notion (I guess, the NBL shows how much.).

I just did a wiki check on game attendances. I'd say things are looking up when you consider that only 2 AFL matches managed to pull more people than the Melb V Adel game yesterday. A bit of interesting reading actually. I checked all the AFL crowds from march onwards. A Footbal ( soccer ) match in melbourne is a far better investment than an AFL game in Brisbane. It's hard to say if people are staying home more now with the likes of extra TV stations, movie downloads and what have you or the culture is changing slightly. The AFL model wev'e held in such high esteem for years, i'd say is not all that it's cracked up to be. Maybe people have become more selective. It's hard to say. And of course population comes into it. The more options people are given, the more thinly spread they become. With football being a world game, it's getting easier to see it being the dominant Australian sport in the near future.

I believe that a general salary cap is needed to remain until at least the league has reached maturity. In the interim I believe that the marquee positions should be expanded to three- an attacking, midfield and defensive/goalie slot so that teams can build themselves a spine- these positions should be open to all marquee quality players (with the under 23 spots increased to 3 as well). We can see with a team like the Roar, with Craig Moore as marquee, that the lack of finishing from having not enough cash for a top-drawer striker after fitting both Danny Tiatto & Charlie Miller under the cap is telling. So you have a team with a great defensive record that creates a lot of chances but can't score! Likewise with the Fury shooting their wad over Robbie Fowler, who is going to get the ball consistently too him with the sort of service he needs? Could he end up like Dwight Yorke- forced back into midfield to utilise superior technique and passing learned in Europe to the benefit of the team, but not for fans who buy season tickets to see them bang it in regularly. Also in the case of the Roar, it has been great to watch young defenders like Luke DeVere come on under Moore's tutelage, and having an experienced player of that quality in each third of the pitch would rapidly lift the overall quality of the squad. A few thoughts... Off topic but related to the general discussion, this is what I think the ultimate structure should be for an Australian League system: 12- 16 clubs in the A-league with a similar sized Second Division with play-off promotions into the State Leagues to provide a pathway. Once the A-league has finished expanding, (FIFA recommend 16 teams as ideal- 30 rounds + easy divisibility for Cup draws etc), A second tier could be established, with a five year license guarantee for all franchises in each league (i.e. no promotion or relegation in this period), after which the system allows promotion/relegation. A condition of promotion is that the incoming club should demonstrate that they have the finances in place to meet the minimum requirements of the next level (especially for State League clubs vying to get into the Second tier)- failure to meet this within certain timeframe would mean that the place defaults to the next-best playoff position that can meet the requirements.

I find it hard to see how scrapping the salary cap will help the league. The A-League will (most likely) never have the money in it that the J-League, K-League or Chinese Super League does. Those countries all have bigger populations hence more money. Successful clubs already get rewarded (more fans, bigger sponsors always flock to winning clubs). Could Victory spend more money? Maybe. But the fact is we only lost Ryall and Theo who were first teamers last year and we're still under the salary cap. Clubs have to become smarter about how they sell their club to players. If it's only about wages some players will leave (i.e. Santalab) but if they want to win things, live in a fantastic country and be in front of the national team coach week in, week out then the A-League is the place to be. Australia will always lose players o/s and sometimes they'll be average ones like Santalab. But as A-League clubs get smarter and sell players for what they're worth rather than what other clubs want to pay they'll get money to spend on new players. Fury's first preseason has been a strange one regarding players leaving but in the end Fowler for North and Williams for Santalab have been wins. If this Argentine is better than Felipe then in the end Fury have done ok. They'll get better at working with player contracts as they get older. One thing that would help the league is to have more marquee spots. A general marquee (like we have now), an Aussie marquee (to attract Socceroos back and blokes like Joel Porter etc), make an Asian foreign player spot (even a marquee Asian spot). Stuff like that will mean clubs with more money can spend a bit more and should help keep players in Australia too. If Newcastle could have a general marquee and an Aussie marquee they probably could lure Joel Griffiths back and keep Vignaroli. Plus another marquee spot means more room in the cap too.

I've often iterated that Asian clubs taking our players is a good thing. Through engaging with Asia we have an extra avenue available to us for professional development making football a more attractive option for young athletes. Aspects of the Bundesliga model would only enhance this attractiveness, rather than run as a counter to Asia. Hence it is primarily a supply side issue. An interesting aside is the European visa issue. How many of our current players overseas are doing so primarily as a grandparent came from Europe and hence they can more easily work within the confines of the EU? This avenue for middling footballers will steadily reduce as our demographics change. This won't make a difference for the Djite's, Troisi's, Spiranovic's of this world who have talent to burn however for a great many others it will. As the East Asian region experiences further integration over the coming decades I'd expect it will become easier and easier for Australian's to ply their trade in Asia.

Meh. its only Santalab, wish they took Robinson also. It's a good idea to restrict the salary to a percentage of your turn over but I don't want Melbourne wining the comp every year, I'd simply lose interest. Lets face it, no other city supports their teams like Melbourne so it would be a hard road for for the likes of regional placed teams, sure they might make a profit but you'd have to wait for that one special year when a certain group of nobody's boldly challenged for the premier's plate for the club to raise it's turn over to pay them a bit more, but the bigger clubs would still have more money to swoop and steal any players of promise relegating the regional club to start from scratch and rebuild the playing stocks. An this system would not guarantee Asian clubs won't continue taking our players. On that, if the player has ambitions on national football, let them go to stronger leagues. Jesse, That's the base of your argument for Lucas Neil to remain in England.

I see your logic Gaz but then we'd end up like the Scottish 12 or so teams but the same clubs fighting to win the comp each year.

seconded

well if you boys are ever in Phnom Penh we'll meet for a cold beer at The Gym. Pip should be at home as the only other A-League member I know of here is a Victory man.

the idea sounds great. and the bundesliga is a fantastic model to work from. but untill the ffa loosens it's grip on commercial arrangments, namely the overly healthy, almost complete percentage they take from merch sales, i fail to see the clubs being able to survive under this type of system. while other commercial sponsorships supply clubs with great amounts of revenue, merch sales are the sweetest nut of all for the vast majority of clubs. so untill a-league clubs can control and actually profit from sales of their own merch, from their own websites no less, without the ffa taking the lions share, most clubs wont be able to compete anywhere.

The clubs that financially fail are often those that overspend. It's more likely Newcastle,Adelaide,Brisbane, Fury ,and CCM would survive by having to run a tight budget ,than the big spenders that underacheive. There can only be one winner. At this stage of the A leagues development,tired old big name footballers can be 'marque' players.This will change.The time will come when twenty year olds who can play every week of the season ,injury free, provide the razzle dazzle. I don't have a firm opinion on the salary cap. I struggle with it. I do know Mr Lowry sunk many millions into Sydney to keep it afloat,and the owner of Newcastle has put quite a few million dollars into his team. It's a slog.

Erm, no... And yes that is Voronin. Read the caption mate!

Midfielder, yep, it was in the Daily Telegraph "Main Game" lift-out... ~~~~~~~~ KB

Jesse, I just turned to your article on TWG and you have indeed put up a strong argument for loosening up the salary cap ... I totally agree ... the Arabs quest for ACL supremacy, participation, have raised the stakes ... Isn't it fantastic ...? ~~~~~~~ KB

Naah - if you're gonna be a drama queen - stay away!!! :)

We are not a buying league we are a selling league. We should be aiming at producing better players for A) Help the national team B) Increase Revenue from the sale of players C) Increase the standard of the league Raising the cap beyond a certain point will just inflate prices same with you're turnover idea. If we continuely produce better prices will raise with the quality.

Millster, great to have you back lad... ;) ~~~~~~~~~ KB

Milly Come out of excile I am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQ2ezMpO0g

I'm just commenting to acknowledge the Coodabeens Champions reference. Yeah. Love the Coodabeens.

Coming out from my self-imposed ROAR exile just for one minute to tell you Jesse that if I could grab you I'd kiss you right on your ugly scone for writing this article. To me the only positive thing one can write about salary caps is that they are a necessary evil. And that means of course that I feel they should be used as minimilistically as possible given a code's overall circumstances.