As someone involved at Manukau, we're not looking for a 2018/19 license or probably a 2019/20 license.
As we've repeatedly said, our first aim is to establish a long term South Auckland side in the NRFL Premier Division.
Long term a National League spot would be nice, but given there's only three or four clubs from South Auckland in the whole NRFL at the minute (and Rewa look to being dropping into Div 2 and Papakura might drop out of the league) and it's a huge catchment area for football - look at the number of clubs operating down there, and the lack of representation higher up the league pyramid.
The aim is to get Manukau sorted, continue to grow the club and the partner clubs as well, and be in a position to make a bid for a license. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with stating that now.
One thing can't be denied, Centre Park is a bloody nice ground - if it gets a set of floodlights to bring it up to OFC standards, it'll be one of the best grass pitch venues in Auckland.