A-League The A-League Expansion Thread

[Heardy_101]

It’s funny there hasn’t been a lot of noise coming from the club about it. I still go regularly to games and it’s still a hot topic amongst other fans but people within the club seem pretty tight lipped about any bid

Maybe they are keeping mum about it for a reason, who knows. I'd love for AC to join. I can't support Adelaide United for some reason.

 

[Heardy_101]

I heard Adelaide City pulled out and are waiting for the second division..

Any word on this?

 

[Great8]

Maybe they are keeping mum about it for a reason, who knows. I'd love for AC to join. I can't support Adelaide United for some reason.

Yeah, I’ve been a member of AU as it represents good value but can honestly say my heart isn’t with them but it’s all we have got currently so if I want to attend A-League games I don’t have many options. I don’t think City will get in as I’d think United would lose plenty of support to them

 

[Heardy_101]

Depends though, not everyone would have jumped over to United when City left the NSL. They would bring in old and new supporters. United would lose a few, but they have a few bandwagoners as well (like most clubs). We'll see.

City won't get in this time... FFA is set on Sydney

 

[Andonis1997]

Any word on this?

I think it came from an SBS article I read..

 

[The_Todd07]

Can't see Western Victoria being any more successful than the original Geelong based location.
If I cant have a team in my own city, Id rather travel a bit further up the road to Melbourne than stop in Werribee/Wyndham

 

[Heardy_101]

Yeah that's what doesn't make sense.

Either have a Geelong team, or Western Melbourne. Not combined. Same with the bid in NSW that will have Sunderland, Wollongong and in between as their home (talk about dilution! )

 

[Redalert]

Ultimately it'll all be decided by which clubs pull in TV ratings. Suspect that means we'll be seeing two of the Sydney and Melbourne bids get up.

 

[Heardy_101]

It'll be decided by who has paid the most bribe money to Gallop and Co, and who they want in. So it'll either 1x Melbourne and South Sydney, or it'll be South Sydney and another Sydney team. It's been that obvious from the start.

Hopefully Gallop and Co have nooses around their necks soon anyway!

 

[hey shorty]

Any word on this?

West Adelaide have been confirmed as being the only SA side to put forward a plan, being heavily bankrolled too

 

[Heardy_101]

According to FourFourTwo, the official SA big is called "Adelaide 11".

Adelaide City is behind it, are aiming to be based out of West Adelaide (no idea what that extends to) and are aiming to play out of Hindmarsh.

 

[Heardy_101]

West Adelaide have been confirmed as being the only SA side to put forward a plan, being heavily bankrolled too

See above.

 

[Heardy_101]

My Apologies mate, only just did my daily check of 442.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/new-adelaide-club-to-have-100-million-budget-491836

Very interesting. Would prefer City to put their hand up but they obviously have their own reasons.

Interesting that West Adelaide, like South Melbourne are also known as the Hellas. So if South's get in, and Wests get in further down the track ahead of City, then there will be a name change.

 

[Andonis1997]

My Apologies mate, only just did my daily check of 442.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/new-adelaide-club-to-have-100-million-budget-491836

Very interesting. Would prefer City to put their hand up but they obviously have their own reasons.

Interesting that West Adelaide, like South Melbourne are also known as the Hellas. So if South's get in, and Wests get in further down the track ahead of City, then there will be a name change.

It won't be a 'West Adelaide Hellas' team. They'll only be linked to it, it'll be a team with the same colours and identity as the ownership group's other teams (a couple in Europe, one in Africa), much like City Football Group.

 

[Heardy_101]

It won't be a 'West Adelaide Hellas' team. They'll only be linked to it, it'll be a team with the same colours and identity as the ownership group's other teams (a couple in Europe, one in Africa), much like City Football Group.

What will that be, though?

 

[Andonis1997]

What will that be, though?

They've kept anonymous apparently

New SA soccer club armed with $100 millionMAY 26, 2018 AN English-based consortium armed with a $100 million budget is behind SA’s hopes to have a second club in the A-League and W-League.
However, like Adelaide United’s new owners the investors have chosen to remain anonymous — at least at this stage of the bid.

Chairman of the new SA club bid Andy Haralampopoulos said the consortium had submitted its expression of interest by Football Federation Australia’s Thursday deadline last week.

Haralampopoulos concluded the agreement last week in Europe after four years of negotiations with the consortium.

West Adelaide — SA’s first national league champion in any football code in 1978 — will be the partner club to the new consortium, Haralampopoulos said.

According to Haralampopoulos the consortium is similar to the City Football Group which owns Manchester City, New York City, Melbourne City and shares of Yokohama F Marinos, Torque in Uruguay and Girona in Spain.

“They already have clubs in Europe and one in Africa and the one in Australia that would be a starter club,’’ Haralampopoulos said from Athens, Greece.

“The operation would be very simple and the only pathway the new club would have is through West Adelaide.”

The consortium also manages players and first-class coaches globally with the proposed club name and colours at the mercy of its new fans.

The new club would base its headquarters — head office and training facilities — at West Adelaide’s new home at Kilburn after the former Labor state government handed the club $4.5 million in funding towards the project.

The sports complex, which is currently under construction, is expected to be ready by the end of the year with Kilburn also destined to house a 5000-capacity stadium and two synthetic pitches.

“We have entered commercial agreements with the consortium for the use of the facilities,’’ Haralampopoulos said.

“The player pathways for men and women will be through our NPL clubs.”

Haralampopoulos said the budget for the proposed new club is modelled on what top-end clubs are spending in the A-League and W-League at the moment — in excess of $10 million a season.

Edit: Oh. Says nothing about colours.

 

[nobbyiscool]

It won't be a 'West Adelaide Hellas' team. They'll only be linked to it, it'll be a team with the same colours and identity as the ownership group's other teams (a couple in Europe, one in Africa), much like City Football Group.

Any idea who the other teams are? I had a look at the FourFourTwo article, but there weren't really any leads with which to find who the other clubs are.

I wonder how committed the FFA is to only having 2 new teams. As others have said, I think it's really obvious that one of the new teams will be Sydney-based (and not Wollongong-based); I think if the Dandenong bid prove it can build the stadium, it's the other successful bidder.

But from what I've read, some of the better sounding bids aren't the ones that FFA would necessarily want to commit to.

So are they prepared to bring in 4 new clubs in 2019-20? Or will it be the Sydney and Melbourne teams in 2019, followed by (lets say) Adelaide and Canberra or Tassie in 2020? And how much momentum do those clubs lose by having to wait an extra 12 months and miss out on the potential signings that Sydney 3 and Melboure 3 will get a leg up on?

 

[Andonis1997]

Any idea who the other teams are? I had a look at the FourFourTwo article, but there weren't really any leads with which to find who the other clubs are.

I'd love to find that out, but I wouldn't know. I can assume it would be a South African team maybe? I guess we just have to stalk and look at what teams have a 'corporate' vibe, such as Red Bull Leipzig/Salzburg/New York.

 

[Heardy_101]

You'd think it wouldn't be hard to find out, I mean at least all the City Group teams are all called City and have sky blue shirts as their home kit..

 

[AFCCroweater]

They've kept anonymous apparently



Edit: Oh. Says nothing about colours.

Delusional is the only way to describe West Adelaide’s bid. Adelaide can barely keep AUFC afloat let alone a second team who only Greeks will support. And then again not all Greeks will support them cause the new ‘West Adelaide’ is a plastic mutt of a club-the real West Adelaide died 20 years ago. Funnier thing is they think they’re actually a chance


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[hey shorty]

Delusional is the only way to describe West Adelaide’s bid. Adelaide can barely keep AUFC afloat let alone a second team who only Greeks will support. And then again not all Greeks will support them cause the new ‘West Adelaide’ is a plastic mutt of a club-the real West Adelaide died 20 years ago. Funnier thing is they think they’re actually a chance


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

If they have the funding, and the ambition then they're a chance.

I'm inclined to think it'll fail mind you.

 

[Heardy_101]

It won't get in this time. FFA are hell bent on South Sydney and whoever gives them the bigger bribe out of Sydney 4 and Melbourne 3

Hopefully Adelaide City put their hand up next time

 

[Scotland]

I really don't get why people insist on applying overseas approaches to Australian sports. 'We need more teams' - we don't. 'We need promotion and relegation' - we don't.

We have a 10 team league where 6 teams average fewer than 10,000 spectators per game.

Sydney, a city of 5m people - supports two teams to a combined average of 26k. Melbourne, a city of almost 5m people - supports two teams to a combined average of 27k. These are incredibly low percentages of the population. Greater Manchester, an area of 2.7m people - supports Manchester City and Manchester United in the PL, Bolton and Wigan in the Championship and Bury, Rochdale and Oldham in League One/Two. There is not some latent hot bed of support for extra A-League standard teams let alone a second division.

Australians don't support second tier sports and competitions that are perceived as second rate internationally. It's only the AFL, NRL and BBL that are genuinely commercially successful. The NBL has its moments but outside Perth is pretty shaky. Super Rugby has lost the public completely and is losing rugby die hards rapidly. The A-League does OK but this Football Australia board gets a fraction of the traffic as the main Association Football one which is mostly discussing the PL and UCL. There are way more soccer fans in Australia than there are people who are fans of A-League teams. If we set up a second division and WSW come 9th again and go down they're not going to get 10-15k per game playing div 2. Their best players will leave and fans will lose interest.

 

[Redalert]

I really don't get why people insist on applying overseas approaches to Australian sports. 'We need more teams' - we don't. 'We need promotion and relegation' - we don't.

Most of the push is coming from a perception that the current league is stagnant - people see new teams as a way to rejuvenate that. Rightly or wrongly people want more from the A-league, and over the years we've seen both ends of spectrum (WSW & Gold Coast).

 

[darko]

I really don't get why people insist on applying overseas approaches to Australian sports. 'We need more teams' - we don't. 'We need promotion and relegation' - we don't.

We have a 10 team league where 6 teams average fewer than 10,000 spectators per game.

Sydney, a city of 5m people - supports two teams to a combined average of 26k. Melbourne, a city of almost 5m people - supports two teams to a combined average of 27k. These are incredibly low percentages of the population. Greater Manchester, an area of 2.7m people - supports Manchester City and Manchester United in the PL, Bolton and Wigan in the Championship and Bury, Rochdale and Oldham in League One/Two. There is not some latent hot bed of support for extra A-League standard teams let alone a second division.

Australians don't support second tier sports and competitions that are perceived as second rate internationally. It's only the AFL, NRL and BBL that are genuinely commercially successful. The NBL has its moments but outside Perth is pretty shaky. Super Rugby has lost the public completely and is losing rugby die hards rapidly. The A-League does OK but this Football Australia board gets a fraction of the traffic as the main Association Football one which is mostly discussing the PL and UCL. There are way more soccer fans in Australia than there are people who are fans of A-League teams. If we set up a second division and WSW come 9th again and go down they're not going to get 10-15k per game playing div 2. Their best players will leave and fans will lose interest.

Few years ago Victory and City sold out Etihad in 2-3 days for their Elimination Final. These days you'd struggle a crowd half of that for a final. The league is stale.