With the ongoing feud between the FFA and A-League owners continuing this offseason, perhaps this has distracted many A League fans from the real issue facing football in Australia today – The A-League’s inability to distinguish itself between a fully fledged independent league or a nursery for bigger European clubs.
As the dust settles on an offseason which saw many of the A-League’s finest depart to Europe in search of footballing glory, the question must be asked, is this really what’s best for the A-League?
Should clubs be attempting to build their own rosters in the hope of keeping them together for seasons at a time? Or should the A-League turn into a full-time nursery for bigger European clubs? At the moment, the A-League is stuck in between both of these models and it’s to its own detriment!
Riley McGree, one of the finest youngsters in the A-League and a member of the Socceroos squad was transferred to Club Brugge. On the surface, this was an excellent move, but Adelaide United were paid a mere $100,000 for the transfer. That’s a laughable number for a player of his pedigree and Adelaide should be ashamed for letting him walk for that money.
Likewise, the joint Golden Boot winner from last year Jamie Maclaren banged in 40 goals for the Roar in his two seasons with the club. Most analysts had his price tag pegged at over a $1,000,000 in terms of transfer value. Instead, the Roar showed zero urgency in what should be considered a crime to football and didn’t bother re-signing the star striker. As a result, Maclaren was allowed to walk for free this offseason and the Roar were left empty handed.
(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
If the A-League is truly going to become a nursery for the bigger leagues in Europe, then it must place more emphasis on maximising its returns. It cannot just let their best players be poached for cents on the dollar!
It’s an outrage that Brisbane and Adelaide were left with nothing while losing two very important players. What should be considered an even bigger outrage is the lack of care in the A-League community that these sides were robbed of their stars for basically nothing.
It’s a growing trend in the A League which cannot seem to identify where it stands on nurturing talent for overseas clubs. Some clubs let players walk too soon in search of receiving a small transfer fee, and some clubs wait for their player to be off contract before seeing them walk for nothing. Most fans are just used to seeing A League clubs completely fail when it comes to transfers, it has become second nature for the League.
Compare this to the English model. The average footballer would be forgiven for not knowing who on earth Nick Powell is. In 2012, he was having an absolute belter of a season for Crewe Alexandra in Fourth Tier English Football.
What happened next will shock most A-League fans but when the big club (Manchester United) came knocking, Crewe Alexandra stood their ground and demanded a rightful fee for their star. As a result, they were rewarded with a six million pound transfer fee!
Powell proceeded to play three matches for United in all competitions but the point stands and Crewe Alexandra should be lauded for their determination to be compensated for losing their star player.
This is common practice in Europe. If a team works hard to develop a star player, they should be rewarded for that. Instead currently A-League clubs are bending over backwards to accommodate the bigger clubs and it’s just not good enough.
Six million pounds for a guy who never did much at all for United is an astonishing figure. That could do so much for a club like Brisbane or Adelaide in terms of grass roots funding and player development.
If the A-League is truly to become a developing league than it needs to place a higher price on its stars heads!
Start placing in contracts a mandatory higher buy out price. No young player should have a buy out price of below $500,000.
That number might seem like a big leap but it’s still a drop in the ocean for bigger European clubs. If the player if good enough, they will pay the price for them.
The A-League has got it all wrong on transfers, right since its inception. It’s time it takes a step in the right direction before it loses the next Tim Cahill or Mark Viduka for nothing!
northerner
Guest
@Johnno - don't forget, the A League teams are going to be constrained by their participation in the AFC and the limits placed on foreign players in their competitions. Not much point having a team full of foreigners if you can't field them for the Champion's League or Cup competitions.
Johnno
Guest
Unlimited imports for A-league i say and the best possible product it can be. It's not responsible for "directly" developing socceroos that's the FFA's job. The A-League is not a development league, save that for the youth league and NPL where you can put import restrictions in(NPL clubs might disagree about import restrictions and have a right to). But either way, if the A-League wants more interest, allow more imports or go unlimited most fans just wanna see the best product not the best locals that can't cut it in europe...
stu
Guest
'nursery for bigger European clubs' What a strange quote this is. Leagues all over the world feed there best into 4 leagues in Europe. ALL those other leagues have their loyal following and robust competition. Get over this idea that the A-League will become a world leader in the sport.
Ballymore
Guest
Victory the only HAL club I respect in the player sale space. Milligan the obvious example.
matt jones
Guest
i am astonished by the amount of sense you are making today
LuckyEddie
Guest
Football is ALL about the money.
Steve
Guest
The only conclusion I make from all this situstion is that FFA is hiding something that they do not want to reveal. No well run organisation derails its own competition so badly as does FFA. Could be trying to cover up enormous debt is my tip.
Ben Sewell
Roar Pro
I agree and have 0 issue with players leaving early. I just want the clubs to be adequately compensated for said player. On the 4-3-3 issue you bring up, i completely agree. The Socceroos don't even play it, so why should our juniours!?!?
vin
Guest
How about creating better players, we are not exactly producing a factory line of players the way they were in the late 90's early 2000's. not saying thats anyones fault but this ciriculum and forcing players to focus on a 4-3-3 system is turning potential talent into robots. I prefer kids leave this country early and head overseas as soon as possible. the same way Harry and Tim did it.
steve
Guest
I rarely agree with Nemesis about anything concerning football, but he is absolutely right in saying that football players, like any saleable commodity, are only worth what the market is prepared to pay for them. It simply doesn't matter what club the player plays for, whether its Barcelona or Brisbane Roar or Bentleigh Greens. Using your example of McGee and McLaren, the Roar have no one to blame but themselves. They could have sold him and received a fee, but they chose not to, that's simply bad management on their part. You simply cant put a fee of half a million dollars on a young A League players head, it simply doesn't work like that. I just would have kept McGee for another year? Then what lose him for nothing then? Its not really an argument that makes sense. Using your own housing analogy, your house is really only worth what the buyers and the market are prepared to pay for it, regardless of what you think its worth. The house buyers ( clubs ) will just go no thanks and move on until they find something of value ( players ) elsewhere.
Waz
Guest
16yo kids won't be signing with A League clubs anymore - they'll be going in to academies at 12 now
Ben Sewell
Roar Pro
That could work Ken, although I'm not sure on the logistics. I'm just sick of the A League clubs getting 0 for their efforts in making these young guns.
Ken Spacey
Guest
Just a reminder that some people consider Greg Griffin to be a person worth investing a lot of cred in. Yet he doesn't get anywhere the scrutiny of other power holders. The obvious system that works is to lock in meaningful onselling clauses for he HAL club who would then pass on a bonus to the local club etc. Imagine id we also sold players to say the UK for bargain basement prices but were guaranteed that big clubs would tour here for much lower fees. The FFA and its partners/clubs would actually make money from the cashed up Eurosnos for once.
Onside
Guest
Does the salary cap impact on this issue.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Why can't I use the NPL clubs as an example. They should be able to benefit also.
Waz
Guest
Maclaren made it clear it wasn't about the money, he wanted to go (back) overseas and turned down Roars offer and at least one marquee offer from within the A league. Maybe it's you that needs new bed sheets?
Waz
Guest
His were Roar meant to command a transfer fee for Maclaren? He was off contract and free to sign for a new club from January this year.
Fadida
Guest
"tough luck" isn't how the market works. Small and financially weak Danish, Belgian and Dutch clubs simply won't pay half a million upfront for gambles. They'll look to Africa instead. A sell on clause is the way forward for us
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
If he knows there is interest overseas, he merely has to let the final year of his contract run down and then go to whatever club wants to pay him a decent salary, without the need for worrying about transfer fees.
Craig
Guest
You cannot use the NPL as an example of someone who should sell high. It's there to help the a league.