FFA needs to lift its game yet again

the FFA need to remove all exclusivity deals they have and allow clubs to compete with other codes for corparate $$$. if Jetstar want to sponsor SFC and they want to pay $4m a year then don't let the stupic Qantas deal get in the way. it's not hard!

Nice cliche about "no easy games once you get to any FIFA WC". Obviously the Portugal v North Korea match has slipped your mind.

Spain? Oh arse! Best of luck to the lads!

The draw for the u20 FIFA WC in Colombia has just been confirmed: Group C: Australia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Spain Looks like our lads better brush up on their Spanish swear words! A great test for the lads - no easy games once you get to any FIFA WC - and, a practical way to judge the strengths and weaknesses of The Lowy-era FFA junior technical development programme. The lads in this squad would have been 9-12 years old when Frank Lowy took charge of the FFA.

If you want to build fan bases across the a-league then we should have a level playing field.

That I agree with. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with them meeting the expectations of their market,fact is as you indicate theyve never seriously attempted to identify themselves in their market. But even if they did with a restricting salary cap they could not be what they should within that market.

Hopefully, Tony Sage can get a bunch of mates on board if that happens.......

Am I the only one who thinks the only function of a salary cap should be to prevent teams spending beyond their means? I don't buy all this, all teams should be equal commie stuff. Central Coast should try to beat us by producing youngsters and they should also build crowds who marvel at our awesomeness, but also develop a strong hatred of us. If Sydney can show they can pay wages of $10 million dollars they should be free to do so.

Trouble is, Futbanous, that Sydney have not managed to define themselves as "Bling FC" (or anything else) since that first season. If they were truly to "bring the bling", they would be using their full marquee allotment and going all out. They are not. Nor are they trying anything else to define themselves in the market. They are a rudderless ship, which is more of a problem than a salary cap. If/when they get their act together, define themselves as an entity, establish a uniform, entertaining style of football, and project and demonstrate stability in their management structures (from the boardroom right down to the boot cleaner), then they will start to regain lost ground. At the moment, even the Cove seems to be giving up a bit on Sydney FC - more a reflection on the club and how it operates than the lack of unfettered access to open markets.

But Sydney by nature of the market it operates in has to be "Bling FC". It cannot tap into the expectation of its football market if restricted by a salary cap. & not having recognised high profile players. Bring in Becks 80,000 Everton 40,000 Manu 70,000. NY Cosmos in 1979 65,000 with thousands locked out. Lukewarm World Allstars vs Socceroos 1999 88,000. The fans are there just not interested in provincial football. Fine in a provincial market like CCM or NUJ & even in Brisbane still small enough to tap into the psyche of us vs them. But in Sydney you need more. You need bling in spadefuls. Its football market fractured though it may be is probably larger than the entire population of the Central Coast. To not recognise how to tap into it & take practical steps to do so is negligent if you want the A-League to keep taking a step forward.

I think the FFA is doing OK. Just the government getting tight with their money - that's all.

I think the bigger problem for Sydney is that it hasn't figured out how to manage the expectations of the fans since their inaugural season as "Bling FC". They came in and everyone was spouting all that Bling rubbish, which falsely raised the expectations of fans. Since then, and with a club culture that is evidently sick, they have been unable to replicate that success. They do not seem to have a clear philosophy or guiding notion of who they are as a club, and that is evident in the high turnover of coaches and CEOs. Basically, they appoint someone and assume that he is going to be the messiah (in both roles), and when it turns out that person is not a miracle worker, they sack him and get some other "silver bullet" in to stop the rot. I completely disagree with the argument that Sydney FC suffers more than the other teams in terms of the salary cap and its effect. The problem is the Sydney FC board of directors and their lack of vision and patience to see that vision realised in the median to long term.

I see your point regarding sydney, but the obvious flip side is that all other teams suffer. The fact that two teams that both don't have marquees, barely fill the salary cap and have underpaid coaches can both go to the grand final is a great feather the in cap for our league. In regards to the Sydney problem i think that will somewhat be rectified with a new team in Sydney sometime down the track in the west. Both teams being on equal par with all other teams is the best we can hope for.

that last line of yours is probably true, but i wonder if maybe the game wld do well regardless of Sydney teams? Newcastle and CCm and Gong cld still get 8-12K averages; brissy, adeliade, perth and MV teams wld be unaffected.

A. They're all in the Foxtel Cup, so they're at least part of the way there. B. Adelaide United put a frission through the ACL system. E. They're more likely to make a longer format generate the funds than a short format...

" So for example a lot of people involved in the a-league would like to see a more european free market structure for the a-league. IMO this would lead it right to its death" The sort of nuts & bolts debate on football that is imperative & still placed in the too hard basket. A difficult area in an expanding league. If we take Europe as an example generally the larger teams are in the more prosperous larger cities. This reflects the power base from both a population & financial perspective. This evolved over a few generations. We are trying to create a league that is the opposite of European leagues & what has occurred from their evolution. Ie every team is equal regardless of city size, influence, image, financial clout. If the A-League was allowed to follow its natural path ie no salary cap,let the market decide,Sydney,Melbourne the capital cities would be dominant,we could argue that case. Because unlike Europe their is a small population & it is also fragmented in terms of sporting interest Hence the need for fiscal responsibility to make sure that a say 14 team A-League is eventually acheived & is viable. However this poses difficulties in cities like Sydney being able to provide a football team that is compatible with football fans expectations in a world renowned cosmopolitian city. So far SFC has failed to capture the imagination of that Cities football fans & personally I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the salary cap which drags Sydney back to the level of a provincial town. Much like ManU being forced to operate under the same budget as Bolton. The difference being that Manu earned its stripes,Sydney will never be able too whilst we have a salary cap under the present conditions. How do you fix it given the short life of a league still finding its legs. Personally I dont profess to have an easy answer,but as nobody ever really discusses such issues we'll never be able to nut it out. I do know one thing though & its a certainty. That is that unless its fixed(Ie accepting that all men are not created equal) Sydney will slowly be strangled by mediocrity & that would be tragic for the long term future of the A-League.

A What are the average crowds for Claremont FC, North Ballarat FC, East Perth, Swan, Clarence etc? Could they even afford the travel expenses in a national comp? B. How many australian teams have even done well in the ACL? Seems to me the marquee spots have not done that much good. E If they can make it work financially then fine, that remains to be seen

Hell with Gold Coast and SFC, how about perennial management basket case Perth? Really hoping that review sticks.

A. Because no one goes to watch Colchester or Crystal City? Or dare I say it, Claremont FC, North Ballarat FC, East Perth, Swan, Clarence etc? B. A flexible system of options that clubs can work with, more like it. Which also gives a chance for clubs to be competitive in the international club scene. E. Thats an issue with reworking home ground agreements or stumping up for loans to develop alternatives, not a reason to shoot the A-League's own foot off. Games are the lifeblood of leagues. If the AFL or NRL thought they could safely (or without getting shafted by Cricket Australia) stage more, they would.

–> The FFA are not implementing a B-League I know this but there are certain fans out there who would like this, even the AFC. All i'm saying is we should stay away from this idea permanently. Teams who have been relegated would have their supporter base diminish rapidly creating a financial doom loop where teams would have to cut budgets etc and not be competitive. –> Explain how the FFA is NOT trying to make the A-League as egalitarian as possible It introduced a second marquee position for teams, which is unrestricted by the salary cap. Not to mention a junior marquee. Only two teams took up the option of having two marquee players. IMO we should have only one marquee player and every other player should be contained within a salary cap so every team has a chance of winning the championship. –> Why change the Beautiful Game when it’s just that; Beautiful. If you think it’s football is about “boring tactical play” you obviously don’t understand it and hence cannot enjoy it as much. I agree we shouldn't follow an AFL path on this, however i do enjoy more attacking football, as do most people. In fact i enjoyed watching brisbane far more than my team melbourne last year. We should look at ways to incentivise this more. –> NZ Knights were teething issues in a BRAND NEW competition. NQF was unfortunately a pawn in a failed WC Bid. I didn't argue that we shouldn't expand and i'm not having a go at the FFA for trying. Expansion for our code will always be a hit and miss scenario until we get it right. For what it's worth I think that gold coast will go and we will then expand to western sydney, canberra/tasmania and then christchurch. This will round out a 12 team comp. --> 22 games a season are not enough in the world of Football Maybe not, but it might be all we can afford right now considering the stadiums resources we need to rent. More off-season hype? From my experience absence makes the heart grow fonder, i'm already looking forward to the new a-league season. A longer off season will increase that. However, i'm just looking at the positives if we do in fact need to go to a shorter season.