The $8 million funding scheme for the new Western Sydney franchise to join the A-League competition came rather out of the blue. There are still many unanswered questions, which could threaten the life of this club before it has even begun.
Firstly, the ‘code wars’ of the west could be a major preventative factor to create a fan-base and get settled in the area.
NRL CEO David Gallop remains confident that the west suburbs are a solid NRL stomping ground when threats from the AFL came pouring in.
Now that the GWS squad has been established and minimal crowds are in attendance to their matches, the most recent being 8603, where does the new A-League squad expect to be forming a fan-base?
If it is asking to split the fans of Sydney FC, who only receive an average of just over 14,000 per game, they are going to have to find new means of gaining a crowd.
On a similar subject, how is the club going to fair against sides which have been settled since the A-League’s establishment?
It takes time to build a team, relationships, tactics and most importantly a sense of ‘professionalism’ that comes with competing in Australia’s elite football competition.
Given that this new squad has roughly five to six months to find some shape, it seems quite unrealistic that they could compete with the likes of Brisbane, the Central Coast and Melbourne.
It could be an idea, much like the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL, to establish a club, before waiting it out to get comfortable.
Theoretically this enables an easy transition into the competition, but then again, it hasn’t really helped them.
With the club currently adamant that a marquee signing is neither necessary nor required for its establishment, where will the club source their squad and receive the depth a marquee signing will grant them?
Also, how are they certain they will not just rise and fall, much like the North Queensland Fury, which lasted only two years in the competition?
Even with a godsend – albeit an aged one – such as Robbie Fowler and a fiery inception they failed to provide any real competition.
The question could be asked that they might not want to replicate the Fury’s idea of signing a marquee player and suffer the same fate.
Furthermore, where is the new club expecting to source a rich businessman from to support the club?
Central Coast has John Singleton, Perth Glory has Tony Sage, Newcastle Jets have Nathan Tinkler and the Gold Coast has Clive Palmer.
It is widely agreed that these figures can cause some harm – Nathan Tinkler is currently holding the Jets’ fate on his shoulders – but these moguls are what keeps these clubs in the competition.
Even though the FFA is yet to finalise whether Gold Coast will be in the A-League next season, they have Clive Palmer’s backing.
Tony Popovic’s appointment as inaugural coach was surprising, but was a positive move for the new club.
Popovic can provide depth to the squad, having finished his career with Sydney FC.
He also has some experience through his small stay as assistant manager of Crystal Palace.
Who knows, maybe Tony can keep a strong connection and loan out up-and-coming players through Crystal Palace?
By all means, I am not totally against establishing a football team in the west and I wish them all the best.
But there are many doubts surrounding the decision to enter the team immediately into A-League for the upcoming season.
jbinnie
Guest
Midfielder, Thanks for the link, have just read it and one thing has me worried, What the hell is an "elite club",who decides what an "elite club is" & who helps little "johnny Smith",who happens to play with a NON "elite club", develop his talents???. It's that word "elite" I cannot accept,for, from all the info I have gleaned from junior,shools, & local soccer officials we have had an 'elite" squad of young players for the last 5 years & despite millions of dollars being spent have yet to see the results at playing level in international football. Any reasons for this sad state of affairs????.jb
jbinnie
Guest
Kasey - Good thought. Just averaging out that $2.6 mill across a squad of 23 gives an annual salary to each player of $113,000 per season & if anyone thinks that is a good salary for an HAL player these days they are deluding themselves.OK a marquee player can be excluded from that calculation but with the success over the last 2 years of CCM & Roar ,without a marquee, maybe this is no longer a priority, so TP is still left with a problem.Maybe with his contacts & reputation he can lure some class to the side without going "over the top" financially but in that we can only hope. jb
The Cattery
Roar Guru
He can realistically go with 18 senior players (with experience) and fill the rest of the roster with local youth players. Will they have a youth team?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
jb this article from Michale Cockerill, dated 4 April http://www.hillsnews.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/new-aleague-team-for-western-sydney/2511685.aspx says: "A $4 million windfall from a federal government keen to shore up its vote in one of its traditional heartlands has paved the way for a western Sydney team to join the A-League next season. Prime Minister Julia Gillard will announce the funding at a Cabinet meeting to be held in Parramatta early this afternoon, and after at least three failed attempts to create a second Sydney team Football Federation Australia has decided to take the leap of faith. The government funding will be augmented by FFA reserves, a television dividend and a blue chip sponsor to give the new team start-up capital of around $6-7 million, and it's now a race against time to create the club with just seven months until the start of next season." Anyway, in our earlier discussions on the new club, I had it in my head that funding for the first year of operation was guaranteed, so that's sort of where I was coming from, that it didn't have to be successful on and off the field from the first minute, it had a year of grace to set itself up for the long term.
Midfielder
Guest
FRom FFA today... FFA releases outcomes of National Competitions Review http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news-display/ffa-releases-outcomes-of-national-competitions-review/47422 The link also takes you to the report..
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Raghu I've taken it directly from the budget papers, so I'm not sure how you are concluding that it's "not from govt". jb that's all the budget paper said, but I'm pretty sure when the new club was first mooted, it was reported that there was funding from Government that had been promised, so I've concluded that this must be it.
jbinnie
Guest
mato - You are aware there is a salary cap in place or are you suggesting that ruling does not apply to an FFA backed entity? From the names you mention I reckon the procurement of Neill,Chipperfield, Kewell,Garcia,Culina,Flores & Hernadez (2 foreigners)would send the club into administration in the first year so I think you can realistically leave them out of immediate contention. No one is suggesting there are not players out there but you seem to ignore that there are other coaches & foreign scouts (with money) also acting in the same market place. Time is the main problem for TP, so also is the size of his budget to acquire players, so we don't really know how far his dollar will stretch,do we?. We can but hope he can overcome these not inconsiderable barriers. jb
jbinnie
Guest
Cat - thanks for the info but to be honest your arithmetic still has me slightly confused. As I said to you I thought the original grant was for $8mill. so I got that right, but in the articles written at the time it mentioned the re-work at Parklea and the Women's league but nowhere did I read that the remaining $4 mill was to be spent on an HAL venture, but I grant you , it did say it was for the overall development of football in the area. If you are right I'm just a bit worried it could be a stumbling block in trying to unite "the tribes" behind the new franchise, especially if they, "the tribes", feel,as clubs, they should be entitled to a share of any monies being granted for developing the game at their level. Get my point? jb
Kasey
Guest
Of course. with a global marketplace for footballers, Poppa was bound to be inundated with options. He has the dual problem of finding AND choosing. He only has 23 spots on his roster to fill and only 2.6 million in the salary cap to spend. Its going to be yet another interesting off season for football fans as we watch this team take shape.
Futbanous
Guest
Looks like Poppas biggest problem is choosing rather than finding.
Mato-Bateman
Guest
Their going to have no problem finding a team. Here is a list of players they could realistically make a move for. Ante Covic, Jerrad Tyson, Lucas Neill, Michael Beauchamp, Harry Kewell, Scott Chipperfield, Richard Garcia, Alex Terra, Ante Tomic, Shannon Cole, Jamie Coyne, Chris Coyne, Josh Mitchell, Reece Crowther, Jason Culina, Marcos Flores, Tarek Elrich, Jimmy Downey, Adam D'Apuzzo, Daniel, Brendan Gan, Luka Glavas, Adam Griffiths, Brent Griffiths, Carlos Hernanadez, Todd Howarth, Kamal Ibrahim, Vedran Janjetovic, Francis Jeffers, Sean Rooney, Dylan McGowan, Dylan Macallister, Matthew Lewis, Peter Jungschlager, Matthew Mayora, Trent McClenahan, Brad McDonald, Tahj Minniecon, Issey Nakajima-Farran, Matthew Nash, Panny Nikas, Tolgay Ozbey, Kaz Patafta, Chris Payne, Joel Porter, Liam Reddy, Kliment Tasevski, Chris Tadrosse, Milan Susak, Alex Smith, Mario Simic, Daniel Severino, Kristian Sarkies, Ante Rozic, Jacob Timpano, Nikolas Tsattalios, Ben Vidaic, Kasey Wehrman, Rutger Worm, Robert Younis, Mitch Bevan, Daniel Bragg, Ben Wearing, Mitch Cooper. Almost all of these players have had A-League experience and a few of them are playing in Asia (Neill, A.Griffiths, Gan, Rooney, Ozbey etc). PLus take into the account of amount of talent in the NSWPL, some on this list already ply their trade there, Poppa shouldn't have too much of a problem BUT time is running out. Any word on Jason Culina's injury ?
Raghu
Guest
The 5 mil for the new club in not from govt. It is FFA's own fund. They are using up last year's emergency fund.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
jb I did an article on sports funding in the 2012-13 budget only 9 days ago, this is what I got out fo the budget papers: Football in Western Sydney – contribution $8.0 million in 2011-12 to support football in Western Sydney including $5.0 million to the FFA (which includes $1.0 million for the W-League); and $3.0 million to Football New South Wales towards the redevelopment of its headquarters at Parklea. So of the $8 million, $5 million goes to the FFA, of which $1 million is for the W-League, leaving $4 million, which I presume, is to fund the new club.
j binnie
Guest
TC - How sure are you that the FFA received $5 mill. to fund this new franchise?. I thought the grant was awarded for the furthering of football in the ares and from the press reports that involved the upgrading of facilities for participants in the area.ie junior and youth football etc. I also thought the grant was for $8mill ,but maybe I have been mis-informed. Can you clarify my thinking. Thanks jb
Zach.WB
Roar Rookie
I'm not predicting the future here mate, it is simply a question on how they will fair in terms of pulling a crowd and their ability to maintain it. Only time will tell, and where did you pull that statistic from??
The Cattery
Roar Guru
JR I'm pretty sure I heard Buckley say that they are following the AFL model, i.e. fund the set up, and then transfer ownership to the members. The FFA is ok for the first season because they received a $5 million grant to fund the new club. In the second year, I guess they're banking on the TV rights being large enough that they can transfer the club to the members.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
This is the most fascinating part of the formation of the club as an outsider. What sort of ownership structure are they going to go with? A private owner uses their own funds, but also brings in a massive ego and an expectation of an element of control over not just the club, but how the league is run. A member based club gives supporters a feeling of ownership themselves, but it means that there is no sugar daddy with the fat wallet, and the FFA needs to cough up with money generated by other clubs. Given they're all privately owned, how long are those clubs going to be happy to see their money propping up a competitor? Possibly not that long given all those clubs have money problems of their own. It's a fine balance - but once you've gone down the privately owned path it's incredibly hard to just convert to a community based model.
jamesb
Guest
"Furthermore, where is the new club expecting to source a rich businessman from to support the club?" Hey Zach.WB when you consider whats happened with Clive Palmer, I would've thought the FFA would look at other ways for A-League clubs to be supported. If the Tv rights deal comes through, hopefully it covers the salary cap, and I hope the FFA really try to make sure in the future that every club is owned by the community via a community ownership model.
Midfielder
Guest
Titus What I said was the people around the areas around Ryde ... i.e Eastwood, Epping, Meadowbank, etc can travel to Parramatta and it is a huge football area... Gladsville Hornsby is the Football Association that takes in this area ... the association sponsor a state level two team called Gladsville Spirit... meaning I am showing there is a huge football community and support in areas to the immediate east of Parramatta ..... further the area also has a strong RL link and most around Ryde used to support Balmain ... I never suggested that Balmain nor Gladsville were part of WS...
Titus
Guest
Bit of a stretch to include places like Balmain and Gladesville in Western Sydney.