I don't give much credibility to the AFC conspiracy. That may have been a story some years ago when Bin Hamman was putting pressure on HAL to let Phoenix go, in the same breath as he was expecting to see promotion and relegation to/from A-League.
Sepp Blatter has quashed that talk very early on, saying that it is nothing to do with OFC and AFC to stop - that as long as FFA and NZF are happy with the arrangement then FIFA Executive Committee will continue to rubberstamp it. I tend to believe this version, simply because it makes sense.
We have all agreed by now that the FFA noises about our licence have more to do with the broadcasting deal (and FFA own finances) than with any political affray between the federations.
Yep - and either Dome or Morrison (can't remember which now) was on the radio immediately afterwards and said that the AFC had told them and the FFA that 8-10 years was what they would be happy with for a Phoenix license extension.
People seem fixated on the AFC issue though. The only potential issue is that the A-League only has 9 teams that can qualify for the Champions League and therefore Australia doesn't have as many spots as a competition with 10 qualifying teams would have. But if that is still an issue then there are other ways to fix it, like get new teams.
I agree entirely. Chances are that FFA does not have two valid bids for a new license, as it seems. If Canberra bid had more traction (= if FFA was willing to subsidise it like they did with WSW) then they could have them, and their beloved South Sydney / Cronulla option, both in the league to give us an even number. Nobody wants to have a competition with an odd number of teams and a bye round. With only one bid, they would have to get rid of us first, and stop losing money through the SKY TV deal. Then they could have a set of Australia based teams only and drop the SKY deal altogether. Anyway, that is just my guess, but I reckon that is why it was so tempting for FFA to come up face to face really close to Welnix, and see if they blink first, as it would have been a "cheaper" option.
The fact that they are unwilling to subsidy any more "new" teams is that they have the likes of Newcastle Jets or Brisbane Roar to maintain. In contrast, Welnix is a well-run, well-managed business, and Phoenix is a good club with decent crowds for the city of our size, so they may eventually let us stay if they are confident they make more money out of our license than they lose on us with their poor SKY TV rights return. It is a lower risk than getting a new club that may need rescuing, even if they play nothing but derbies. Well, any new club except maybe the proposed Sutherland Shire team as they seem to have serious money behind them based on reports to date.