The A-League's fan-base could use an attitude adjustment

I'm not saying they're overpaid for what they do, I'm saying much or what they do could be centralised and hence you wouldn't need to hire the same role across each federation, instead you could have central roles which cater to more then one federation. This would be a much simpler and cost effective way to run football in this country.

I agree Mike. It may be a case that there is a hard floor under the A League for some years after the second division gets up and running. Perhaps the pyramid can be established from the second division down and once that is functioning and it is demonstrated that relegation isn’t bankrupting clubs and that the second division is viable as a professional league with adequate support and interest then the A League can be added to the mix.

Simon Hill will be providing commentary for the QLD NPL match between Lions FC and GC Knights FC this Saturday. KO at 7:00 PM, streaming on NPL TV.

It's not my job to suggest mergers, but it is simple. As an example, St Albans and Melbourne Knights are within a couple of km's. Oakleigh, Bentleigh and Kingston are all within a few km's of each other. etc. etc

@Roberto, of course, if they are genuine football clubs whose main purpose is football, then they would have no problem in at least investigating at such a merger. If on the other hand, they are mono-ethnic social clubs who are more interested in politics and making money for, or increasing the reputation of board members and other 'important' people in one particular ethnic community, then they wouldn't be interested.

well said

I've got a good suggestion for a merger with a high probability of succeeding. The Melbourne Knights should merge with Footscray JUST. That would be a cracker of a merger. Next, I'd like to solve the problem of bringing peace to the World.

If mergers happen it should be to form new clubs to represent geographic areas. Geelong SC could merge with North Geelong Warriors to represent Geelong. Teams from across Tasmania and in Canberra could merge to form new clubs to represnt those places. As part of the Dandenong bid a whole bunch of local sides have got behind that project. A club like North Geelong Warriors or Canberra Croatia FC might be popular with their own fans, but they might fail to resonate with most of the population in their catchment area and wont be able to grow. It's no basis for a creating a stable professional club. They can still have their own seperate sides at local level, but if they want to be able compete at a professional level then mergers are the way to go and only realistic option in many cases. There may be purists who think otherwise but professional sport isn't always so pure.

If you can't even find two clubs to merge as an example after going so far as saying "The answer is simple", then it's a pretty daft move to even suggest it in the first place.

A boring franchise like Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, River Plate, Sao Paulo, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Benfica, Yokohama F Marinos? All clubs formed through other clubs merging. I'm sure there are many others. I don't know which Australian NPL clubs should merge, but it's a normal part of football for this to happen.

Do you wanna name some of these NPL clubs that you think should be merging? It sounds nice in theory but for a lot of these clubs, mashing them together into some boring franchise means they'll lose nearly all appeal and fanbases they have left.

Welcome back Mike. Regarding the struggling A-League, the recent shenanigans with Fox Sports highlighted one thing for me... If the A-League was actually the top tier of Australian football, with pro-rel connecting it directly and indirectly to all the levels below, it couldn't not exist, even without a broadcast deal. But the A-League in its current standalone form is like a shag on a rock and every twitch in broadcast deal negotiations is an existential threat. A bad deal or no deal likely means no A-League. No club or player below A-League level has much reason to care, except for those who are fans of an A-League club. James Johnson is on the right track trying to line up the A-League with the rest of Football.

He knows how to time his runs; he was well onside for both goals. He will do me as a central striker.

Mike, you live!!! I was wondering where you got off too. Great read & great posts by the fans below. I try & look at the positives, & the Sydney vs Wellington was a cracker considering the lengthy lay off. I must admit I need an attitude adjustment I hate Foxtel at the moment & continue to do so. I still cannot fathom how they lost Hill. Yet here we are with Peacock (who cannot commentate & has been thrown in the deep by his paymasters) & Slater/Bozza. These guys are panelists at best. Oh I suppose I can cop Brenton Speed, but I hate to think how this is going pan out next season. It's clearly obvious Foxtel & indeed News Corp don't care anymore. Again they were at it with a piece about ratings with all 4 codes on Friday. Panning the aleague with their usual vile contempt. Oh well. Good to see some football back, hope Sydney FC does the double (my bias).

Atwork, are you suggesting that there are too many people running the sport in Queensland, or that they are over paid. Who, in your opinion, don't you need? I would suggest that to run a sport in any state, requires a certain number of talented individuals to work together. you do need a management structure. If people are saying that it is best run from a centralized office, and that by doing so will reduce costs, then I would recommend they spend a week volunteering in their states football offices to see how it works and how by reducing the numbers it could become more efficient. In reality, most of us would probably shake their heads and say, how do they get so much done with so few.

As mentioned, as bad a situation as you can get with the pandemic, there is no greater time for the game to shift itself around for the better. You can’t please everyone all the time but the game needs everyone to move in the same direction for once, even if not everything aligns with a certain view right now. Play the long season, game by game ;-) With that, I think we are lucky JJ is at the helm at this point in time.

The number 1 issue to be addressed is not only the performance of the referees but the philosophy as to how games should be refereed. The game should be free flowing with as little interference from the officials as possible. Hard fair tackles should be encouraged not vilified. Players who deliberately stop play from being free flowing (by eg standing in front of the ball preventing a quick free kick or snidely kicking the ball away to prevent quick free kicks) should be immediately booked. At present nothing happens, not even a warning. Penalty kicks should be awarded for handball but only if deliberate. The penalty awarded to Sydney v Wellington was a farce. Spectators and tv viewers want all action games with as little interference as possible. How a game is refereed determines how the game is played. We need to sort this out asap because people will not pay good money for what is being dished up at the moment much of which is influenced by referees who think they know the rules but most certainly don't understand the game.

Mike I was a rusted on Foxtel/A League follower but told Fox to stick where the sun don't shine and can follow the football on MyFootball (Telstra) Jack George did a pretty good report on the Roar game so much that it didn't need any comment, Roar were the better side and Izzo was man of the match.

Wow, thanks a lot, Mike!