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In many respects this is the most important off-season in the history of the A-League.
A new club will settle in a vital expansion region and several owners and league officials are smoking a peace pipe instead of shooting from the hip.
The gun slingers have either been run out of town or have decided to work together.
In the past, important issues have been lost in a haze of chaos, but this winter looks like being different.
Real issues are starting to be discussed and one of them has to do with two words that have quickly become dirty.
“Discretionary spend” seems laughable when you consider the poor financial position of most clubs.
Marquee players, once the must have item, are now being shunned.
Many chief executives will spend the off-season finding ways to fit their current star players, who at the moment sit outside of the salary cap, within the boundaries set by head office.
There’s no doubt success can be achieved with financial muscle, but if flexing leads to financial instability then it’s hardly worth it.
When Dwight Yorke hit the harbour city plenty of football fans were quick to bat their eyelids at the former Manchester United star.
It was new, exciting and slightly inconceivable.
Northern Spirit, which played in front of paltry crowds at Pittwater Rugby park in the dying days of the NSL, grabbed one of the great strikers in the history of the game, convincing him to pull on a sky-blue jersey at the Sydney Football Stadium.
His presence was arguably exactly what the competition needed at the time.
It gave Sydney, and by extension the competition, space in the media and credibility to hang its hat on.
Measure his impact against the arrival of Robbie Fowler. By the time the Liverpool legend arrived at the North Queensland Fury the football public was more educated.
They realised Fowler may not have even been the best player at the Fury and later the Glory. Just how much bang those two clubs got for their buck is debatable.
At the same time an appreciation was developed for the skills of the local product. Fans needed dessert for dinner in season once, but over time those same supporters became content with meat and three veg.
That isn’t to say clubs shouldn’t chase foreign players. They just need to fall within the salary cap.
That attitude will carry over to the new Sydney club.
Don’t expect the West Sydney side to have a marquee man. Officials are all too aware big names come and go, but fans need to feel connected to the playing group.
Head office is also desperate to show financial stability can be achieved if their blue print is followed. In essence, they hope the newest member of the competition can be an example to its older siblings.
A marquee, for now, doesn’t fit with that line of thinking.
There’ll hopefully come a time when clubs can splash out on a big name again.
But for now it needs to be back to basics on the balance sheet.
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