Bit lost

Bit lost

They thought they were going to be included this season, but they now are not.

Offer him lesser wages as a humbling experience.

He wouldn't - who would? Once a player has moved on from a club why would he come back? Who knows if he'll stay in the A League though..

This is news from Friday regarding this. We wont know for sure until next week but there is good background info in here.

""FOOTBALL Federation Australia last night ruled out footing part of the bill for a Townsville franchise in next season's A-League to ensure the competition expands to 10 teams.

But FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said the governing body could help a Townsville team "in material ways", which would ease the financial burden of a bid costing an estimated $10 million.
While fellow expansion hopefuls Gold Coast Galaxy seem to have ticked all the boxes in fulfilling the FFA's strict criteria, the Townsville bid has come unstuck following a split in the Northern Thunder consortium.

Millionaire businesswoman Millissa Fischer-Massa, who was to provide 51 per cent of the Thunder's finances, remains committed to establishing a Townsville-based team and is prepared to fund the entire project herself.

But Fischer-Massa's representative, Tony Rallis, yesterday admitted the 2009-10 season was his client's preferred option if she was going to take sole ownership of the club.

"We were happy to be in the 2008-09 competition on the proviso that previous consortium members were going to come up with some money," Rallis said.

"To now come up with the other 49 per cent on your own requires planning, due diligence and financial support.

"We don't want to lose a motza of money in the first year. It's going to take a good month to retain people, such as a CEO and other staff. It's going to take two to three months to put a squad together. It's most important to maximise our income streams for corporate signage, ticketing, promotions and sponsorship. If we were to go in this year, we'd be operating at only 50 per cent because of the time frame."

Rallis said a rival Townsville bidder, Thunder general manager James Gage, would only have himself to blame if the Fischer-Massa ticket got the nod from FFA.

"What people don't realise is that Gage has been running around saying there was a bid � there was no contract with any grounds," he said. "They (Gage and businessman Allen St James) wanted someone to put in all the money.

"When you go into a partnership and the other side can't come up with the money, what are you going to do? It's either fold or put up."

Buckley said the FFA's announcement on the fate of the Gold Coast and Townsville bids had been delayed until next week.

A reliable source said to me today that unless a miracle occurs in the next twenty-four hours, expect an eight team league.

what is the FFA's problem with having a 9 team league btw?? It means 3 extra rounds, with one team having a bye, why has it got to be 8 OR 10 teams? I don't see the problem.

i think the bye was going to be the problem, from what i've read i don't think many in the FFA and A-league teams wanted a bye during the season

Definately 8 Teams next season!

Makes it tough on the Galaxy as they are ready to go this season. What happens to their signed players?. I guess Felipe will be spending the next 12 months playing beach football.

All players signed to Galaxy (and Thunder) were on contracts only applicable to the A-League, as the clubs won't be in the A-League the player's contracts are not binding.  There's plenty of spots open around the A-Leauge, if Felipe wants to hang around in Australia, he'll be picked up soon enough.

is this a list of players now off contract anywhere.

Yeah, but they also claimed that they had Karl Dodd who we know from a reliable source was not going anywhere so on that basis you have to take their claims with a rather large pinch of salt.