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So the wily Bernie Mandic has once again proved his worth by single-handedly bringing a brand new club into play for his star player, Harry Kewell.
“If the best stadium deal is in Brisbane, then why wouldn’t he go to Brisbane? Stadium deals make or break this deal,” Mandic said on Melbourne’s SEN radio station yesterday.
“What would be wrong with Suncorp (Stadium)?
“They’ve got a sensational team, a team that plays probably the best brand of football in the country, they’ve got a great coach who’s earned his stripes in Europe. They’ve got a stadium which is waiting to be filled.”
Fair play to Bernie, this really is THE story in Australian club football at the moment, and for the media, it remains the gift that keeps on giving.
The possible arrival of Socceroo star Harry Kewell has tongues wagging so much even Eddie McGuire felt the need to pre-maturely declare on national radio the 32-year-old had signed for the Victory on Monday morning.
Yet while in many quarters Kewell’s signing is seen as the missing piece of the puzzle, a one-man mission that will save the competition’s precarious financial health, the idea of a deal with the Roar has me concerned.
The A-League champions remain under Football Federation Australia ownership and the thought of the peak body backing a mega deal to acquire Harry Kewell at the same time as the rest of the league bleeds money thanks to a disproportionate allowance from FFA, strikes me as wrong.
Furthermore, the very integrity of the competition is put at stake if the same organization who runs the competition, also funds and helps decide which club gets to sign the biggest player the A-League has ever seen.
I have my doubts on whether Kewell will end up in Brisbane, but if the A-League champions do make an FFA backed play for him, then the details deserve extensive scrutiny.
No doubt, there are some aggrieved football fans in Far North Queensland in particular who’ll be concerned to see FFA handing off the money their now defunct club so desperately needed, to one man.
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