Glory in spotlight over salary cap woes

That is good to hear. Apart from the guy he is battling for his spot with it benefits nobody for him to be on the bench.

Lowe did give a few young players a run last season the likes of Riley Woodcock, Brendon O'neill and Matt Davies getting a run, along with the odd appearance from De Silva. Really only Matt Davies shone last season but with Risdon back he's not getting a game. Only Risdon and De Silva are young local products playing week in week out. I guess Kenny is in a position where he has to get results, how many more poor seasons could Perth Glory afford to have?. Maybe with a solid foundation you can take more risks on youth and he really didn't have that by any means. On Edwards, i think there is some mythical tales around about his youth revolution, he brought in three young players and two were his sons. Funnily enough his two sons were the only two that got consistent game time, the players i mentioned above didn't see a lot and they have performed as well as the Edwards brothers ever did when given a shot. Rellum De Silva plays every week mate doing very well for such a young kid.

Roma should be moving Da Silva on in January if he is not getting game time.

"What is so terrible about living in Perth???" Completely agree. Perth is an idyllic place to live with access to arguably the most beautiful stretch of coastline anywhere in the world.

And that is probably the biggest problem with Perth, Bricks. Heaps of talent coming through, but no coach except Edwards was willing to take a punt on the local youth. Even now, take Da Silva out of that squad and how many young WA kids are there? Lowe has seemingly gone for experienced players looking for results. Is that the case or is that just my perception?

Bobby agrees.

The saddest part about that is , while searching every corner of the earth to lure players to our isolated city there were so many players under this frickin clubs noses living in the city that were overlooked or not played. Taggart, Sainsbury, Babalj, Herd, Lowry, Williams and im probably forgetting a few as well. All of which were or would have been elite A-League players.

That has been Sage's position for some time, I believe. I don't buy it for one moment. What is so terrible about living in Perth??? Wellington, sure. Small place, back end of the planet, awful weather. Newy has great beaches but the town's pretty ordinary. And its a small town. CCM isnt even a town. Great beaches, lovely coast and climate, but really one rather dull suburb. Perth, a modern, prosperous city with 1.2 million people and that great coastline and climate? A hard sell? I think not. I guess there are the sharks, tho...

AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I agree with you that a cap is needed in OZ. As for a resurgence for ANY club, it is imperative to do it the right way. The issue I have is ppl claiming being robbed for a myriad of reasons but they never see their own flaws or reality for that matter.

The difficulty here is if Perth Glory dont give a little extra incentive would they receive the playing staff they have and be in the position they're now, its difficult but possibly some exemptions should be made for some clubs in the HAL..

Glory Fan backlash in 3... 2... 1... Well, I for one hope that this isn't true, despite not being a massive PG fan. Their current reurgence is good for the league as much as it is good for the Glory. In Kenny Lowe they have a good coach who is entertaining to listen to - calls a spade a spade (note his comments about Risdon's red card in the FFA Cup Final). They no longer have Burns in the playing squad (big plus), and they have got some real quality in Keogh and Da Silva, among others. No real fan of Thwaite, but his speech at the FFA Cup final was dignified and impressive. This sort of problem (salary cap rorting) might damage the club's credibility with fans, and that would be a shame, now that they are growing their crowds again with some good results and so on. I still think the cap is needed. We don't have the economies of scale to produce a league like the EPL. What the abolition of the cap would do would lead to the collapse of the A-League as the only teams that would be solvent would be the two Melbourne teams, the two Sydney teams, Adelaide and Brisbane. That would be about it. CCM would disappear, Newcastle too, and Perth, well, that's anyone's guess. No, the cap has to stay if we want the league to exist. The trouble with the free market system advocated by Nordster is that we don't have the population to sustain the level of funding required to run the league on the basis he believes is best. We would end up with another NSL, which, after the strides made in recent times, would shred the credibility of the game. Market failure and uneven outcomes would destroy the league, and that would be a terrible result for football in this country and the national team.

"A salary cap provides certainty in budgeting and ensures the club will not get drawn into a spending battle." It's far too easy to rort the Salary Cap. If we want clubs to live within their means, I'd like to have the following model reviewed: 1. FFA pays the clubs a dividend from the TV deal for players wages. Currently that's around $2.5m/year 2. Clubs are then free to pay as much as they want for players wages, provided they returned a positive EBITDA (or, it could even be a small negative) the prior financial year. So, clubs can do what they like ... IF they have the money to back their plans.

So much for being robbed in 2011-2012 GF. Looks like they've been doing the robbing .. robbing other teams of finals spot, and robbing teams of regular season points.

2 of the 3 are languishing at the bottom of the table already. Wellington has been for years. Whether they can sustain this season remains to be seen I would also argue that Wellington and CCM are on the cusp of insolvency now, and that once Tinkler shuts up shop, so to will the Jets. My point is that they all still get the broadcast money, but the cap prevents any club striving for football excellence. Look at what has happened to Brisbane. A leveller the cap may be, but for me the negatives now significantly outweigh the positives. Interesting, however what langou says about Man City and the cap.

Man City are on record as saying that a major reason for them choosing the USA and Australian leagues was because of the salary cap. A salary cap provides certainty in budgeting and ensures the club will not get drawn into a spending battle.

In the current financial climate, what then happens to the likes of CCM, Jets & Wellington? They will languish at the bottom of the ladder for years, crowds and members will decline, and the clubs will become insolvent. No cap will deter any future backers from starting up clubs outside of the capital cities as they are restricted in trade due to lower population bases and a smaller pool of corporates based in regional areas. Forget about expansion then. A-league simply isn't yet financially stable to remove the cap.

I've come to Nordster's view. The cap does more harm than good. I honestly don't think we can grow the game significantly until we have a free market. Give the teams the broadcast money and tell them they can spend it how they like. This season has completely given the lie to the idea that (a) the cap preserves smaller teams (viz, CCM's troubles) or (b) that it keeps the competition even. Let's be honest. The Wanderers won the ACL but must have had a voodoo doctor on staff, because the amount of luck they had was extraordinary. They were second best game after game, including the final. Our clubs will never win an ACL through the quality of their football while we have a cap in place.

This is not good. The evidence appears overwhelming. FFA will have to take action, and there is the very real danger that points deducted and a fine might prompt Sage to walk away.

I didn't realise you were against a cap until now Nordster :D