The A-League has been hit by mass redundancies, with reports that up to half of the organisation’s staff are losing their jobs and the digital and content arm KeepUp is being axed.
The Australian Professional Leagues has confirmed an “organisational restructure”. The Sydney Morning Herald reported around half of “80-odd” staff would be losing their job in the immediate short term.
The APL has run the A-League men’s and women’s competitions for the past three years. It confirmed the cuts including a decision to bring an end to KeepUp, the much maligned news and information app that cost the organisation an estimated $40m and was the brainchild of former APL boss Danny Townsend.
Townsend left the organisation last year with the head of KeepUp James Rushton promoted to help run the competitions.
“In the three years since unbundling (with Football Australia), APL has implemented a strategy that has seen a period of rapid growth across our business,” an APL statement, without a name attributed, said on Tuesday.
“With the original three-year strategy coming to an end, a planned full strategic and commercial review has taken place over the last several months.
“The review has identified significant opportunities to create efficiencies through consolidation and this necessitates an organisational restructure that is now underway.
“APL’s priorities remain the same – to deliver commercial growth and sustainability by creating the most exciting competitions possible for our fans – with strong teams producing great young players across Australia and New Zealand.”
Danny Townsend (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
The news came on the same day the APL Commissioner Nick Garcia said Canberra was closing in on the next expansion spot as the league moves to 14 teams.
Garcia is adamant Canberra will have a men’s club for the start of next season, despite concerns the franchise is leaving it late to get up and running in time for 2024/25.
Canberra and Auckland were flagged as the two preferred expansion locations by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) last year, with American billionaire Bill Foley winning the licence to run the New Zealand-based club.
Foley has since wasted no time in appointing ex-City Group staffer Nick Becker as chief executive of his Auckland outfit, and installing former Sydney FC boss Steve Corica as the club’s head coach.
But Canberra’s future is still clouded by uncertainty.
There have been suggestions Tasmanian expansion could supplant moves to put a team in the national capital, while Canberra United A-League Women boss Njegosh Popovich last week said his players were in the dark over their futures.
Garcia, however, remains confident a deal could be finalised in the coming weeks.
“I’m very positive about Canberra right now,” Garcia said.
“We’re in advanced discussions with a party for Canberra.”
The owners of the Canberra men’s side are expected to take over the running of the women’s club, which is currently administered by the ACT’s governing body for the sport, Capital Football.
Popovich’s concerns over players’ futures highlight a reality for the ALM franchise, with many existing clubs and the new Auckland side set to begin negotiations with off-contract players in the coming months.
But Garcia points to Canberra’s existing infrastructure as proof the new franchise would not be left behind in the transfer market.
“It’s important to understand that Canberra has a women’s team already, it’s not a cold start,” Garcia said.
“There’s a women’s team, there’s structure around the club, there’s a brand. A lot of that’s stood up.
“You’re adding a men’s team – it’s not like Auckland.
“The other thing is because there’s definitely been other bids for an A-League licence out of Canberra, so much work and public support has already been done.
“So they’ll move really fast when they’re in.”
While Canberra’s future is yet to be finalised, Garcia hinted that deals for Perth Glory, who are in receivership, and Newcastle Jets – who have been propped up by rival clubs for the best part of four years – are nearing completion.
That news will be particularly welcomed by Glory boss Alen Stajcic, who last week lashed out at the APL for not allowing him to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window.
The first casualty of the uncertainty surrounding Perth was midfielder Oli Bozanic, who announced on Monday his loan deal with the club would not be extended as a result of Glory’s financial predicament.
“On Newcastle, they are in advanced stages of negotiations,” Garcia said, adding that Perth’s receivers KordaMentha are “in negotiations, which we expect to conclude quite soon.
“They have a timeline that is very aggressive.”
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yes I can understand where you coming from & know many football fans like you. I suppose I a bigger Socceroos fan than any clubs in Europe, as a matter of fact most of my following in Euro leagues is because of Socceroos players or coaches.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I think all Australian football fans are missing Fußball ist unser Leben. He did a lot to promote the game, and it's no coincidence that there has been a steady decline in the A-League since his sudden disappearance. He foresaw that streaming would be the saviour of the A-League 5 or 6 years before the arrival of Paramount. He may still end up being right on this point. He wrote some terrific articles on how to advance the game in Australia, two I can recall off the top of my head: - using volunteers to build football stadiums at next to no cost. - putting the A-League on youtube and earning revenue via a sponsorship voucher scheme, whereby, anytime someone clicked a link to a sponsor, the A-League would earn 20 cents. 100 million clicks could earn the A-league $20 million. Money for jam. He foresaw a time when Youtube, Twitter and Facebook would be fighting over each other to pay big money for the rights to the A-League.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Give the GC are miss. No code is able to make a good fist of it there, and frankly speaking, people have a lot better things to do on a summer afternoon in GC than attend a football game
Waz
Roar Rookie
Agree. Not that any of us has the answers to a difficult question. South Melbourne and Wollongong would have been my next two picks. Then back to the GC or Brisbane if we can get Perry upgraded.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Worse than Gallop it turns out.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Me neither.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
I do apologise, those words have more than one syllable
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
ok, there was on other struggler like yourself who tried this on. Answer me one question, have you had the gumption, tenacity and respect for your nation to serve in uniform? Your inference suggests that you wouldn't last two minutes, just a keyboard hero right.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
He can't read the strategic plan, it has words with more than one syllable
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
I think NHL has a long-term contract with ESPN in Australia as well as the option to use NHL.TV.
AR
Roar Rookie
"SMELL THE FEAR!" :happy:
AR
Roar Rookie
The one constant in all these debates is the shifting sands of memory and hindsight. When the APL took over, it was hailed as the new dawn of a new and prosperous era. Now it's a laughing stock. When Fox severed ties, the fans were gleeful to rid Fox from the game (despite the extraordinary investment Fox had given the ALeague, not to mention wall-to-wall coverage and the likes of Hill, Peacock, Bozza et al). Now the games feel almost invisible. When Steven Lowy was appointed, most people thought it was the best appointment, notwithstanding the obvious nepotism. Now he's derided by the football masses. When David Gallop was appointed, he was the messiah. Now he's derided too. When SBS held the TV rights and was managing a whopping 150-200k viewers for Friday games, there was a howling chorus to ditch them and move "to a proper commercial channel". None came bidding. When CFG took over Heart they were an exciting benefactor come into the game, promising millions of investment $$ and global standing. Now they're a cancer. And on, and on, and on...
high horse
Roar Rookie
i woulnt know, i do love table tennis in china
high horse
Roar Rookie
as a supporter of tennis and surfing, the uSa is struggling
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Your the bloke who comments on the cricket . This would all be very nice if you weren't one of the Saudi harem members. I haven;t watched an EPL match for ages, and I went to sleep during the FA cup final. The A-league mens is more interesting to me , but I do have to force myself to watch womens club football out of obligation. All this is just prattle you showed your true colours supporting the Saudis, your a stooge pure and simple like Greg Norman and co.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Yeah, let's all get stuck into the APL :silly: ‘Careful what you wish for’: Steve Lowy’s words come back to haunt A-League club owners by Andrew Webster, Chief Sports Writer of The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/careful-what-you-wish-for-steve-lowy-s-words-come-back-to-haunt-a-league-club-owners-20240118-p5ey5h.html
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I was totally opposed to the club takeover of the competition. However it turned out to be a good move because they found an investor for the league. The thing that has expanded the league is the pyramid scheme of having permanent ownership of the league as well as a club in the APl structure. In fact the future of the A-league under Lowy would have been to dump Wellington and have no NZ teams and certainly not a Canberra team. Lowy would never have allowed the A-league to expand beyond the TV deal. The only reason he supported expansion was it was included in the TV deal. A national second division this would have had absolutely zero chance under either Lowy and without APl taking the cost burden and giving the FA money it would not be happening. Now the plus side is there are going to be a lot more A-league teams, and in particular two teams for NZ, the negative side expansion and self ownership creates more risk.
Saffi
Roar Rookie
I regret the poor staff who have been made redundant. It would be great to have our professional league so successful that it employed 180 staff or more but that is not where we are. When the owners fought the FA to take control of the ALeague, Steven Lowy (Chair of the FA) said “ be careful what you wish for “. I thought the same at the time. Never truer words have been said. I’m thankful that the owners have been willing to spend small fortunes in keeping our professional leagues afloat but Steven knew that it takes many skills, political contacts and foresight to run a national competition. I’m hoping the FA (full of cash since the Womens WC) can put out an olive branch to help the A League over this current hurdle. We need to help the APL.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Maybe the Cronulla didnt want to put up any money. The previous time they got an upgrade they hooked Sydney Olympic into playing there, when they were the big spenders of the NSL, and even with a top of the table team Olympic got small crowds there.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Where was I suggesting a move to Kogarah permanently. Ultimately the playing surface is the most important thing, and with this in view, the contract has to be negotiated that the club upon the pitch failing an inspection can move elsewhere and get compo everytime it happens. Kogarah is one alternative.