The question needs to be asked – will Manchester City’s acquisition of Melbourne Heart be a good thing for the A-League?
Chief Executive of FFA David Gallop hailed Thursday’s announcement as a “huge vote of confidence in the A-League”.
While this is undoubtedly true, it is also important to protect the integrity of the league as a fair and level competition.
The A-League in its current format is an entertaining and well balanced competition, and the standard of football is improving at an impressive rate.
The enforcement of a salary cap ensures that any team can conceivably win the championship in any given season, and a team at the bottom one year can go to the top the next.
Brisbane Roar are a good example of this, they stormed to the title in 2010/11 having missed the finals the previous season.
New teams can also come in and be competitive straight away, like Western Sydney Wanderers last season and, to a certain extent, Gold Coast United before them.
Over the last decade the English Premier League has become increasingly distorted by the influence of money.
Only a handful of clubs can realistically win the title. Ironically the title race is quite open this year, but that appears to be mainly due to managerial instability at the top clubs.
Once this settles down the big clubs will be back on top – and well clear of the rest.
The arrival into the game of billionaire owners has changed the EPL forever.
Strict terms about finances needed to have been introduced far earlier than they have.
UEFA has brought in Financial Fair Play (FFP) to restrict European clubs spending to a figure relative to their turnover, but on the evidence of the past twelve months it appears to be flawed.
How are a club like Monaco going to balance their books for example, having invested obscene amounts on the likes of Radamel Falcao while attracting only 15,000 fans to games? How does the record breaking transfer fee paid by Real Madrid for Gareth Bale fit into the stated aim of FFP to rein in spending?
While Melbourne Heart will have to abide by the salary cap restrictions, they will have access to funds unheard of previously in the A-League when it comes to an Australian and an international marquee.
They will also be able to significantly outspend their rivals on coaches, staff and facilities.
Manchester City have already demonstrated how rules aimed at restricting spending can be manipulated. With their huge investment on transfers and wages – estimated to be around $2bn – they would never have passed FFP.
That was until they sold the naming rights for their stadium to Etihad Airways for way above the market rate. Etihad is operated by City’s owners.
While the injection of funds can only improve Melbourne Heart as a business and as a football team, there needs to be careful consideration as to how much can be changed.
There is already talk of a change in club colours to sky blue, and a change in name to Melbourne City.
David Gallop has already stated that he is open to “rebranding”, and while the Heart may be a young enough club for history and sentiment to not be too difficult a hurdle to overcome, it is not a precedent that should become the norm if football in this country is to retain its tribal culture.
Greg
Guest
You are missing one tiny important nugget of information, the heart have not been bought out by a russian gazzilionaire or a bunch of indonesians, they have been purchased by an actual football club, a club that has ambitions of being a global power and spreading its brand....so where does that leave Heart as we know it today? dead in the water, Lets not kid ourselves this will be a new franchise.
Stevo
Guest
LOL, another MV supporter??? Did Roar dissolve once the Bakrie got their dirty hands on the club's license? Did SFC dissolve when the Russian gazzillionaire got his hands on its license? So much LOL on this and other threads.
ChrisUK
Guest
About 1981 when United, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool threatened a breakaway unless revenue sharing on ticket sales was abolished would have been that moment. Everything else stems from then.
Purple Rain
Guest
Towser, its Nottingham Forest!
Towser
Guest
Well he's got parliament now to add a bit of colour too. That shouldn't be too hard.
Kevin Moody
Roar Rookie
All fair points there Mike, and your last paragraph basically sums up my point in a nutshell. As I said in the title, I welcome the investment and the positives it will bring, but I just want to see the league protect itself where necessary. The reason I posed the question was that this is a new scenario for the A-League and FFA. My feeling is the EPL missed its opportunity around the turn of the century - or earlier - to put measures in place to maintain a fair and even competition.
Australian Rules
Guest
Clive personified the risk of private ownership. He bought that licence to impress his Chinese mining buddies - then got bored. But I hesitate to blame him for shutting off some sections of the grandstands...the home crowds were tiny, and never justified the use of the entire stadium. Agree that having an owner that's at least interested in the game is a start.
Keith
Guest
the 2 foreign players rule in ACL won't allow that.
Greg
Guest
The difference is when nsl clubs made changes it actually came from within the club and would go to a members vote, for eg in 1996/97 South Melbourne members accepted a name change that would see the club become South Melbourne Lakers. You could argue now that Heart has pretty much dissolved with changeover of license, and the fact that they have been taken over by an actual football club who are on a branding mission. The issue isnt foreign investment, more so the fact foreign clubs wanting to use our league to grow their brand, its not something you would like to see become the norm, its also been a dismal failure in mls with chivas usa.
Midfielder
Guest
Agree Tow no more Fat Tony types ...
Towser
Guest
Should add after deep pockets Mid and rich owners who know something about the game wherever their from. We dont want any more Titantic building, dinosaur obsessed, Howard Hughes type eccentric billionaires, who squeeze fans into an area the size of their car boot to save money. Oh yes of course & hire a "colourful" coach who talks in riddles & knows more about how to make money carpet laying than football.
Midfielder
Guest
Don't see the issues you see Mike ... At some stage we need to join the rest of the football world....Also until the clubs can make a profit we need deep pockets ...
Mike
Roar Guru
I can understand your concerns there, but I don't think the FFA would let it happen. After all, the EPL and some other Euro leagues are different in that the owners can buy any player they want, and as many of them as they want. The clubs who dominate the EPL are nothing short of football 'dream teams,' which is why some fans argue that the UEFA Champions League is the #1 tournament. I can't see the A-League getting inundated with elite players for two reasons: 1) Since there's only 1 international marquee spot, it essentially leaves room for only 1 'elite' player, unless someone is happy to take a significant pay cut. But players that are at the top of their game would surely have far more lucrative offers in Europe. 2) Elite players are usually reluctant to play in leagues that are of a lower standard to the Euro ones because it hinders their chances of World Cup selection, and it also limits how far they can push themselves during their career. In other words, players thrive in the top Euro leagues because they are constantly challenged to better themselves. This is why the A-League has only ever attracted marquees who are nearing the end of their careers anyway, or who could not break into their highly competitive national teams. I think your concerns are legitimate, but I don't think you'll need to worry too much. As long as the salary cap and marquee system is imposed, there will always be a limit as to how much the A-League can mimic the EPL. ;)
slane
Guest
Thank you! Sick of people making stuff up about this whole ManCity thing.
The artist formally known as Dave
Guest
That could actually be a fantastic bonus Franko that I hadn't thought of until now. Imagine they start sending their young coaches here and the likes of Ange/Arnie/their heirs etc are able to consistently out-coach them... Could create a great pathway for Aussie coaches overseas that previously we haven't really had.
Kevin Moody
Roar Rookie
I don't think anybody would argue against the merits of world class players coming to the A-League, and if they came at an age closer to their prime because of the increased finances on offer then that can only be a positive as well. You are right to say that it would become the responsibility of the other clubs to step up, but what happens when it is beyond their resources to do so? This is what has happened in the EPL where a group of 4-6 clubs have dominated the top positions for a long time. Where would that leave the A-League equivalents of say Stoke, Aston Villa or Newcastle? These are well established teams who sometimes flirt with relegation or maybe have a good charge up the table towards European places. Remember, we don't have cup competitions (yet) or a secondary Asian tournament equivalent to the Europa League for mid table teams to aspire to. Without that then each season for these kind of teams just becomes repetitive and uninteresting. I just worry that if a split does occur and the bigger/richer clubs leave the rest behind, then the fans of those clubs will just walk away and the A-League is damaged.
pete4
Guest
I am not overly concerned about the Heart outspending their rivals on coaches, staff and facilities because that's something that happens with all codes here already What will be interesting to see if the Heart qualify for the Asian Champions League in the next few years (no salary cap rule) will they rotate their squad with Man City players on the outer to try win it
Franko
Guest
I imagine Heart/City will be a good vehicle for their youth team coaches that need some more pressure/exposure/experience etc. Don't be surprised to see the likes of Jason Wilcox or Simon Davies taking on the role next year.
Mike
Roar Guru
Investing in Asia is something that virtually every company is on Earth is somehow considering, and football is no different. Having a team in Asia, and especially one in an already-developed Western nation, makes sense to me. And you're right - there's only so much more growth certain teams in Europe can experience, so it's a wise option to invest elsewhere for the future. It's a good time for football in Oz. ;)
Kevin Moody
Roar Rookie
Well they are certainly in the same category as City in terms of the EPL, but I didn't mention them as they have not invested in the A-League.