The door may still be open for axed club North Queensland’s A-League return but Fury boss Rabieh Krayem is unsure whether it will be in his lifetime.
Krayem believes Football Federation Australia’s decision to dump the Fury on Tuesday after just two seasons is a “travesty” for the game’s development in the region.
Floods and cyclones may not have deterred the Fury but it seems nothing could prepare them for their A-League axing.
Despite meetings with potential investors being postponed by heavy flooding and Cyclone Yasi, the Fury believed they had done enough to secure a one-year conditional licence and fully implement their well received community ownership plan.
But FFA boss Ben Buckley told the Fury they were “too big of a financial risk” to prop up in 2011-12.
“It’s a sad day and a very emotional day for football fans in regional Queensland,” Krayem told AAP.
“My kids play it (soccer) and I have to go home tonight and tell them that there is no Fury – that is probably going to be one of the hardest things to do.”
Krayem later told Fox Sports: “There’s been a significant investment in the game up here and this isn’t going to help it.
“I think it’s a travesty.”
A-League boss Lyall Gorman – who arrived in Townsville with Buckley to deliver the bad news – kept his fingers crossed for a Fury return.
“The goal has been to give every amount of oxygen possible to maintain the Fury, but it hasn’t been able to be achieved at this point in time,” he said.
“The door’s not closed for the future.
“But we have to get on with the business of running our domestic competition.
“We have an obligation to our clubs and stakeholders to move forward.”
If the Fury return, it won’t be under Krayem’s guidance.
“For me I have had my time in football,” he said.
“I’ve got no doubt a team could or would be successful here.
“Whether that happens in my lifetime or not I am not really sure.
While Buckley agreed the Fury’s demise marked a “sad day”, he hinted at happier times ahead with the looming unveiling of their strategic review after receiving feedback on how to boost the A-League.
“We are about growth still,” Buckley said.
“We strongly believe in the future of the A-League through a strategic review.
“We will be announcing a blueprint next week for the future growth of football in this country, in particular the A-League.”
Fox Sports commentator Andy Harper believed the FFA had more questions to answer about the Fury’s demise.
“We need to know why we went there in the first place if the whole thing was so precarious,” Harper told Fox Sports.
“When you look at the numbers involved that ($2 million shortfall) must be two, two-and-a-half per cent of the FFA’s business.
“In the scheme of things it doesn’t seem a lot of money, particularly when you consider how much money has been invested to get to this point.”
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