Independent A-League

LOL. A year ago “FFAwill fight to keep hold of A-League” ,then Covid+no sponsorship+ no TV deal, now “FFA set to expedite the transfer of ownership within months” 

I guess club owners taking full control means some certainty for the Nix. Morrison seems to be one of the boys at owners central. How this is going to be paid for is anyone’s guess.

I wonder if anyone has ever asked Morrison if he realised that owning a football cub was going to be this easy LOL. He seems to have be constantly sorting out one crisis after another since day one!

But he is sorting them which is very encouraging. Now if we stop losing players and ear mark some replacements....

Is Dom on the money ?

what the bollocks-FFA trying to set up a second division?? 

Football Federation Australia and the A-League clubs have finally ended years of haggling and come to an agreement over the future direction of Australia's elite soccer competition. #ALeague https://t.co/2Ku4ue3n1w

— The Age Sport (@theagesport) November 7, 2020

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/ffa-a-league-clubs-reach-agreement-on-separation-20201107-p56ce4.html?utm_medium=SocialFootball&fbclid=IwAR2DS7Vmj4QrpmNzR6VWiCblmLtCloLkAheo0K9s3bz_uUGUQ6B9Z7EH-Ig

The Force is Coming

The process of unbundling the league from the FFA and handing control of the competition to the member clubs is all but complete, with Tsatsimas saying an announcement is expected within days.

Until FFA at the last minute come up with some obstacle that everyone had assumed was not an issue.

Couple of interesting quotes below:

James Johnson: So, we’ve principally unbundled but have not formally unbundled. The clubs are operating the leagues and the league is already responsible for its own sponsorship deals, so the unbundling is already happening day in day out.

The actual written documents – we call them longform agreements – have not been signed yet, but they are close. We have agreed on all the main points principally, but there is still negotiation the fine details of the agreement. We are very close to being able to sign this off and very confident to get this finalised in time for the beginning of the A-League/W-League season.

Football Australia’s role post-unbundling will be as the regulator of the professional game. This means we will regulate the transfer system, the player status rules, we will regulate club licensing, and the domestic match calendar.

James Johnson: A second tier competition on a national level can work. Circa 75 per cent of the 211 FIFA National Associations have second tier competitions, so it should work, but we have some very specific challenges in Australia. We are similar to countries like the United States, Brazil, and India. We live on a continent so the logistical costs for a competition are extremely high.

We want a second-tier competition, we think at the moment it is still a theoretical conversation, a conceptual conversation.

It can work. I hope we get there, and I think that we will, because there is a lot of strategic football objectives to gain out of a second tier.

We are an organisation that has established and operated competitions in the past. Thus, as we get the FFA Cup up and running again in 2021 and as we unbundle the A-League, we are going to have time and resources to focus on the practicalities around a second tier.

Full article below:https://www.soccerscene.com.au/fa-ceo-james-johnson-there-are-strategic-objectives-to-gain-from-a-second-tier/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Hearing @FootballAUS and @ALeague have signed an independence agreement.
FA charged with promo and relegation.
National second division a certainty.

— Val Migliaccio (@Val61) December 30, 2020

Nix Out Brigade fires up 

It is an awkward point though, it has to be admitted. Leaving aside the fact that establishing pro-rel in current environment is absolutely bonkers.

This is a matter for the Aussies to worry about. The A-League owners don't want us gone and that's an end to it. The insistence on some Oz fans on turning everything into a way that they can get #NixOut is reminiscent of US Right-wingers trying to make up scenarios in which Trump gets another 4 years. Not going to happen now matter how much they wish.

Either the Nix are going to be "immune"; or there will be some kind of deal where we forfeit our licence or have to move to Oz permanently if we come last 3 years in a row or something like that. Semi-open, semi-invitational leagues are not unknown elsewhere. If we can't play ACL then it's fair that we have at least partial immunity to pro/rel.

FFA have an announcement set for later today, wonder what it is about ...

They have dropped it a little bit early https://www.a-league.com.au/news/australian-professional-leagues-be-unbundled-football-australia

I mean, for argument's sake, why couldn't we compete in the 2nd tier should we get relegated? 

Also really agree it is insane to even think about pro/rel right now 

money, none of the other aussie clubs would be able to afford the travel costs to nz for one, and I doubt the nix would want to base themselves in aus if relegated to avoid travel costs

Exactly This.

We have just seen the TV rights deal for the A League virtually slashed by 50%.

Media rights for a 2nd tier won't be that attractive. Hard to see it being anything other than a shoestring type league, with many players maybe even being part time/students.

Don't see a relegated Nix and the extra associated travel/accommodation costs being that welcome. Some parachute type relegation payment system may help.

Also thought I read somewhere that any 2nd tier may operate at least partly with West (WA, SA & VIC) & East (NSW & QLD) Conferences to try reduce travel costs.

But any pro/rel system would have to be years away surely

2nd tier = ✈️ing ?

Absolute pipedream.

So, the grand plan is "now that we are independent from FFA, we're gonna be rich.....let's expand to 16 teams and kick the Nix out...."

 Also known as  "Mad Hatter Putting A Cart In Front Of The Horse".

In most countries where pro/rel system operates, football is one of the main sports, if not THE main sport.  That is the only way a second division can attract enough support (based on locality), both in patronage and in sponsorship.  Second division (or below) must have an aspirational component allowing teams to go up if they are good enough.

In the A-League, that would only work if there was an overwhelming clamour from clubs trying to get into the top competition being prevented only because there are not enough places in HAL. But so far the only cases were clubs being turned down because they were not seen as fulfilling the criteria of a HAL spot, whether rightly or wrongly (Canberra being case in point).    So promotion to HAL would clearly require additional conditions being met by a club than just winning the 2nd league comp.  Similarly, being relegated from HAL would be far more disastrous for a club in Australia than in Europe or South America for argument's sake.

This makes me think that an Australian second division would be possibly be a "permanent" second tier competition, much as the top flight A-Aleague is based on a more or less permanent membership (franchise) that promotes and requires financial stability.

Agreed  - a USL rather than a Championship model.

Foundations Layed

Executives appointed