What happened to the Townsville bid?� Weren't they neck-and-neck with the Phoenix right up until we were awarded the licence?�
^^^^ Alert, retro posting above!!!
LoL you about 10 months late in posting that but we forgive you (you know you being a Liverpool fan and all that).
I'll fill you up to date. Townsville withdraw after learning that a NZ team bid was allow extension on their deadline and the FFA (especially Frank Lowry) desire for NZ market to be exploited.
Fast forward 9 months . . . Townsville announced their "Northern Thunder" team to be ready to enter A-League next season or the season after. They have been steady building their sponsor base and going ahead with ground development and calling different players for interest, including a couple of existing A-League players in the last month after end of the league rounds and looking for a marquee player overseas. They keep in good contact with Wynton Rufer to be their coach.
Last week, FFA told that their name needs to be regional reference and so it was renamed as "North Queensland Thunder"
They just were given a provisional licence and two weeks to prove their financial circumstances.