Five reasons why South Melbourne must be the A-League's next franchise

Nemesis. In my NSL days I loved nothing more than to have a visitation from what today has become known as an ethnic identity.. Their fans brought an atmosphere to grounds that,to be honest, was sadly lacking when two "local identities " played in a game. Having said that I am also very much aware of the contributions these self declared fans made to keep their teams afloat, for if the truth be known,most of the larger and more successful of the "ethnic' clubs had as their financial base social clubs, that in their own right, were huge financial success stories in themselves. But one must never forget that in those social club hierarchies there were some very shrewd business men, men who in their every day workings were very aware of costs, expenditures and return on investments. It was in this area of operation that the NSL finally foundered with more and more demands being put on these self same social club managements for financial aid, when in fact the return on investment was just not evident. The NSL's best team ,Sydney City/Hakoah started the trend in 1986 when their "parent body",the Hakoah Social Club at Bondi,no doubt fed up with seeing crowds of 500-1000 turning up to their games, finally pulled the pin. After that occurrence there are heaps of examples of existing NSL identities falling into the same boat,not enough income from the game to justify the continued expenditure. That is the real reason Frank Lowy set up his HAL format from day one. $5 million for a licence, a full time employee wage bill ,players,ancillary staff and administrators,and a must to play in huge television friendly modern stadia. Even that final demand had "history" for when Brisbane Lions and Brisbane City joined the NSL they were "ordered" to play their games at "soccer headquarters " ,Perry Park, for 3 seasons. Both teams could not wait to get back to their own turf. So we come back to the discussion at hand. Can South Melbourne, or for that matter any other erstwhile NSL identity, generate enough interest, in what we must remember is a shrinking migrant population, to bring in the type of money that would see them completely divorce themselves from those self same social clubs, that gave so much to the development of our game in the 60's though the 80's. That is the real question to be asked in this debate. Cheers jb.

jb In relation to operating costs, SMFC would already have a significant portion already covered. Remember, unlike other ALeague clubs, SMFC is a going concern. They already have personnel & systems operating a FC - albeit at semi-pro level. As for players wages, at the minimum the full 23 players can be fully covered - if SMFC decide to not bring in any marquee - by the distribution clubs receive from the FFA from the sale of TV rights. The big advantage SMFC has over all the current 10 ALeague clubs is the fact SMFC owns the operating licence for its home stadium and, as a result, they only need 1000 paying fans to cover match day costs. So, what does this mean? At the very minimum, the only extra costs SMFC will face will be the cost of moving administrative & coaching staff from 6 month jobs to 12 month jobs.

Oh please. If South Melbourne has masses of support in south-east Melbourne, why is the football community there pushing so hard for their own team? Maybe because that support is a figment of wishful thinking, not reality. The reality is, for the south-east, Souths are no more representative of their community than Victory or City. They want a team that speaks to and for them - to impose South Melbourne on them would be as much a confection as expecting them to support Victory.

NEM - It is a one off cost for sure ,but it is still a cost that has to be met before a ball is even kicked, The other figures I "cited" were purely to put a figure to how much it costs to run an HAL team. I know for a fact there are "marquee ' players making a lot more than $100,000 ,I have heard it said that $500,000 could be nearer the mark so perhaps my $100,000 average wage "across the board" is a bit on the light side. Personally, not being involved at management level in any HAL club, I don't pretend to know what the annual running costs are but I was simply pointing out to Slane that $30 a head from "a few hundred " fans every second week ($7500) falls a long way short of the true figures.Cheers jb.

Wollongong Canberra Geelong Eastern Melbourne 2 nd Brisbane team Should all have bigger claims to an a league spot before south Melbourne

Not disrespect, and a big call to say they do more than any other, evidence? The oceania club of the centaur is a joke, like it or lump I don't really care, but I find it very sad that you lot keep going on about it. The 'hatred' as you claim is more to do with the self indulgent nature of the club and fans than anything else

jb Using the figures you've cited, that means the annual operating costs for an ALeague club are $4m per annum. As far as I know the Licence Fee is a one-off acquisition fee.

Slane. The purchase price for a franchise is ,or was, $5,millions. The players and ancillary staff ,conservatively put at around 40 "heads" have to be offered full time employment at wages thought to average at least around $100,000 per year.so a commitment of around $,4,000,000 has to be "covered. That's $9million . You were saying a few hundred spectators at 13 or 14 home games is going to attain that income and then some. Ok there are some monies to be had from FFA handouts but they are not regular payments. Question. How much are you going to charge your few hundred spectators in order to make ends meet?. Ten years ago a figure of 10,000 per game was the break even figure and that expense was not contained to "stadium costs". Cheers jb.

Hulk - What did that "award" cover,was it the chance for Roberto Carlos to become coach??? By the way I did not award the title so my tongue was never in my cheek.Re-read please. jb

Hilk, It's very simple, I have followed football in this country since 1974 & never followed the NSL because most clubs were so ethnic base & South Melbourne Hellas one of them. I too came from another land but wanted to follow an Australian club.

South are a 60 yo brand. They are one of the most successful clubs in aus football history. They have played in club World Cup. These are things that don't get erased over night. And these things are what makes them unique to start up franchises and impervious to geographical restrictions.

Do you expect that south fans all live in Albert park? Lol I'm firstly quashing the laughable idea of a dandy Casey franchise., and a dandy Casey franchise that plays out of aami park..,and with the logic you've presented - so have you. And yes south have fans in the south, south east, the north, all over Melbourne.. Just like victory do. But I wouldn't expect an imaginary not yet concieved franchise out in proverbial Geelong that weirdly plays out of Richmond to garner any such interest...not even from folk from narre warren Casey. And certainly not in the numbers that would make them tenable - let alone make aami look even remotely full. Let alone give hal fans anything to be excited about. Or provide the desperate shot in the arm this league needs. Lead balloon.

Missed the point. . Casey-Dandy may or may not get up, but it does represent the South East. South Melbourne isn't even in the area, so to claim it has a catchment of a million based on the SE of Melbourne is sheer nonsense. If that's the argument, South M has lost it. Make a case for the population where the club actually is, because I can pretty much bet that no one in Frankston or Dandy or Springvale has any connection at all to South Melbourne.

South Melbourne only beed a few hundred fans to show up and they turn a profit. Their stadium situation makes them such an enticing option?

JB That award got us a partnership with Real Madrid. That should firmly remove your tongue from your cheek.

Of course. Luckily for us, we have a salary capped league which severely limits the extent to which CFG can flex their financial muscle and destabilise our competition. So given that, why not have an actual club with actual fans, fans that feel as though there been pushed away from the game at the highest level instead of the green seat elite? A side benefit would be that having them inside the 'club' means they're not outside turning away potential visitors by shouting about how 'plastic and crap' it is.

Nice try I'm not mike pal. Lowly and his corrupt FA has hijacked top tier football and is squatting on it. Wanting-in to top tier and respecting Lowy's model isn't the same thing. Top tier football gives us a path to Asia. That's all I want. Oh yeah and club World Cup.. U know that little tourney we represented AUSTRALIA in?

No it's not mike. Mike is doing a service for aus football though.. Unlike people like yourself,,, And let me explain this to you like this: Lowy and his corrupt FA have hijacked top tier football and are squatting on it.,, wanting-in to top tier, and respecting the aleague are not the same thing

Stop deflecting. It doesn't matter of any were signed by RM. What HAL clubs have a partnership with the biggest and most successful club in the history of the planet ? The legitimacy is that it helped them form said partnership. You're going in circles now... Yes the HAL clubs are only JUST starting... Says a lot about HAL clubs... AND npl clubs! NZ clubs have NOTHING to do with this. They're hogging a license and offer aus football NOTHING. An aus club in their place, ANY aus club in their place is monumentally more beneficial to us. And LOL you want to win a World Cup off the back of 9 aus clubs and a closed league with no pro/rel. Are you nuts? Lol. We would be the first country in history to achieve that with a closed league and no pro rel. This place really is an echo chamber of delusion.

The purpose of stating that the Bernabeu is Real Madrid's home ground is? Even the most part time supporter knows Real and their home ground... but hats off to you on that one. How many players have then signed on to professional or junior contracts at RMFC then? And let's not talk naively about the 'experience' of it as we know that these junior tournaments organised by the big clubs are there to sign promising talents on the cheap. My critique of the award is if its legitimacy and that it is used to justify South's involvement in the HAL. If it was FIFA-endorsed then by all means, great. But it is not and it should be critiqued by the clubs in NZ and all around Australia who has as much of a claim as South. The FFA Cup has shown the rich history and traditions of many clubs that equal and at times surpass South regardless of whatever metric you wish to use. The HAL clubs are only just starting their elite junior journey. Give it a few years but yes we should be on their back about how they do this. It is all football lovers interest that HAL and NPL clubs are pushing considerable resources into youth development. I want Australia to win a World Cup and we do this by having a structured and considered pathway to success for youth through NPL and HAL. Interestingly, on this, the HAL uptake of youth talent from the NPL clubs in Australia is abysmal. Everyone is probably at fault here but we need to see juniors moving to seniors at NPL clubs and we aren't seeing it to the degree we should in Victoria, not just looking at South. Oh and RMFC tournament is paid by club or parents..?