an article in the sydney morning herald today, which asks ppl whether bankstown is south sydney or west sydney. This debate coming about as the canterbury-bankstown regions have been moved to the south sydney portfolio and away from the west sydney portfolio as west sydney is viewed as going out towards penrith and out towards the new airport at leppington.

surely a st george, shire, bankstown canterbury approach is the way to go for a new south sydney team.

if they tag the name Illawarra or have a connection they add the extra 250k who live there to their potenital customer base. 

So the article re FFA wanting TV input into expansion is disheartening for a Tasmanian but I thought I would share what I've been working on today anyway.

Re do of the Tasmania United Crest and Home Kit. Let me know what you think.

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love the concept of showing unity through the use of the tasmanian state in the logo.

dont like the concept of unity through using the united name that half of the clubs in australia seem to use.

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Love the idea of using an apple in the logo. 

I did abit of googling the other day and found that both Tasmania Football Club and Tasmanian Devils FC were both trademarked by the exctinct VFL team we had.

I cant see them having anything other than Tasmania.

I know you dont like it but Tasmania United would be the most logical.

I think I've seen someone mention Tasmanians FC on here before too which I dont mind.

This is worth a listen:

https://www.sen.com.au/audio/

Scroll down till you find "Dave Davutovic on the Run Home". Audio goes for 32.08 mins exactly.

Special guest Robert Beltecky and Andy Harper. Harps makes a strong point regarding all the other bids being too passive with waiting until FFA release the criteria. 

It's worth a listen for sure as it's so topical. 

Thanks. Fully agree with Harps on taking the expansion theme to the FFA rather than sitting and waiting. The momentum has been building and its got to be next year. No way should they wait til the following year. If that means only Tasmania and South Melbourne are good to go, then they are the new teams - Simples!!

A-League expansion: Geelong ready for A-League team says Josip Skoko

JOSIP Skoko has declared Geelong ready to have its own A-League team and has urged league bosses to look beyond capital cities when deciding new clubs.

The A-League recently confirmed two more clubs would be added to the competition for 2018-19, with Geelong seen as one of a dozen candidates including Southern Sydney, Canberra and Tasmania.

Geelong’s passionate local soccer clubs have vowed to put traditional rivalries aside to support any potential bid for the city to join an expanded competition.

A local consortium has held high-level discussions with various authorities about the region’s case but remains publicly silent about the detail.

Former Socceroo and North Geelong legend Skoko said the region’s strong soccer community would make a side work, instantly connecting with a top-flight team in much the same way the western Sydney market was captivated by the Wanderers.

“It has been discussed, it is definitely a region that can take an A-League team,” Skoko said on SEN yesterday.

“Whether it’s sooner or later, who knows? It depends, you just need to get things right.

“Certainly the people of Geelong would love to have it, and with the Cats down here they’ve shown that in the AFL it’s been a great success

“And there’s no reason why we can’t do the same thing.”

Skoko said people driving the Geelong consortium had been smart to not speak out about their plans.

“It (Geelong) definitely has (a soccer community), I think it’s been a smart move to not come out publicly and do anything, before you get some groundwork done,” he said.

“While I haven’t had any sort of formal discussions, there’s been quite a few taskforces created recently in the Geelong region.

“Not just for the A-League team, but for football in general down in the region trying to lift everything up a few levels.”

A redeveloped Simonds Stadium looms as the jewel in the crown of a Geelong bid, with the international standard ground previously hosting A-League and Asian Champions League fixtures.

European champions Atletico Madrid also played Melbourne Victory in a pre-season friendly in Geelong earlier this year.

“I think it is time for a provincial area, rather than somebody in Melbourne, because it gives you more identity and people can identify with the club more,” Skoko said.

“For example, in Melbourne, the two clubs when Melbourne Heart joined and Melbourne City now, it was very difficult to identify where they’re from, whereas Western Sydney, they were all from the west and people directly identified with them and crowds came straight away, Melbourne City struggled a little bit.

“I think it’s very important that the new teams that come in, they identify with an area.

“It’s not just from that town, it’s from that region.

“I think the backing and the support becomes a lot stronger and the passion is more there.”


http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/sport/local-sport/aleague-expansion-geelong-ready-for-aleague-team-says-josip-skoko/news-story/6939ecceb2df39828cb4947939bdc372

The reality is the only two bids that are ready to go are Tasmania and South Melbourne. All the others have a lot of work ahead of themselves to get sorted.

If Wollongong can get funding it will be in that category too.

And can everyone stop discussing Canberra. They have confirmed they wont be bidding

I have a feeling geelong will get the nod but I can't see how a team there will be viable long term.

I really can't see how Geelong would get the nod over South Melbourne.

All Geelong needs is a good stadium deal, kardinia park will soon fit 36,000, even when the novelty wears off and 5k are turning up, the idea of another afl/nrl venue joining the league would be very appealing to the ffa, huge risk but one I can see being taken, the region itself has been doing it tough though so back to my original point 2 pro teams there seems like a stretch in terms of viability.

Well the obvious one is that it wouldn't carry any 'effnik baggage' - I also think they'd prefer Simonds Stadium too as it is already AFC compliant, something which has been a requirement in the past for A-League sides.

The FFA would have to be stuck in the dark ages to have concerns about South's 'effnik baggage'.

Do they understand that we are now in the 21st century?

I can confirm that the figures being bandied about for the Geelong side to rent Simons Stadium over Summer is around the 2k mark currently - the Cats break even at a 6k crowd, and regularly draw full houses. It's a big reason why the Vuck have played a game down here over summer, they can make a monster profit on a 20k crowd.

The stadium deal will be very lucrative and, as I mentioned earlier, it has the advantage over Lakeside in being AFC compliant.

You're preaching to the choir mate - however, we all know the FFA pander to everyone but football fans, so you can bet your bottom dollar that they won't admit South if it means they'll get a nasty article from Peter Rolfe in the Hun about bloody wogs.

Just thinking out loud here. With the SMFC and Tasmanian bids having obvious links and somewhat appearing to be in tandem on the pr front. is it too far of a stretch to think that they already know(and it's looking more and more likely) that Geelong will be the team to join alongside South Sydney and with SMFC history of pushing for a National NPL/A2 that both bids are thinking along the lines that if they can present undeniable bids and still get denied than it could potentially cause problems for the FFA with FIFA? And pidgeon hole FFA into A: Further expansion or B: at least at a minimum, funding transport costs for an A2/National NPL.

Both bids have been very vocal and almost appearing somewhat desperate in their attempts.

Having Strikers, Adelaide City, West Adelaide, Wollongong etc declaring interest potentially already knowing their chances are slim also prevents any FFA excuse of not enough interest in A2/National NPL?

Might go put my tin foil away now 😂

What do we all think foxsports/TV rights would prefer out of these two options considering they have a big say?
We know Geelong is in the same TV zone as Melbourne but i could see the interest in matches with South Melbourne holding much more value from a TV perspective compared to a Geelong based side.
Tbh i'd feel that a Geelong based side would get similar TV metrics as a Newcastle Jets which is below the league average.

I don't think Geelong would be much of a crowd puller interstate either. I think fox would definately prefer south but I can see the ffa twisting their arm over this.

I'd be very surprised if a Geelong backed consortium wasn't working behind the scenes right now with the ffa getting things done.

I'm not basing this on the odds which had 3rd Sydney and Geelong as the clear front runners, I'm just a firm believer that when you don't hear a peep out of a potential expansion option it generally means they have something cooking in the background with the federation. The ffa have probably told them to keep quiet until February.

Tasmania have joined south to play the role of dummy bidders here.

If it's up to the broadcasters, as we understand it is, then Geelong doesn't stand a chance against South.

Tell u what i reckon wellnix consortium will be getting pretty nervous. they still.have 3 years left on their deal but if there are still 2-3 great bids even after the next round of expansion, i wouldnt be surprised if the phoenix get the full boot. No one is really going to care considering they constantly dragging down the league in all.major.areas such as attendance, tv ratings, membership and now even on the park.

Unless TV deal turns out making a big difference, WP will probably pull the pin this Season.

Probably what Gallop dreams about.
Welnix out, Sydney 3 in. More money for everyone.

Yep, No expansion, No risk, No P&R, pray that CFG dig deep again next year.

Notice the deathly silence now the TV bids are in.  The only sound is Gallop calculating his Commision

Don't know why they just didn't pull the pin on Nix 12 months ago while they had the chance. We'd all be sitting here now going Wellington who?

That would've made it harder to pretend that the HAL's getting bigger for the TV deal ?

Your right but it's just delaying the inevitable.