Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA (Part 2)

Now fifa approved.

https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2016/m=5/news=fifa-council-agrees-on-four-phase-bidding-process-for-2026-fifa-world--2790472.html

Seemed like it was always going to just be a sign off since all other parties had agreed. Then again this is FIFA we are talking about.

Wonder where all the 'AFC don't want it' and 'FIFA don't want it' morons that infested Australian social media during #SaveTheNix have gone?

FourFourTwo forums I would think. It's their safe place.

FIFA Charge in to save A-League from the tyrants at FFA :-)

I understand Septic Bladder is available for the top job if Gallop goes.

We really know how to create and maintain a social profile. ... yeah right.

As the buzz grows for A league expansion, the Nix find themselves, shall we say, drifting a tad. In the unlikely event of us being top 4 material over the next 12-18 months, I wonder if the success or otherwise of ACFC's progression towards A league status is actually our best chance of overcoming the first 4 year hurdle? 

The way things are, I think our best chance of overcoming the 4 year hurdle is if the FFA gives a new license to an even number (2, 4) of new clubs that they deem likely to survive financially. In contrast, if they find three (excluding ACFC) over the next few years then we might be screwed, purely because they won't need us anymore.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/video/football/shootou...

What I worry about is if the owners decide it's not worth it. They're running the Phoenix for Wellington and New Zealand but on the face of it does NZ or Wellington even care?

Interesting that Bosnich has actually said what the metrics are, that's the first time as far as I'm aware that the categories that we're being assesed on have been stated - whether or not that's true I don't know.

This so much. It's a 10 team league, you'd think the more teams the better. Fox would still grow their subscriptions with new Australian teams added and without axing the Nix.

That is why it bothers me that his comments went unchallenged (because this is bollocks). We're there because the league did not have enough viable local AUS teams so a provision was made to have one NZ team. Yes it could be reversed which is why I think we need to keep our nose clean as a club. But I think we do, and the reasons why FFA might want to cut us loose have nothing to do with our playing style, our results or our membership numbers. 

We could equally suggest to Bosnich that the league would be a financially healthier place if CCM and the Jets amalgamated to create one high quality club with lots of local support, because they have poor results and low attendance numbers (with apology to C-Diddy and Midfielder)...... . But this is surely not the way to go.   If the teams are financially viable then you have to grow the product not diminish it. 

There are at least three serious bids and two expansion slots.

But we do have four years, so it's odd that he's coming out with this now. It's either Fox/the FFA playing the long game as the pod suggested or he's trying to put pressure on with the coach situation up in the air. He could even be trying to do us a favor by incensing the NZ public.

Always possible.

As I understand it he wasnt anti-Nix before so maybe us nto being as good as we could be is frustrating him, maybe.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2016/12/wellin...

No it's not, there was obviously going to be a drop off post membership push thanks to people who bought 5 passes last year, buying 1 this year as multiple memberships aren't cheap.

I'm surprised how little it dropped off to be honest.

"That's no problem if they're bringing something to the table, but they have not brought anything to the table so far as I'm concerned."

Well what are you concerned with Bosnich?  In a tournament where one team wasn't paying their [players, and went past critical deadlines for payments without paying, even with threats from the FFA, knowing the FFA couldn't do shark because they are already running a club which they cant sell due to a lack of buyers, a stable A League club is something massive at the table.

Added to that is variety, something a south Melbourne club likely wont bring (you can play in Melbourne, Melbourne or Melbourne, so much variety, don't forget the Sydney clubs).

To say "they have not brought anything to the table so far as I'm concerned" is just ignorance.  If he said they dont bring enough to the table, that's a different kettle of fish, I'd still disagree but nothing is horse shark.

I really need to ignore him, we still have 3 seasons to enjoy at a bare minimum.

The fact that last year's membership #s were inflated by people buying multiples says a bit, you have to say...

Yea it says there is an extraordinarily passionate fan base who at the fear of losing their A League club bought memberships for other people, not all of the other people receiving those memberships would continue to buy but it certainly appears some did.

Why the A league would be willing to lose those supporters is beyond me.  Why Bos sees those passionate supporters of the league as nothing brought to the table is also beyond me.

I mean would you say that the hatchimals have inflated sales because parents buy it for their kids?  Why is it different to buy memberships for other people?

I'd love to know what Melbourne City's attendances were, without the Melbourne derbies. They're the model- private owner prepared to throw away money and Cahill- super marketable Australian god on a football pitch. I think they're under 10K, right? 

Despite the huge city, the enormous amount of money and rule bending, despite a lot of winning...They're the ones who aren't bringing much to the table their surely!

Seems like the FFA's plan is to bleed the Melbourne Victory fans for as many derbies as possible to ensure the financial stability of the league.

Interesting why this Bosnich attack has popped up now. They are either short of news over the holiday season or the FFA or whoever want to put some pressure on Welnix. If this is related to Ernies going and the new coach appointment, we can only guess. The arguements coming from Nix supporters is largely correct. We are NOT keeping another Oz club out of the club. The FFA want expansion.....eventually up to 16 teams eventually. There is no logic in ditching a team that is economically sound and viable, especially considering the history of many struggling Oz clubs.

So is this just another case of kiwi bashing?. Do we have to shrug this off as just another example that there are plenty of football people in Oz who just don't like having a kiwi team in their comp.

Part of me wishes we would appoint Rudan as head coach. Just to see if his mates on Fox TV would dump on him and the Nix. Maybe that and flooding the team and the reserve squad with up and coming Australian youngsters. It would be hard to support an Ozified club though.....except if they were winning LOL

If they were winning, and won the league wearing the Wellington badge, I think most supporters wouldn't give a flying fudge, the bandwagon would be full.

But if they filled it with Aussies and weren't winning then it would be angst form every angle.

Lose lose situation sometimes.

The reason the squad exists is because it was part of the deal for Australia to leave the OFC. That deal has now expired. The whole point of it is to keep professional football in Oceania and provide a pathway for NZ players.

The fact that we're not Australian is only a problem because there isn't much income generated from NZ. If we were paying more or were growing then it wouldn't be a problem IMO. The problem is it appears as though we're stagnating.

The main issue is really the fact that the A League isn't run as an independent entity from the FFA. The FFA's stakeholders are not the same as the A League's stakeholders. The MLS works with a franchise model spanning 2 countries and I bet the Canadian franchises will never be the high metrics glamour clubs of that league either. The difference is that the MLS is run by the franchise owners, not US soccer.

A stable, financially viable A League is in the long term best interests of Australian football, and the Nix undoubtedly contribute to that goal. However, the guys in charge of the FFA don't actually give a shark about the long term, they want to please their stakeholders now so they can get re-elected or keep their jobs, and that means when Aussie football people say "kick out the Nix and put a team in my town/suburb" then the FFA goons feel like they have to listen or they lose support for them in their roles.Even if a new team wouldn't be sustainable and would cannibalise another pre-existing franchise.

IIRC the AFC/FIFA recommended that the A League should be run by a separate body anyway, but the FFA didn't listen.

if they listened and it were independently run, then the FFA couldn't have A league clubs and owners funding them. 

It's most of their revenue.

On this occasion though no one from the FFA is saying anything, just one pundit from Fox.

However its moot. He's saying things we already knew and we still have 3.5 years to rectify them.

and he's a dick

Bosnich is such a cod.  Our season memberships are still probably our second highest that we have ever had. Admittedly I don't know what our numbers were in the Terry era but I thought we'd only got over 5k once and that was last season.    

And we're giving Australians in the lower leagues a chance, not just supplementing the NZ national team.  I wish one of the other plastic manequins had actually stuck up for us.  

Adding those teams would be a better option then chucking us out.

Fark it, lets just win the league to piss him off.

Unfortunately, I think that's the thing they're looking for only. Results, not progress..

The other thing that annoys me about Bosnich's comments is where he says we aren't Australian.  Well we are more Australian than Australians are Asian.  Just because you're in the AFC it doesn't make you Asian.

Not Australian - nor are the big stars of the FFA supported teams! Berisha, Bobo, Khalfallah, Ninkovich, Broich, et al, All of these Bosnich gushes over week in week out about how great they are for the league. He seems to forget about the young aussie talent that the Nix have found and the flailing Aussie careers we've revived - although he left to kill it again for CCM.

Or the talent that we have lent them, e.g. the Kiwi Messi

dont forget Archie, Smeltz etc

We've finished 8th, 6th, 4th, 6th, 4th, 10th, 9th, 4th and 9th

the average of that lot is slightly better than 7th. 

I've been there for every season and missed only 4 home games.

Are we pulling our weight in the league as far as entertainment goes?  If where we've finished in the League is any measure, then, no, we've not. 

Bringing a market of 4m to the League was the idea.   Having performances that draw crowds often not much more than 4k and TV audiences out of NZ presumably not much more than that isn't pulling our weight.

Bosnich has a fair point in my book.  Getting all defensive about it is understandable. It's our team.  But really, the club needs to do better.  A lot better. 

A lot of these expansion team bids will fall away once they realise how much of a slice of the TV money the FFA takes. 

If by some miracle the FFA give clubs a large enough share of the money, then it's a bit crazy to think that an expansion team could swoop in and claim the $ the Phoenix have helped to build over the last 10 years, and kick them out. 

But then I guess life isn't always fair. 

This is nothing compared to how they'd be bitching if we were winning the league consistently. So in that respect we've done our job- brought money in, developed some Aussie players and taken no trophies away.

If you look closer to FOX favorite Tim Cahill adds not to much entertainment for the money he gets. Compare him to our own Roy Krishna.

Goals Tim 5 Roy 7

Shots on target Tim 7 Roy 16

Successful crosses Tim 0 Roy 4

Assists Tim 1 Roy 2

Chances created Tim 3 Roy 10

Penalties won Tim 0 Roy 2

I know facts don't count much these days, but still Roy brings fans heart rate and joy more often up than Tim. Not saying he is bad player, I still prefer a league of Roy's than Tim's. The hype do not translate into action.