Melbourne Heart chairman Peter Sidwell has pledged his club is in the A-League for the long haul and believes the competition is in much better health than many think.
Of the four planned expansion clubs, the Heart are one of two remaining after the death of North Queensland Fury and the failure of Sydney Rovers to get off the ground.
The other expansion club is Gold Coast – struggling with crowd numbers and general disinterest.
The Heart attracted an average crowd of more than 8,000 in their debut season, but Sidwell has still had to pump millions of dollars into the club without return to get it up and running.
But he is confident the Heart will do better when the new season kicks off in October.
Sidwell has put the football department on notice – he’ll be disappointed if the Heart don’t make the finals.
“The first year is always a learning experience and a pretty vertical one at that,” said Sidwell, a businessman with a diverse range of financial interests including thoroughbred racing and winemaking.
“But I think we got through it reasonably. Our on-field performance didn’t get us in the finals last year, but we did do the things we said we were going to do on the field and off the field.
“This year, given we’ve got that experience under our belt and we don’t have to do the set-up activities we had to do in our first year, we’re in much better shape.”
Memberships have just gone on sale for the Heart, in the A-League’s only two-team city alongside the Melbourne Victory – which has a much bigger supporter base.
Sidwell is pinning his hopes on the Heart’s two-pronged pledge of attacking football and nurturing local talent to attract further support.
Sidwell is confident the A-League will also deliver better results this season after last season’s problems with financially stricken clubs and ridiculous fixturing.
“There’s a fair few nay-sayers out there, but other competitions that are often cited against the A-League have hundreds of years of background,” he added.
“This competition was started six years ago … I think the shape and the form we’re in on and off the field is as good as one could expect.
“The turnover and the fan support is growing, the quality of the game is as good as we’ve ever seen.
“Have a look around both this city and other cities, the announcements that are being made, I think the game’s in good shape.
“Those who are close to the game can see a real future for it.”
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