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A-League threads [Merged]
- Thread starter Lidsand
- Start date
Gee how original.taztiger4 said:Western United
Another plastic club who will struggle to attract more than 5000 people. Playing out of Kardinia Park.......how inspiring that must be.
taztiger4 said:Western United
i was a bit sceptical when TWG went with Western Athletic early, so I'm not surprised to see they got it wrong. i think WU is a garbage name too, but its their choice. They didn't want "Melbourne" in their name, which makes sense.
Smoking Aces said:
unless they sign a Honda or Del Piero type as the second marquee, they will struggle to attract more than 5-6000 people playing out of Kardinia Park. but once they are in their new stadium, they will put City to shame.
Apologies as I reckon this has been discussed at length, but why would South Melbourne not get a gig
Great question Taz.taztiger4 said:
The short answer - its all political.
Yet South Melbourne have;
* Their own ground in the heart of Melbourne which is already up to A - League standard
* Already have a membership base that would put some of the current A - League clubs to shame
* Successful junior and womens set up
* Considerable financial backing
Smoking Aces said:
Doesnt add up does it, for different reasons but similar to Southport Sharks / GC
Smoking Aces said:
It is political. Victory and City didn't want them admitted due to their geographcal location. If you want me to be frank, they never stood a chance. If you believe the rumours (which I do), SM were eliminated from the bidding process back in october, but were reinstated at the last minute (almost certainly to help drive up price of the licence fee's). Western United were the front running Melbourne bid the whole way through. The only thing that would have stopped them from winning is if Team 11 had funding for their stadium.
However, SM will 100% be admitted via the second division. They just need to be patient. Its interesting that Western United signed a Greek international as their first signing.
But I do question whether Lakeside Stadium is up to ALeague standard. It only has 7,000 seats. I personally don't like the athletics track either. I would like to think that all future ALeague bidders will have plans to play out of rectangular stadiums going forward. We need to erdicate oval stadiums from the game.
I agree they never stood a chance and we all knew it.Ian4 said:
You are right Victory and Ciity were very much against South coming in. It had nothing to do with geographical location but more to do with the supporter base it could potentially drag away from those two clubs.
Second division - that's years off. They cant get the A - league right. What makes you think they can make a second division work.
The signining of Kone is clearly a strategic move to attract the greek supporters. They pretty much admitted it themselves. Will it work? Highly doubt it.
No doubt Lakeside needs some upgrading. However that wouldn't have been an issue if they were admitted into the league.
I am curious to see how long before this new stadium for WM is built. The idea of playing out of Kardinia Park and other grounds is ridiculous. It should have never been allowed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_United_F.C. :hihi Get ready for the confusion....
Oh well, at least green and black is original.
Oh well, at least green and black is original.
Smoking Aces said:
losing fans was a factor, but geographical location was the clincher. and i don't think thats unreasonable tbh. if the ALeague wants to grow it needs to do the opposite of the AFL by decentralising and placing teams in growth areas with large immigrant populations. I am told the Campbelltown region is the fastest growth area in Sydney, much like Wyndham is in Melbourne.
I also think Melbourne City should seriously consider changing tact by making themselves the representative team of the Northern Suburbs. That would leave Victory for Inner Melbourne, Team 11 for SE Melbourne and South Melbourne for the Southern Suburbs.
Smoking Aces said:
the goal of the AAFC is have the second tier up and running in 2020 called "The Championship." yes i agree this is completely unrealstic to have it up and running within 20 months, but its not as far away as you think. they claim they can self fund without any assistance from the FFA and will be made up of mostly NPL teams. the Team 11 bid team have also hinted at being involved. they also want promotion and relegation within 5 years.
there are plenty of article's about the AAFC if you wanna look into them further. here is one:
https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/second-division-will-be-delivered-by-2020-513848
Smoking Aces said:
its my understanding that construction of Tarneit Stadium will take 21 months (6 years for the entire project) and they are busy finalising the design with the achitects as we speak. So the goal of an October 2021 opening date is achievable as long as contruction begins this year.
Smoking Aces said:
Yes. they formed independently, but are now recognised by the FFA and FIFA. If you refer back to late last year when the FFA congress was changed from 10 to 29 voting members (resulting in the resignation of Stephen Lowy and an EGM to vote in a new FFA board), the AAFC attempted to get a spot on the FFA congress. But instead they were approved as a Qualifying Member Special Interest Group (along with the coaches association). long story short, they will be handed 2 FFA congress votes in 2022. So if you put 2 and 2 together, you would expect the second division to be up and running by no later than 2022.
City game plan is deplorable. 15 passes side ways, 2 back, 1 forward then turn over.Ian4 said:
Joyce is skating on thin ice.
