AkCity FC At The FIFA World Club Cup

Fair play. I noticed and commented on the fact that your comments on the game were amongst very few positive ones. 

If you refer to me as one of the two trolls then I object. As mentioned above, I'm passionately pro ACFC and ASBP and will argue in support of those.

Can you point me in the direction of a post on here where anyone does not accept the existence of the Phoenix?

What trolling and by who?

seconded!

Once again if that's directed at me then at least back it up.

It's fantastic to hear Ivan Vuksich talking about ACFC potentially being part of an A-League franchise bid. Is this the first time that he has been so definitive on this?

This is absolutely the right next step for ACFC and football in NZ, particularly in the context of NZ Football stating in their high performance plan that a second A-League franchise is a key goal. I think ACFC have the footballing nous and organisational capability to scale up and become a fully professional club.

The home ground thing is an issue but I think we keep a watching brief on what the the Warriors do in that regard. Ground share with the Warriors the most likely scenario?

As Tegal said, if you want it to stop, you kinda have to play along as well. That's not an accusation at you personally, but something you and your mates may want to consider. After all, like an argument, it takes 2 to tango. You may not be responsible for what other ACFC fans post but you can help be responsible for the image that the fans of that club portray.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/football-soccer/news/art...

By Steven Holloway

5:00 AM Friday Dec 12, 2014

"Auckland is, by far, the largest city in Australasia not represented in the A-League and after Auckland City's win yesterday against professional opposition at the Fifa Club World Cup, it appears the talent is already available for a competitive A-League team.

The Phoenix have also pulled in over 68,000 fans in their last four games at Eden Park (albeit four one-off fixtures including a Premier League exhibition match against West Ham).

The combination of factors could create a compelling case for an Auckland side to trump likely applications from a second Brisbane team and a third Sydney team."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

But the problem is that the talent on display yesterday was almost entirely foreign and you can't field so many foreign players in the A-League.

Auckland started with only three Kiwis in the side yesterday in the Club World Cup (maybe you can add De Vries - not sure if he has a NZ passport or not: "Ryan was selected to play for NZ in U20 World Cup 2010 and was later ruled out because of the FIFA ruling in FIFA Statutes on Eligibility to play for Association")

They would have to sign mostly Kiwis and Aussies to compete in the A-League since the number of foreign visa players per A-League club will be reduced to four in the 2015–16 season. (After that, the limit of four might become “3+1”, which means three imports from anywhere and one from Asia (following regulations in the AFC Champions League).

There simply isn't the talent pool available of enough NZ players of sufficient ability to play A-League to support two NZ franchises. And probably not enough decent Aussie players willing to cross the ditch either, to supply two NZ teams. 

And of the relatively small number of NZ players playing professionally overseas, few would want to come back and play in the A-League because the wages are lower than the leagues they are playing in (if they are half decent players) and there's more opportunities for career advancement and development as a player overseas. 

Maybe a second NZ franchise could be considered in ten years or more - but only if we were then producing more decent players in NZ and there was a flood of good Aussie players willing to move here.

In my opinion, this would not be a problem is they had built a waterfront stadium and sold off Eden Park and Mt Smart........

No. It's an old quote.

I have previously expressed my feelings on this but here again:

I would be terribly conflicted as on one hand I love ACFC but on the other hand I am 100% against another NZ based team in the A-league. I don't believe that having another team in the A-league is in any way beneficial to football in NZ.

Go on - call me a troll... No doubt someone thinks that for airing my opinion.

I thought this was a bit weird also.

Apart from losing their annual trip up to Auckland in search of a 10k crowd I can't see much downside for the Nix. Surely their would be many more benefits from having proper local Grrrrivals than there would be downside?

Dome should be talking it up simply as an interesting local A-league story anyway.

What's wrong with ACFC Vs WU? - that's a proper derby.

I just cannot fathom how you reach that opinion. You almost have to ignore a lot of facts to get there.

But whatever, you have your opinion and it's not about to change. That's fine. Life goes on. 

Too right. Western Springs the place.

Oh yeah, six months ago - seen that now, cheers.

Even better - hopefully its got some more behind the scenes traction then.

A second NZ based A-league team is such a bad idea on so many levels. So what do the Phoenix average? 6K? And then 15K in Auckland? So add in an Auckland team and you've lost your biggest gate of the season. Where does it leave your average? Still 6K? Probably not as where do all the Akl based Phoenix fans allegiances now lie? Auckland or the Phoenix? - Surely at least some would shift allegiance to Auckland.

You only need to look at Super Rugby to see tha damaging effect of focusing on an international club based competition. I'm fairly sure that the Blues get no bigger gates than Auckland pre Super Rugby and what of Aucklands gates now - probably sub 5K I'd imagine.

A strong domestic league is probably not the easy option but is the cornerstone to the success of football in this country.

See my post above and then tell me why you think a second A-league team is a good idea.

Too right. Unless he knows something we don't.

Jafas disdain rest of NZ. Rest of NZ hates Jafas. Boom!

Being rebuilt for cricket , until the nimbys realise it's a game , not an insect ....

Interesting that you think we don't often agree. I probably agree with your view when it concerns an actual game of football eg tactics etc. Probably I just post when I disagree that gives you the wrong impression... Haha!

Even though it's Waitakere territory another idea would be to spruce up the outdoor stadium at Trusts Arena Yes you'd have the athletics track in the way but it'd be better than Eden Park or North Harbour. 

God No ...youd be closer to the game if you stayed at home....

Here's the thing Tegal - you accuse me of ignoring the facts in may argument but at least I back myself with reason. You have come back with nothing to back yourself.

Still - I'm just trolling.

No way ever. 

Western Springs my pick if City ever need a bigger venue.

i always thought Mt Smart # 2 would be a nice little ground for an up and coming team - could schedule the odd game on # 1 for big clashes.

Western Springs is going to be the new home of first class and test cricket so that's not really an option.

What ever way you cut, slice or dice it the only option is North Harbour which unfortunately the Warriors and their supporters in south auckland are shortly going to discover.

I know the location failed last time but I think Aucklanders may have matured a little over the past 10 years. Heading to Albany is a little less scary after you have been there once and the North Shore population by itself has exploded over that time. 

If its managed right, a decent squad is signed, perhaps even a marque to spice things up and get this rolling, I think it could work well and actually boom.

I think it will however only happen once the Phoenix win the A league. Then the buzz will be here, 30k crowds for play off games, a growing TV market and of course the ausis will want to stop our chances of winning it again (2 teams should dilute the chances for a few years)

#t=64

The rest I agree with.

Re: An Auckland Team in the A-League:

I fail to see how an Auckland side would be able to sign a strong enough squad because they'd need to sign about nineteen NZ and Aussie players in a squad of say 23 since the number of foreign visa players per A-League club will be reduced to four in the 2015–16 season. (After that, the limit of four might become “3+1”, which means three imports from anywhere and one from Asia (following regulations in the AFC Champions League).

The problem is that the talent on display for Auckland City yesterday was almost entirely foreign and you can't field so many foreign players in the A-League. And in my opinion, of all the players who took the field, Kiwi and foreign, only Djordjevic, Iwata, Payne, Berlanga and Williams looked good enough to play A-League (Vicelich would be too old by the time an Auckland franchise started).

Auckland started with only three Kiwis in the starting lineup yesterday in the Club World Cup (maybe you can add De Vries - not sure if he has a NZ passport or not: "Ryan was selected to play for NZ in U20 World Cup 2010 and was later ruled out because of the FIFA ruling in FIFA Statutes on Eligibility to play for Association")

There simply isn't the talent pool available of enough NZ players of sufficient ability to play A-League to support two NZ franchises. And probably not enough decent Aussie players willing to cross the ditch either, to supply two NZ teams.

And of the relatively small number of NZ players playing professionally overseas, few would want to come back and play in the A-League because the wages are lower than the leagues they are playing in (if they are half decent players) and there's more opportunities for career advancement and development as a player overseas.

Maybe a second NZ franchise could be considered in ten years or more - but only if we were then producing more decent players in NZ and there was a flood of good Aussie players willing to move here.

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 4:48a.m.

Auckland City goalkeeper and LiveSPORT football expert Jacob Spoonley joins the Breakfast of Champions team to talk about his side’s nail-biting victory over Moroccan champions Moghreb Tetouan at the FIFA Club World Cup yesterday.

http://www.radiolivesport.co.nz/Jacob-Spoonley/tabid/454/articleID/21685/Default.aspx

Well- gates have been down in Welly cos the team has been sharke, but that is turning around. Several seasons of finals football and that will crank up. 

And a derby should also bring in the crowds. It would turn it up to 11.

Also and very importantly- there is the NEX on the busway. A safe quick way to get from town to the stadium. A drink or two in the city and then off to the game. Rapid transit. Just a shuttle from stadium to busway station.

That said, at the moment I'd really struggle to support anyone other than the 'Nix! Phoenix till I die, not until there's a new franchise. I'd need spiritual guidance. 

Enjoyed watching the AWs at the trusts, but its a pain in the neck to get to. 

Hmmm... An Auckland A-League team might stop the continuing drain of players moving from Auckland/Waikato to Wellington - Siggie, Riera, Krishna, Hicks, Marco, Boyd, etc. so the problem of insufficient talent would be spread pretty evenly between the two franchises and so might even encourage faster and more intensive development of our youth. That would be nice. And overdue.

Prediction time: ACFC to lose against the Algies, WSW to lose against Cruz Azul so ACFC (Champions of Oceania) and WSW (Champions of Asia) fight it out - bif! bof! - into extra time and pens for the 5th/6th place and the $630,000.