Why I love the A-League

Because it's still about football as sport and not as entertainment:

From Gabriele Marcotti in the Times

"Garry Cook, the former Manchester City chief executive, fascinates me. On the one hand, I find it funny that he’s resurfaced as, of all things, chief executive of UFC — yep, that’s Ultimate Fighting to the uninitiated — in Europe. Not that Mixed Martial Arts isn’t engaging, it just seems a weird place for him to end up.

On the other hand, the man appears to be a walking, talking contradiction. I think back to some of his lower points.

Trying to sign Kaka for £100 million and then, when the move broke down, whingeing, accusing Milan of “bottling it” and suggesting that Kaka’s father, who happens to be an engineer, was not clever enough to understand the “journey” Cook was taking him on. (The funny thing, of course, is that between Kaka’s father and Cook one of the two is educated, the other is a guy who spent most of his life selling sports apparel.

And then, of course, the ugly business with the jokes about Nedum Onuoha’s mother and her battle against cancer and, especially, the way he tried to get out of it, by saying that his e-mail had been hacked. (Yes, because if I hacked into the e-mail account of Manchester City’s chief executive the first thing I’d do is send abusive e-mails to a cancer sufferer while pretending I was sending them to Brian Marwood.)

And yet all this is juxtaposed by what I’ve heard not just from folks at City but others whose opinion I respect: Cook was very good at his job. Extremely good.

So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised when he came up with a very good point in an interview with the BBC website last week. While many mocked City’s use of the word “holistic” in their statement announcing the departure of Mancini, he explained the point better than most. “When companies sign an agreement with a club, they want access to the core proposition, which is the talent,” he said. “They want the manager, they want the players, so now the players and the manager have to give up time for that.

“It puts a drain on someone who doesn’t necessarily understand the need to be a commercial property, doesn’t necessarily understand the need to explain themselves in the media, doesn’t understand the need to run the business with financial management at the heart of everything they do.

“The holistic element is understanding the way a football club runs, not just how a football team wins games.”

Cook understands that football is part of the entertainment industry. Managers and players are actors. What do actors do? They endlessly promote their products. They engage with the media and with the public.

I know what you’re thinking so I’ll stop you right there. Yes, football used to be sport. And, for most it still is. Go down the football food chain to League 1 or lower and that’s exactly what it is. But the fact of the matter is that at the level of a Manchester City or indeed most top-flight clubs and we’re talking as much about a media/entertainment concern as anything else. That is what pays the bill. That’s what allows managers and players to earn in excess of £100,000 a week (sometimes much more than that). Strip away the TV money, the sponsorships and the commercial income and you’re looking at a much smaller pie and much lower wages. (Still, princely sums mind, but not the £15m over three years so many of these guys squirrel away.)

I realise that there are some managers and players who refuse all this. They don’t want to be a part of it. They just want to play football. That’s fine. But then, if you’re going to do that, you shouldn’t expect your £5 million a year either. Because you’re not really pulling your weight.

This may not be the way we want things to be. But it’s the way things are. It’s the only way you can justify the wages. And, increasingly, clubs are going to realize this. The game is still run by football people — and not Garry Cooks — and that’s probably a good thing. But it’s changing. And this time Cook is ahead of the curve. He gets it. Unlike many other things."

I love marcotti, he's very insightful, shining light in a sea of dross on ESPN - I seriously don't know how he sits there with a straight face while guys like Steve Nicol are talking. 

Though I do like Janusz, Shaka and big Gab!

That's a good article. Its funny when I read this as I just think of Mick Watson at the Warriors. Much the same mold but too soon for this country.

I'm not sure I agree with the sentiment that the A-League is "still about football as sport and not as entertainment" though.

The A-League may not be as commercially rampant as the EPL but only because it's early days (and at least the A-League has the common sense to have a salary cap in place from the start. However, even that is really about ensuring its long-term commercial viability rather than any warm fuzzies about it being more "sporting").

All professional sport is part of the entertainment industry, by definition, unless you think people are prepared to pay to watch sport for reasons other than to be "entertained" (no jokes about watching the Nix please). That's exactly what all the fuss about Sunday 7pm kick-offs is about, a massive entertainment industry player (Fox) flexing its commercial muscles.

David Conn at The Guardian is another journalist who has been writing similar stuff for years.

HAL has got Gallop in to fight its market share battles in its various markets. That is simply business; sporting business. 

Thing is, as we've seen with IPL and cricket, it can get ridiculous. 

Player realisation of their on stage role comes with the move up the ranks but even at A league level the off field, off season commitments of players for Western Sydney for example is playing a huge role in the WS business model. 

But (at A league level) I'd argue wider engagement with the various stakeholder communities of the clubs is actually good for the players as it contributes to them becoming more rounded human beings and not merely football machines or product. 

Given the relative paucity of media coverage in this egg ball shaped market (both countries) I don't think we're in danger of over-"cooking" it just yet. 

Yeah I don't really agree with your assessment JD. I reckon the A-League is just playing catch up on the entertainment element. It won't take long. Sadly.

We are fore-runners.  We had thundersticks very early on. 

And who can forget the Phoenix flannels a few seasons ago.  Entertainment combined with functionality.

But half time cage fights (e.g. Billy Harris vs Ricki) would be a sure sign that we are in the big boys league.

OK, seriously:  Who cares about how "entertainment-ised" (see I just made a marketing bullsh*t word) football/A-League gets.

If the on-field football improves and we get a good support base then isn't that a good outcome?

Looking at football as it was in the past with coal-face rose-tinted glasses is a waste of effort.  Things change over time.  This is life.

I am not sure how I feel about this so I think I might write it down.

On one hand, we as a general public, don't get on board unless a team is winner. Whether it be the Warriors in the GF years, the Breakers, the 2002 Tall Blacks program, we jump on enmasse. If the Phoenix were killing it, they would be packed out a bit more often. How many people would know the name of Sophie Pascoe if she had not won golds? I'm not being disrespectful to her because what she has achieved is absolutely amazing but had she not won, would people care or know her name?

Then you have the rugby public. Their teams dominate world rugby usually whether it be Super 15 or ABs yet they still whinge when the game is won, but not won in an entertaining manner.

So perhaps with the exception of rugby public, who have become accustomed to winning and now have migrated to a stage of 'wanting to win playing in an entertaining manner', supporters of other codes who perhaps do not have a history of success, just want the win?

Luddite I think is the name of that sort of movement. 

How is it growing?