Russian tycoon Slava Meyn doesn't seem to have ambitions in terms of women's football at this stage.
His Christchurch Football Academy in Yaldhurst is going great guns, hosting NZ's biggest annual international youth football tournament with teams from Australia and around the world.
He's concentrating on youth development and making club Christchurch United a major force again.
His coaching recruits for Chch Utd are over-kill in terms of what is required to get out of the second tier of Canterbury football and back into the Mainland Premier League, having recruited a top Brazilian coach in Fernando Lambert and as Technical Director, Dutch former Eredivisie player, Dutch FA Coaching Development Officer and until recently Technical Director of Al Arabi in Qatar, Pieter in ‘t Groen:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/87534954/Ch...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/87534954/Ch...https://www.nznewsuk.co.uk/living/?id=75358&story=...
Considering that NZ women's champions Mainland Pride attract crowds of about one hundred spectators here in Chch, it's unlikely even Slava Meyn would want to put money into a W-League team, even if crowds were boosted to 500 and the odd match got on the tele (he'd probably have to pay Sky for TV coverage).
My garden is fully taken up by a vege patch and one of the largest walnut trees in Canterbury.
Thanks for the Slava Meyn update Big Pete. Slava obviously has some moolah.
The potential limited crowd support for a semi-pro W League side (no matter what NZ city it is based in) does raise the fundamental problem that crops up with Abbey’s plea for more cash.
Crowds of only 500 people, don’t bring in gate takings, don’t create media interest/TV rights, don’t bring in sponsorship dollars or encourage rich benefactors to throw their dollars around.
This is the same for any sport at any level whether it be played by men, women or alien life forms!
Still if I was Abbey I’d give Slava a phone call. You don’t ask, you don’t get - and the number of wealthy football benefactors/philanthropists in NZ is very limited.