Amid the euphoria of what been a quite remarkable season in terms of attendance, TV viewership, awareness and fan engagement, the A-League and its administrators must continue to make sound decisions, keeping its fans at the core.
David Gallop says the league is currently in an execution phase, and there’s no doubt the success of the arrival or Alessandro Del Piero and the Western Sydney Wanderers has given the FFA a massive leg-up on the road to sustainability.
But it’s a road likely to be full of obstacles, and Gallop and his team must continue to watch their speed and execute well.
The five months between May and October this year will be critical, and the FFA will do well not to get too far ahead of itself.
12 months ago all the focus was on the issues surrounding the likes of Clive Palmer, Nathan Tinkler and quite a few more.
Disgruntled stakeholders across club-land, struggling to see any light, were lining up to take pot shots at then-CEO Ben Buckley and his team.
After the failed push into Queensland, the sense of distrust between head office and the game’s stakeholders could be felt across the country.
Such was the tension after Gold Coast United were axed that Frank Lowy was moved to set up a joint A-League strategic committee (JALSC) to give club owners a greater voice and stake in the strategic direction of the game.
It’s now history that the Wanderers were born out of the shipwreck that was Clive Palmer’s A-League toy, while the mining magnate moved on to start building a real-life Titanic.
Neither the FFA nor Palmer will want their new toys to sink.
Certainly, in order to capitalise on the success that has been the Wanderers’ inaugural season, the FFA will need to ensure it continues to look after the growing band of fans that have instantly identified with the club.
It’s as engaged an audience as you will find anywhere, but it remains a young one, and the FFA should never take their engagement for granted.
If they can learn anything from the history of their cross town rivals, Sydney FC, they should go back to the end of season one, where fans suffered due to the debt the club had racked up in the opening season, as well as the boardroom rumblings.
Up went the ticket prices, in came a manager, in Terry Butcher, from a bygone era, and out went the bling, as well as much of the interest.
It’s only this season, with Del Piero in town, and the Wanderers flying out west, that Sydney, the city, has rediscovered the A-League.
But bubbling away under the surface remain a number of key issues that need to be given the appropriate due diligence ahead of next season.
Primarily they come back to two key objectives, ensuring the sustainability of each competing club and finding the right balance on their relations with fans.
Only yesterday there was another report from The Australian’s football scribe Ray Gatt about the Central Coast Mariners missing their fortnightly player and staff payments last week.
Elsewhere, there remain a couple of issues between club owners and the tax office, as well as the need to find more investment at a number of clubs.
On the fan engagement front, the FFA have come a long way since the feisty days of the fan-led forums, but there remains a level of distrust between the active support groups and the FFA’s security consultant, Hatamoto.
The FFA has to find the right balance between giving fans enough rope to generate the wonderful active support that has turned heads and won hearts across the country, and ensuring this active support doesn’t spill over into anything sinister.
Certainly, the experience that the league’s new head of operations, Russell Sargent, had in America with the MLS over the past decade should help on this front.
It’s all a fine balancing act, but if the FFA had done anything right over the past 12 or so month, it has been to engage its fans and stakeholders, and, more importantly, listen.
This is where the upcoming off-season remains crucial to the execution of its long term strategy.
With free-to-air TV likely to expose the A-League to even more people next season, it’s important any lingering issues are confronted and addressed, and their ‘product’ showcases well.
What the FFA can’t afford to do is turn a blind eye to any issue.
Other codes across Australia are discovering this eventually catches up with you.
Certainly the extra dollars from the new TV deal will help, but they must be invested wisely to ensure the game is in a position to capitalise in three or four years, at the point of the next TV deal.
For example, on the field the FFA must continue to build upon the marquee impact of this season, constantly striving for improvement in playing and coaching standards.
For all the outstanding success of season eight, this is a time for the FFA not to pat itself on the back, but to recognise the hard work has only just begun.
Kasey
Guest
I refer to Gatt as Mr Negative. He always takes a football story and finds a way to spin it to the "sky is falling" crowd. However given the prevalence of Chicken Little's in the fans of the game, perhaps he just knows his audience? I am yet to read a glowingly positive article from him despite the enormous strides the game has made in the last 10 years.
phutbol
Guest
You can have a bet each-way Nordster. Turnover style caps that restrict a clubs abliiltiy to spend itself into oblivion while still allowing bigger clubs to reach their full potential. lImit the biggest spenders to say 2x or 3x the alloted salary funding provided by FFA/TV rights (eg $2.5m x 3), in order to give the smaller teams some hope of competing, provided it doesnt exceed a certain amount of club revenue or turnover. Yes, there is a risk of one or 2 clubs domninatiing but as seem with CCM its possible to outperform with less money and good scouting and coaching. A completely cap-free system would be a disaster though.
phutbol
Guest
No responsibility on the clubs themselves to engage with their own fans then tk? Classic example AU with their fans upset about stadium treatment. i dont know the ins and outs of the specific issues but if there hardcore/main supporters are staging protests one would think relations between club and fans/community could be handled a little better perhaps... I dont think the FFA's job should be to engage a clubs support base on its behalf. Assist with ideas, and non-cash resources for sure, but its in the clubs commercial interests to do these things as well, and it should be a given.
Tony Tannous
Expert
Midfielder, my feel & hope is that the ownership issues at CCM will be resolved soon enough. As you say, too much time/money has been invested for it to not work. These issues have been festering, and it's time they were resolved, & I'm confident they will be. As I've written here, just one of the things that needs addressing over the off-season.
King robbo
Guest
Smeltzy is not a marquee in a true sense that he will get bums on seats, however he is one of the highest goalscorers in a-league history and has won many games for glory (not too many this year though). The heavy scottish/english influence has not helped recruitment for the glory over the last few years -the likes of brian deane and SPL rejects eugene dadi, mcgarry, billy mehmet and miller. While the last 4 have made contributions, they hardly are gonna get the general sports fan flocking back to nib. I dont think Sage would want free market, he is losing too much money with a cap as it is. However if someone like del piero came along Im sure he would get more corporate backing. Unfortunately as I mentioned, big international stars in the twilight of their career would prefer to bring their families to Sydney or Melbourne. The mls is similar in that most of the big players gravitate to LA or New york. Players like drogba and eto may go to far flung places no one has ever heard but they are getting paid $20m or so a season.
whiskeymac
Guest
it would be a tragedy for the dream of the coe to be sold to another code. the vision the club had is something to be lauded/ supported by the ffa - afterall how many stadia, assets and the like have either run down (at best) or just arent there for the game?
nordster
Guest
tbf I did say "assuming" they are entrepreneurs :) also i hope u are not counting tax concessions as subsidies lol... and yes they do trail our over leveraged banking sector by some way...even still without mining we would be somewhere like the rest of the western world...if our banks go, we'll see that...
albatross
Roar Pro
You like most Australians don't have a clue about the huge subsidies that the mining industry receives from all levels of government despite that fact that the overall contribution to our trillion + dollar economy is somewhat under 5%.
Cameron
Roar Guru
What a pathetic excuse of an article!
Cameron
Roar Guru
Agreed but the financial muscle has not been flexed by Sage. Redevelopment will be finished soon on NIB, and next year will be a prefect opportunity to go for a great marquee. Good luck to Glory and other sides wising to put their money where their mouth is.
AGO74
Guest
Agree. The marquee has been completely redefined this season.
Neil
Guest
I am a football person to the core but don't mind rugby league, I hate those articles about which sport is winning the spectator numbers. There is enough room for all codes.
fadida
Guest
Re PG, Smeltz may be labelled a "marquee" but that is his only claim. Compare Smeltz to Heskey, Ono, ADP. They are proper (and expensive) marquees that draw crowds and win games. My point is that if PG have financial muscle for a free market that is claimed above they should be doing better than a 30 yo Kiwi international
mahonjt
Guest
Yes - it is the very high value of these assetts that is preventing additional capital investment. Why? Becasue any business person with any common sense sees the ccash flow problem as an opportunity to drive down the asking price for the other assetts as the cash flow slowly but surely strangles the existing owners. Its only a matter of time. They will be right - becasue they will sell....
Redb
Roar Guru
Ray Gatt is a good journo who tells it how it is. You should not doubt his affections are anything but for soccer.
Midfielder
Guest
Massive rumours on the Coast ... a number of deals are on the table... the sticking point is the land, building and income assets at the COE .... is the reason the Russian deal fell tho as well... those wanting in want them for nothing ... those who currently own them want decent money for them... Bear in mind someone a little while ago put a value on the COE when the motel [about 8 months away] is finished at between 40 & 60 million with 3 million in debt .... Could be a real stand off as offers for the COE are starting from other codes as well... RU would love the COE ....
Ben
Guest
Very well said. +1
Cameron
Roar Guru
Fafida, Tony Sage has regularly pointed out the costs associated with owning Perth Glory and the fact he continues to lose money. Next year such costs will be alleviated and thus creating potential room to afford one of these marquees. As noted before me Smeltz is the current marquee. There was talk of stints from Kewell and Owen to the club throughout this season as well.
King Robbo
Guest
Smeltzy is our marquee, not sure who the australian marquee is though Burns (was sterjoski)? The problem is Perth is not an internationally reknown city. So a Del Piero or beckham would always prefer playing for a Sydney or Melbourne team. However in terms of oz products if you offered someone twice the money to live in Perth then they would. For instance - Perth in the day of the nsl prob would of got an equivalent of archie thomson and smeltz up front together (mori and despotovski) and maybe a rojas and broich in midfield to back up a garcia and miller.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Midfielder, I feel where you are coming from and it's not because i'm a Brisbane Roar supporter but an A-league supporter. There aren't good signs and Peter Turnbull seem to have had enough and that's ok. He's done a great job. But it does seem the FFA isn't jumping the gun to ensure a safe mindset for fans can be adopted. Fingers crossed mariners will be ok for the sake of you, every other mariners fan, the other fans in the A-league and A-league in general.