Smaller steps may be the big way forward for A-League

It's unlikely that the A-League bosses would be rushing to immediately countenance that question as they have yet to recoup their losses. But for all of his other valid points - and a national second division is mooted to be set up in 2021-22 - it remains the vexed question in the domestic game.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/smaller-steps-may-be-the-big-way-forward-for-a-league-20191122-p53d1t.html

Oh dear...

I highlighted that sentence because it's a theme which crops up repeatedly, even with the Chair of the new board, this idea about not rushing things because clubs have to recoup losses.  About a year ago, Nikou made a statement like:  " we have to protect the investments of club owners", basically the same idea.
Lynch wouldn't have repeated the line if it hasn't popped up again in his research.
I think we all know that if we have to wait for owners to recoup losses before we expand towards a proper pyramid, well, that's going to be a very, very long wait.

Now that club owners have control of the competition, things will likely be harder to control self-serving decisions.

None of us would like to see our investments potentially devalued, so it should not be a shock that there would be some push back to ideas like P&R by club owners. It’s harder to see the bigger picture when we focus on ourselves only, so hopefully the owners can at least find ways to find a balance. 

Continued expansion is a must though over the next few years, with a clear plan in required to build momentum and confidence. 

Central Coast Mariners receive offers for A-League licence

Central Coast owner Mike Charlesworth is believed to have received two unsolicited bids in the past two months from separate consortiums in both Canberra and Brisbane.

In both cases, the approaches were based on buying the licence that Charlesworth has and moving it away from the Central Coast – a radical move that would require the assent of both the other clubs and FFA.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/a-league/central-coast-mariners-receive-offers-for-aleague-licence/news-story/17c1cd022c49f3788b73ea7c351904d1

not a fan mariners have been there from the start and i don't really want to see them replaced.

also canberra deserves a new team fresh from their start with their own history 

Both should be bidding for team 13 and 14.

CCM while only small have played a significant part in the development of the current Socceroos.
They also have a long term investment of the COE, something a club like Victory are craving for.

This. We have 14 teams there already.

It's a good point about the COE. 
What happens if the owner sells up and the new owners want to move the operation?
I guess they can continue running the COE, especially from a place like Canberra.

I feel it fair to point out that a lot of the national team players "developed" by CCM were basically John Crawley pillaging the best players from Western Sydney, before WSW existed. I genuinely believe with WSW now in existence, CCM will not develop players at a rate like they seemingly used to as the market is now claimed. Take nothing away from CCM and Crawley for doing this, there was a huge open market that they tapped into, I just want to point out WSW will more often than not find those players first now. Particular evidence of this is how well WSW youth team does each year. 

My understanding was the Mariners were basically given the land by Wyong RSL to replace the old Club Tuggerah with the CoE, including a licensed club which would be leased back to Wyong RSL. I also seem to think Charlesworth invest 20m+ of his own money into it, with the rest coming from state government? It would still need to be based and operated locally, regardless of where the senior club is located. 

And further evidenced by Stajcic signing Majok, Roberts etc after being released. Silvera is the exception choosing to turn his back on the Wanderers who had a major impact on on his development.

If the new body allow the transfer of the licence to another area it will be a very poor decision ....

So many reasons I could list ....

I too hope CCM stay put.  They have a good stadium, good community support, and they effectively market themselves right up to the far Northern beaches area, meaning all of Sydney has pretty good coverage, especially when Macarthur comes in.

The only thing I will say is that if an offer to buy comes, the other clubs aren't going to stand in the way.  They'll approve it because all club owners have an interest in being able to divest any time they want.

There will always be offers. However, Charlesworth does seem committed to the coast. That said, if a stupid offer comes all bets would be off. 

Yeah, the AIS CoE facilities seem to just be used by Capital Football for NPL games now.

Personally I have long believed that's an independent A League will mean they end of the Mariners as an A League club.

Charlesworth won't keep on tipping money into what is an irrevocable basket case, and the club is unsellable. My prediction is that the licence will be sold to a Canberra entity. It won't be a rebadged CCM... They will buy the licence and nothing else. 

It’s very simple - every NEW licence has a huge value of $20m to the competition. 

So the first question is why would the owners let Charlesworth sell his licence and then allow the new owners to relocate to a new area - that would be a loss of $20m to the owners. So a relocation aint happening. 

The three most likely scenarios: 

1/ Charlesworth sells to a new owner who runs it “as-is”

2/ Charlesworth can’t sell so hands the keys over to APFCA who then sell the club to a new owner who runs Mariners “as-is”

3/ And least likely, Charlesworth can’t sell and the club folds, APFCA allow it to die and replace it with Wollongong 

The owners don’t stand in the way of a sale but they will block the move of the club. 

Anywhere the Mariners could be moved to (Canberra, Brisbane etc) is an area where a new $20m licence could be sold so they’re not going to allow a club to move there for free. 

Why would the League sell the license to Wollongong?  A club based in a capital city broadcast/advertising market, ie Mariners, is worth significantly more to the ongoing, central revenues of the League than one in a regional market, ie Wollongong.

That’s not quite what I said. 

The new operators wont allow the CCM licence to just move because it’s underperforming in its current location - that would represent a loss of $20m to them as they couldn’t then sell the licence. 

If CCM were to fold completely as no one wanted it then replacing that licence with Wolves would make some sense as it’s regional NSWs like for like swap and they would still have Brisbane 2 and Canberra to sell for $20m 

The value that the CCM license brings to the League is that it is part of the Sydney media market not the regional media market which is way less lucrative.  If they are going to move the license on if it is handed back in the obvious places are to sell to Perth, Adelaide or Brisbane if they want to retain the same value of the League.

I think I get what waz is saying. 
Earlier I said that the owners won't block a sale because all the owners have an interest in being able to sell anytime they want.  They don't want to create a precedent which might hinder any of the others wanting to sell anytime.
The flip side to that is whenever any owner hands in the keys, the club owners get to sell another license.  So I can see that they won't want a new area buying CCM's license because the owners see none of that sale price, they know they can sell a license to Canberra for $20 mill, why let $20 mill slip?

CCM are the single best argument for a second division. I can't wait for it to get set up so they can be immediately relegated and remain down there until they recognise the sheer amateurism that club displays isn't acceptable anymore.

The challenge is that clubs in more regional markets Will always likely struggle if the model isn’t right. 

Next year we will have a 12 team competition.So beyond that we are realistically only looking at two to four maximum new licences.
At $20mill each,thats another $80mill  for the owners ro divide amongst themselves.....A maximum $8mill each for the ten owners.
How much of that goes to the new management company and FFA?
The  current owners may want $20mill for their licences.But really they are only worth what someone will pay.If the HAL withers then i doubt any of them will get that.If it flourishes they may get more.
Would it be in the best interests of the owners to prevent  CCM 'relocating' their licence if the relocation,say to Brisbane resulted in a new team twice as popular and successful and hence added value to their own licenses?
The owners could demand a relocation fee.To be paid over a number of years.

Regional markets will always have lower expectations, I keep saying that about Canberra. In spite of my support for them I think people are overrating how successful they are going to be.
CCM however, have failed even the lower bar. We have yet another year of bottom of the table performance. All they need to do to progress from last year is to ensure the posts don't fall down and the security can keep up with some fuckwit on crutches walking onto the field and fighting management.

I love the Central Coast and 100% believe in football representation in the region. But as it stands that position is firmly in a lower tier.

don't the FFA get a percentage of a licence sale in this circumstance under the separation agreement? the IHAL get nothing from what I understand. thats less of an incentive for the IHAL. 


100%. lets add Wellington to that (assuming they also stay in their current form).  

Don’t think we can assume relegation automatically means CCM would go down. They can play like they have because of the system in place.

AUS Players have never dealt with the risk of a pay cut or pressure. 

More clubs means more in Syd and Mel so players will be spread out. A few dud visa recruits could spell disaster.

Plus if every one expects CCM to go down what about now the likes of PG with odd draw or not. Squads can buckle under media and fan pressure. CCM wouldn’t have that.

If they survived first season then the promoted team/s has more pressure. But coming off a winning season also.

Too many variables.