Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA

If I was the owner of another club in the league I would be ropeable about the way this is being handled.  Unprofessional and just racks of a complete lack of strategy.  They have approved a NZ team in the league for 10 years. 

People keep pointing to the Newcastle Jets but they have 10k members and it is a massive football area so they are not going anywhere.  CCM are in big trouble and I think they will be in North Sydney in the next 5 years.  Reading this they will be worried.

Melbourne Heart are actually a poxy club with bugger all fans but the derby saves them

I think the way a deal gets done here is that all of the key stakeholders - Welnix, WCC, NZF, SKY agree to effectively pay up to stay in.  I cannot see another way around this mess.  Twitter hastags do not save the club - it is about cash

GC Burnsie.

Do the Welnix actually not own the IP?  Or does the A League only control the IP while the Nix are in the A League (to stop them walking out mid season and packing a tanty)?

It would be a bit lame if they cant use it in Wellington for an ASB team.

The A League owns everything, thats how they could just take the license and IP from Terry and give it to Welnix, Terry didn't give up the license and branding he wanted to hold it.

I think what we need here is an organized approach if the yellow fever are going to have any influence or sway in keeping this team alive.

We can vent as much as we like on this forum but to be frank it means fudge all and we will die

I'm probably not the man to do this (News, Smith, Patrick are you listening :)

For starters we need the name, telephone number and email address of every person and organisation who is a stakeholder in this business (the FFA, the union, Sky, Fox sport, Morgan, NZ football, Hyundai, Heinekin, Radio sport, etc etc)

Then every person here who cares a fudge, takes 30 minutes of their day to compose an email or two and emails these fudgeers, with good stories, threats what ever. Phone calls clogging their lines would also help.

If it strikes a chord with some of these big wigs and they lean on Gallop then that is our only fudgein chance.

Roughly three to four years ago I suggested quite strongly a growing disquiet pertaining to the growth in Football if we compared NZ and Australian.

Further I suggested unless significant progress was made a licence extension would be difficult. Most believed I was wrong and then every post I made seemed to cast in doubt of the real motive. So essentially for most of this year I have not commented.

I have read most of the posts on this thread and the theme seems as always with YF posters the evil FFA are out to do us in. Never trust em [FFA] … history shows us the FFA !@#$@!@ .

Gallop statement released on Fox http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/david-gallop-says-wellington-phoenix-failing-to-perform-on-any-a-league-off-field-metric/story-e6frf4gl-1227585368703 clearly shows some KPI’s identified as unacceptable.

Further the offer of four additional years to bring them up to speed. North Queensland were given 3 games.

Hate me call me whatever but for the love of Mary understand the issue … you don’t like being told that you are not keeping pace …..further the days of we can pay the bills are long gone. … you need to bring something to the table…

BTW I understand my Mariners could be next …

However if you still believe this is all about the evil, corrupt, inept FFA then so be it …

Further as Simon Hill wrote recently regarding the FFA stance “””Muddying the waters are the “exemption” clauses needed from the NZFA, Oceania, AFC, and ultimately FIFA, for a non-AFC club to continue playing outside its own confederation.

The reason? AFC could soon face problems of its own, over a mooted ASEAN Super League. The countries involved - Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - contain some clubs that are hugely in favour, but others aren’t so keen. AFC, keen to avoid conflict, may not want to set a precedent by offering a club an “opt-out” from its own domestic competition, as is currently the case with Wellington.”””

Just about every journalist and football writer in Australia contradicts what you have written there Midfielder but you just keep on going.

Fudge off, our Metric and KPIs are better than yours and Jets! We go, I see CCM going. Just because you have a license now doesn't mean they won't take it off you later!

The FC Boss is not happy:

THE chairman of Sydney FC has reacted furiously to the possible introduction of a new A-League team in south Sydney, accusing Football Federation Australia of breaking assurances and of “cutting our market in half”.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/sydn...

Scott Barlow chairman of Sydney FC “We don’t agree with the way Wellington have been treated, they deserve more respect.”

The enemy of our enemy is our friend.

Well-in, Scott Barlow.

If a few more CEO's come out and say similar, then the FFA will be under real pressure.

Sydney A Sydney A Sydney AAAAAAA

I have to say, we are very unsophisticated users of the media.  Why have friendly journalists not been fed the lines that we have been saying for years about crouds, memberships etc etc to counteract the negative picture that has been painted about us.  It does feel like we have been quite passive about this, the support for us has been there all along as is being demonstrated now, I wonder whether we could have harnessed that much earlier

Winston Reid Peters has got our back too:

28 OCTOBER 2015

Ministers of Sport And Trade M.I.A. on Wellington Phoenix

The Football Federation Australia’s (FFA) rejection of Wellington Phoenix’s 10-year licence is shameful treatment of the Wellington Phoenix, says Spokesperson for Trade Fletcher Tabuteau.

“New Zealand First is asking what the Minister of Sport and Recreation Jonathan Coleman and the Minister of Trade Tim Groser are doing about it.

“Our Australian cousins have delivered the Wellington Phoenix the football equivalent of an underarm delivery. Clearly, the Ministers need to act, starting with calls to their counterparts and the FFA for a ‘please explain’.

“It rams home the second-class treatment of Kiwis and Kiwi businesses. A major financial investment will be wrecked along with the emotional investment of fans.

“This now highlights the way 650,000 Kiwis living in Australia are treated and even banned from joining the Australian armed forces. The relationship we have with Australia is increasingly one-sided, despite all the platitudes of fraternal love and respect from the Prime Minister.

“There is a role for the government because the implications extend beyond sport and go towards CER, the New Zealand-Australia Closer Economic Relations Investment Protocol and the relationship we have with our biggest trading partner,” says Mr Tabuteau.

This is getting good 

I had to check whether that was a joke at first , Conan. Hah!

QUADTRUPLE OCTUPLE POST

QUADTRUPLE OCTUPLE POST

QUADTRUPLE OCTUPLE POST

Mum was right to vote for 'her' Winnie...

Ray Gatt ‏@Gatty54 1m1 minute ago

Sydney FC have unlikely ally in WSW re mooted new southern sydney franchise while Glory and Adelaide also support the club. All support WP

With the clubs getting behind us it seems like Lowy is the only one not keen on us.

Lowy is gone now!

Oh wait, now other Lowy is there.

Damn.

Gallop in Monday's statement:

“FFA has carefully evaluated the role and contribution of the Wellington franchise in terms of game development, player pathway, commercial factors, broadcast rights and the long-term strategic outlook,” said Gallop.

“The application for a 10-year extension to the licence does not meet the requirements we see as fundamental to the future growth of the Hyundai A-League.”

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/article/ffa-bo...

Gallop today:

Asked if this could be their last season in the A-League, Gallop wouldn't make any promises. "The ball is in their court," he said. "Certainly if they come to us and ask us to apply for the four-year licence, then we will do that. But they need to make some decisions about their future. There are issues with how they're performing [off-field]. There's one metric that's hard to measure, on-field performance, but nobody is suggesting that is poor. But their numbers off the field are poor. The metrics are pretty obvious - crouds, television ratings and membership. Those are the ones that are really going to make us sit up and take notice."

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/david-gallop-de...

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So, what happened to game development and player pathways? The first two factors mentioned in the press release aren't identified as key "metrics" in the follow up interview? Even in two days it looks like the FFA have shifted the goalposts again.

Also he says on-field performance is hard  to measure - really? I thought they had scoreboards and league tables for that sort of thing?

quick question. what are the membership numbers looking like now? gallop mentioned we need more members and i reckon there's probably been a spike in the last few days.

The way I see it it is a lose - lose scenario for a lot of people.

The other Sydney clubs are pissed off at having their potential support base diluted (certainly Sydney FC does) - sure enough we heard at the last year's AGM that no new team licences were to be handed out anytime soon.

Equally, even if they don't say that, owners of a far flung club like Perth may worry that even if they don't say anything now, it can be their problem one day too, as they may one day be also seen as "not conducive to the league growth" - all it takes is to shift goalposts. 

If FFA really wanted growth, they should revisit the situation of NQ Fury (whose supporters are still furious about the chop) and Canberra (whose supporters are still furious about not getting a licence despite fundraising).  The second team in Adelaide never got the license thing off the ground, so it looks like really just Sydney and Melbourne all of a sudden.

And of course we are furious and gutted if we get the chop.   So who wins / gains here? Beats me.  

Xenophobes.

  So who wins / gains here? Beats me.  

[/quote]

Hobbiton in the fecking Shire.

This really does look like NQ Fury MK2. The difference being - we've had 8 years in the league and the FFA have shifted the goalposts at the last minute.

quick question. what are the membership numbers looking like now? gallop mentioned we need more members and i reckon there's probably been a spike in the last few days.

https://hamishneal.wordpress.com/2015/10/27/ffa-v-...

Very well put together article this.

Got message of support from Cove guy I meet when in Sydney. They will be releasing a statement soon, just waiting on SFC so can release them at the same time but the Cove supports us!

this is escalating so quickly on the FFA. 

I hope "escalating" is some sort of euphemism

Obviously the massive gains we've made as a club since WelNix took over aren't enough for the FFA. 

Obviously financially stable committed owners aren't a key metric for the FFA.

Obviously the FFA doesn't want to expand the A League into any urban centre in Australia they aren't already in, because only markets with millions of people will be considered for expansion.

Newcastle and CCM should be worried - no room of markets of hundreds of thousands in the Brave New FFA World. Every other club should be worried because their fan bases are being eyed up by new expansion clubs. Unless there's thousands of fans in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide who aren't going to games at the moment?

But hey, metrics! Derbies! Strategic vision!

I was microscopically close to blowing up at my mum this arvo

Mum: So sounds like Nix are gonna be gone soon
Me: I don't wanna talk about it
Mum: Oh get over it
Me: *FUME*

Wait and see if the mooted sale to a Scottish investor actually goes through.

If it does not, it's another albatross round FFA neck.