Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA (Part 2)

perhaps the content being hidden behind a very expensively bundled paywall is part of the problem? 

Or Sky can move with the times. Unbundling is the future yet they are stuck on this basic package for channels you don't want and need to get the content that you actually want.

Could the Welnix demand as part of some new TV rights/Metrics/10 year deal that they must have a "Home game" in the FFA Cup>?

Would that be worth it? Or a waste of funds?.

But not just the final rounds. I would not mind FFA sending a local league team here so we can show them where to send their best players out on loan if they want to get A-League experience.

Anyone have an idea if there is a next key date, aside from JAFAs turning up next home game? Do i recall Lowy Junior making a comment along the lines of "deal with it in the new year"? We have players susceptible to offers before then, right?

Most of the squad pretty much, Rob Morrison said they are open to other teams from Dec 1st

I hope the players stick it out to be honest. I'd like to think that they may consider a point to prove to the FFA, Gallop Horsey & Dementured Lowy

Not sure about others but am still a little concerned at some of the comments coming from Gallop. Given what Rob said at the meeting and in the press afterwards i would have thought comments like his recent ones would still not be coming out.Have to wonder if they are as close to settling this as we think.

while that sounds great in theory, players have families to feed etc.  They need to know where their next paycheck is coming from.

I've got to say that this whole thing has really affected my interest in the A League as a whole. I'm still behind the Nix 100%, but am finding it increasingly difficult to find any enthusiasm for the rest of the A League. Especially when you read the comments from Gallop, Lowy, Fox Talking Heads, and some of the Aus fan comments on others forums etc (though I know a lot of the other fans have been great as well). Whereas I used to watch a few of the other games, or at least follow their progress, now I just generally couldn't care much.

Having the same problem.

Since this whole ordeal Ive probably watched 2 non-nix games.  I still flick it on and leave the room for metrics though.

I agree. FFA is just waiting for the next team to be ready. Worst case very soon, but latest in four years. They care shark about us, you can see it in their faces and they say nothing positive about us.

Worse than that, I get the feeling that they're being deliberately antagonistic (squatting on the license) so that Welnix will give them the finger and take off. Then they can say to Bling, we didn't want the Nix to go, we offered them another 4 years, but when they pulled the plug we had to scramble and find something to keep our commitments to Fox, and the Shire was the only option...

It's not a good situation for us any way we look at it.

If you have a contract offer from a business that will be around next year (and beyond) and another from a business that will be - there's really only one option, particularly if you have a family and mortgage sized financial commitments.

As I said months ago, these guys (Lowys) are not pleasant to do business with and they will happily shaft (or use) anyone as long as it helps them achieve what they want. I've seen it first hand, more than once.

I'm trying hard to be positive but am wavering.

I think we should take the4 years and then band together with the other clubs to push for a restructure of A League management - away from the FFA and towards a more independent governance body. There's deeper issues with the league at the moment than simply our license situation and I can't see them being resolved by the current leadership. If these issues aren't addressed then there might not be an A League in 10 years anyway.

Allow me to quote myself:

And I said earlier:

The interests of the A-League and FFA are not identical. The league needs to have financially solid clubs fielding decent teams playing interesting football that is seen by a lot of people, but they do not need to care if such clubs are across town, or the ditch unless. Otherwise we would not have Perth in the league either.  Obviously the league needs to have a broadcasting deal that includes income from games not covered by the broadcaster (FOX), but I am sure a similar problem already exists in Super Rugby etc.

The problem is that the A-League can not stand on its own financially, not only do the FFA prop up clubs like the Jets but the TV money that is distributed to the clubs is actually money that Fox pays for the Socceroos, the amount that they would pay for the A-League is in single digit millions.

He who pays the piper chooses the tune, then.

Its not just the Socceroo's its the Matildas and all women/men youth national sides that is part of the deal. Except the W-League which has its own deal with the ABC network and Olympic games football teams on FTA (Except FOX gets rights to show qualifiers).

I believe the only other Australian national football teams that has nothing to do with FOX  money besides the above mentioned is Futsal / Beach football and Parra-Olympic football teams.

However, I don't think that the FFA subsidising the A League, if that's what is happening, necessarily means that the A League couldn't be governed by a separate board made up of representatives of the clubs and the FFA. Obviously the FFA would have to accept it though, which admittedly seems fudgeing unlikely.

We still have a job to do countering this sort of tosh in the west island.

With a handful of exceptions - Melbourne Victory, Western Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC and Melbourne City all the other A-League clubs are haemorrhaging money with owners collectively writing off hundreds of millions of dollars during the league's 10-year existence.

His father left him with a ticking bomb when he ignited the Wellington controversy, with FFA making it clear its thinking that having another Australian club, preferably in the growing region of southern Sydney, would be preferable to bankrolling a Kiwi team that contributes little to the Australian game.

Such a view would certainly be shared by broadcasters keen for more exposure in major Australian markets.

The Age's Michael Lynch on SLOWY

OK, but how do you counter the tosh?

PR push with Aussie media. Fly them over to Welly, show them some Kiwi NIx Wellington love. NZ Trade And Enterprise, Welly Tourism and many brands operating with key stakeholders in OZ do this all the time.

OK, that makes sense, but for that we would need to show that thre is enough local support - and if we have low coverage locally we won't gain much across the Tasman. Our PR work needs to start at home.

Need to back ourselves. The purpose is to provide some facts so they don't trot out blatant inaccuracies; demonstrate the passionate Wellington support; and give them a good time at some tourist spots (I've know journos to do Queenstown, Kaikoura whale watching and Rotorua or Huka Falls in less than 48 hrs). Plus a day in Wellywood leading into the game v Adelaide would have been perfect - and we could have punted on there being a good metric in attendance. 

Result? In addition to the experiencing first hand the positive media hype and other activities around the game, maybe even a yellowfever experience for the brave, and some knowledge enhancement, they would be less likely to trot out incorrect tosh next time they put fingertip to keypad.

Anyone read this? No Nix's fans made the list.

https://www.news.com.au/news/nsw/red-card-the-banned-football-fans-from-10-a-league-clubs/story-fni0cx12-1227618277879

THIS is the shame file Australian football bosses didn’t want you to see. Top secret documents reveal the banned fans from 10 A-League clubs — with more than a third from the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Now there's a surprise, the FFA's prized possession club taking up the honours.

Another metric where we failed.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/red-card-the-ba...

The issue has become so serious that stadiums are now moving to ban the local derbies between the Wanderers and Sydney FC until the FFA can contain the turmoil.

LOL.  FFA wants another Sydney side so there can be even more derbies.

FTFFA, clueless muppets.

Bring on more distance derbies. Invercargill v Cairns.

Good form on sport radio this morning.

News guy: "Newcastle and Adelaide have played out a goalless draw in the A-League"

Mulligan: "What are these guys bringing to the league then? How much money?"

Doull: "Get them out. Kick them both out."

How do they enforce the ban? People just could buy a ticket and walk through the gates.

they could. But presumably they'd risk being caught and breaching what I imagine is equivalent to a trespass notice. That would be one expensive game. 

You just can't go into the active support zones, they ask for ID there don't they?