My reading of the tea leaves is the burning question of when and under what circumstances do we introduce promotion and relegation?
There are three broad camps: first after 2034 when existing club licenses expire (but even in the current arrangements promotion and relegation is allowed), second after both Division 1 and 2 have stabilised estimated at somewhere between five and ten years and the final group want it within one or two years of the introduction of the second division.
Both the second and third ideas have both merit and issues to overcome. The first will never happen.
The key argument for both the second division creation and then moving on is financial stability. Those warning about waiting for the five to ten years argue correctly we don’t have the infrastructure and facilities. The counter to this from the move now side is no investor will be willing to invest heaps in a Division 2 team if it will take ten to 12 years before they can be promoted into Division 1.
Both sides are right in their arguments and this is a dilemma.
Let’s be fair about this and not take sides, so let’s assume both want what’s good for football. Essentially, we have a difference of opinion or alternative pathways to reach the same goal.
Hand on heart and deep down in my soul I don’t think enough teams have the facilities nor the management structure to become Division 1 teams. This seems to be at the core of the argument for wanting to wait. But then who will invest if they have to wait ten or more years? The circle continues.
The Melbourne Knights in their white paper in response to FFA’s white paper pertaining to the creation of a second division have suggested a solution to the conundrum of the chicken and egg position of when to introduce promotion and relegation.
As I said, the key to the introduction is economic stabilisation of the division and the ability of a second division side to join the first division.
The Knights’ suggestion is brilliant in its simplicity and this single aspect of their white paper is worth lots of discussion. The Knights fully support FFA white paper with a couple of exceptions, and these are capital required, number of foreign players and P&R.
Melbourne’s suggestion for when promotion and relegation are introduced can be best summarised as teams need to meet criteria to be a second and first division side.
The winner of the second division can then be promoted to the first division so long as that team also meets division one criteria.
The logic is beyond simple: you only get promoted if you are essentially financially stable enough to run a Division 1 side.
This creates an incentive not only to win Division 2, but to financially support a club to be ready for a Division 1 place. Further, it delays the promotion of second division until they are ready.
The crust of promotion and relegation is financial stability and the Knights suggestion is to develop detailed criteria for each division and let the market decide from there.
Upon reflection, Melbourne’s suggestion of a two-pronged promotion and relegation system where you not only win Division 2 but also met financial and other division selection criteria is worthy of discussion and it’s a brilliant idea.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Nem Great interview with Tony Sage ... Enjoy ... https://soundcloud.com/tabradio/tony-sage
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Nem You have my vote. The point of highlighting the Knights white paper is that as I see it it bridges the gap between the two camps who want the same thing except have different pathways to get their.
Nemesis
Guest
Middy, the Melb Knights suggestion is nothing new. It happens in every League. It even happens in the UCL. There are 2 aspects of qualifying for a spot in the EPL & UCL a) Merit b) Infrastructure & financial: including, size of stadium, lighting, all seating, etc. Same will happen with National 2nd Division. There will be merit criteria & other criteria. And, same will happen with Promotion from 2nd Division to A-League. I'd suggest: 2021/21: National 2nd Divsion 2024/25: Promotion only from 2nd Div to ALeague + Pro/Rel between NPL & 2nd Div. 2026/27: Pro/Rel between 2nd Div & ALeague commences with bottom team ALeague in 2 leg play-off with top team 2nd Div. 2030/31: Bottom ALeague relegated/Top 2nd Div promoted
Midfielder
Roar Guru
The advantage of the MK's system is it allows for the second division to be capitalised and for investors to fund and develop football better than any other structure I have read about in The Australian context.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
You need not be concerned Buddy, in reality, it's not on the agenda, and if it is, it's way, way down the bottom. The club owners aren't about to lobby to push it up the agenda either.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
We appear to be quite obsessed with the whole topic of P&R and how it might cure some or all of the issues surrounding the game. Personally, I want to see the issues with governance, an independent A League, media platforms for broadcasting, expansion, and issues relating to policing and security, use of appropriate sized stadiums and the like all dealt with and under control before P&R even gets onto the agenda. When it does, the setting should be right and it would be self evident that participants need to perform both on and off the field. It reminds me of when all seater stadiums came into force in the uk. Any club looking to be promoted knew the rules and the criteria and had to plan accordingly.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Written like a true supporter of the club most likely to get relegated if P&R was introduced tomorrow. Sleep easy all Mariners fans, when Chairman Nikou said it's 15 years away (2034), you can view that as representing the earliest possible time it will be introduced (and even then, with so many provisos than the big city clubs would never fear being dropped into B-League oblivion).