this is good.  its this competitiveness and eagerness which is going to push for a division 2 and p+r once clubs like south melbourne realise they have missed out on the a-league.

the ffa just need to hurry up and decide who is in.  

They've already decided.

All this crap is just TV deal Burley

I reckon you are right.

All this sudden expansion talk, but I'd be very sceptical at what vision the FFA really have for it to be a reality. Made to create media speculation to insert into presentations when pitching to TV stations.

HortoMagiko - 23 Oct 2016 5:50 PM

VictoriasCCM.................great.
The fishing analogy doesnt always hold water.

HortoMagiko - 23 Oct 2016 9:43 PM

 Im saying following a cookie cutter plan can lead to us creating victorias version of ccm. Its daft to base your entire expansion philosophy soley on arbitrary population numbers... like i said the south coast mariners..can really see the broadcasters going mad for that fixture...all we need is them playing the nix and we can send legions of fans to sleep for 90mins.

http://forum.insidesport.com.au/1617388/The-Aleague-Expansion-Thread?PageIndex=141

Hahahaha.

What last century? And when most clubs were semi pro?

Jog on mate we are well past ancient times.

I am still working out which smartarse stole my lines. Prick.

Disregarding that first bit for now - wouldn't want their heads to explode or something ;)

This keeps being brought up, but having a pitch and a clubhouse isn't enough in itself - does anyone actually know if their facilities meet the FFA requirements? 
If they don't, they'd obviously still have to sink money into an upgrade - question is whether the difference between their facilities and Geelong's - in terms of costs to reach the necessary level -  is as big as they'd like everyone to think it is. 

There's a whole lot of room to move, between "CCM is a disaster" and "CCM is the league benchmark across the board" - the way the talk is, our current financial state is better than a number of the other clubs, that's a start... Certainly significantly better than the last time this moron had an opportunity to look at the books. 

As it stands though, he could've made his point just fine, without dragging us into the argument - this way it just reeks of bitterness over not having been able to buy their way to our licence when Charlesworth took over. 

Bitter ethnics. 

I'd be very surprised if the current facilities didn't meet requirements, if it didn't at best it would be a tiny upgrade.

What people don't realise is our potential revenue streams at lakeside dwarf anything Geelong could come up with, we actually control the football rights to lakeside, victory are paying us to have their youth team play there now for eg, our club itself will be open 7 days a week, our facilities will be open to the public, the restaurant, bar, futsal court would be busy daily..we are pocketing that money, gameday itself will be insane. Geelong may be able to get a good stadium deal in terms of rent, but what exactly is going back into the football club?

We take the stadium deal offered to us, but we take the advantages of it to another level, the club model and club itself is the backbone of our bid. With the recent revelations of the Brisbane strikers bid and bleiberg caught out talking crap, ours so far is the only one that has gone into any serious detail...which it needs to be if you're prepared to say you're ready to join immediately.

The Nix are an effnik Anglo club.

Saying last century is quite an interesting play on language to make it appear worse.

SMFC were booted from the league since they were not given a licence. 

They are still the premier football club in Australia. you simply don't lose your status because the rug was pulled from under you. And its not as if all A League teams have been a runwaya success, because as a matter of fact, SMFC had better metrics than half the A league teams today. 

Plus, they have their own facilities, and will be profitable with meager attendances unlike all the other teams that need to rent their stadiums. 

No you're right, but put SMFC in the A league and they will be pushing 8K to 10K for non derbies, which isn't bad at all.

And they do bring some much needed pedigree. 

No, people do realise that, it's just that lots of people also recognise how cancerous it would be to have a club that is primarily geared towards the furthering of people from a specific genetic disposition represented in a national competition. It's nothing to do with not realising revenue streams or ownership models or start up fans.

What Aussie football fans want and what the ffa wants are 2 different things, our junior system would mean sweet F all to the ffa, they don't give a rats about that stuff.

I never said CCM are a failure let alone a disaster.

I hope CCM keep progressing at their own pace, and having them fail isn't going to be good for the A League.

People comparing SMFC to CCM and/or other teams is rather pointless and non constructive to me.

What is constructive is letting these teams play Football. if you increase the competition, then the standards will rise in the longer term, as well as interest, tv money, and diversity. 

The argument is that SMFC has the metrics and the pedigree to succeed. Each team is in competition with themselves first and foremost. 

Righto

What is cancerous to football is people like you - a racist bigot and who would have thought.Frankly I'm not surprised!

SMFC does not prohibit or stand in the way of anyone joining the club or holding office.

You are against them because you are Croation, and most Croats hate Greeks. that's fine, but it is YOU who is the cancerous bigot who allows race to get in the way of such bids.

SMFC is a business. As a business, they do not limit their market.

And yes, their Academy is second to none in the country. They have all the infrastructure and are in a better position to be profitable than most clubs.  

Yeah the idea of Geelong has a lot going for it.

- Regional communities get behind teams
- Geelong media is already very soccer friendly
- Decent soccer playing base
- Simmonds Stadium deal will make money
- Quite a few corporations support the area and its teams

But as of now, there is NO GEELONG BID! No one has come forward, no one is talking to the FFA as far as we know.

And therefore, we need change because the junior system is critically important to the future. 

BTW, did you pay up the $100 or did you go back on your word? 

I reckon its the latter! 

Sth Melbourne is such a pathetic option. Yes it is an easy option to expand quickly, but FFS surely the game is smart enough to realise it adds very little extra fans, publicity or attention. It is an easy option to make 150 idiots who don't feel like associating with either Victory or City happy. City are doing it tough enough to add to Victory's market in Melbourne and they have a lot of cash and big name players to back it up.

Firstly, decide if the game has the resolve and resources to expand. Expansion is never easy and it takes resources and patience. WSW is not the norm, no other team or region will respond that quickly.

Then the game needs to make a strategic decision as to the market it wishes to engage. All major population centers now have teams, with the two largest cities having two teams. There still remains large regional areas such as Canberra, Wollongong and Geelong that do not have a team. This is where the next stage of growth should come from. It won't grow average crowd figures, but it will grow the number and spread of interest in the domestic professional game. 

Sth Melbourne simply will not do that.

SMFC will not only add 5 to 6 new fans, but it will be the catalyst that expands MVFC and MCFC.

Can you imagine the derbies, and the Football Gossip/rivalry. it will be intense.

At the very most, MVFC will lose about 2k members, but its upside will go beyond that well and truly. 

When David davutovic goes on radio and says the SM bid article generated the 4th most piece of online traffic in the history of herald sun, I think that's pretty telling, if that doesn't give you a snapshot of the potential interest nothing will, the following day it was all over radio....the Geelong and Dandenong articles came in the following days and didn't get a peep of radio time. Very little social media interest as well.

This is exactly why SMFC & other old NSL effniks will never get into the HAL, old tensions simmering away beneath the surface. 

There are no tensions at SMFC. It is a well run club, and well organised and structured.

There is more trouble at A league clubs like WSW than there ever was at SMFC the last 10 years or so. 

Greeks don't have old tensions with Croats, or anyone else. Croats and anyone else will be welcomed to join SMFC whenever they like. as long as they behave themselves that is. SMFC has no time or tolerance for any fans who don't behave themselves because its the club's reputation at stake. 

The only pre-requisite is football and no one cares if you're an Aussie, Turk(there are many at SMFC), croat, serb, italian, or aboriginal. 

Every time I come around to SMFC being admitted to the HAL their fans open their mouths and remind me why it is a bad idea. I hope the Knights get accepted just to kill off their dream of returning to the top flight.

Great example is this idiot saying "you don't like SMFC because you are a Croat and Croatians don't like Greeks". Ten mi Utes later he is telling us that Greeks have no ethnic tensions with anyone. SMFC out, they don't even deserve to be in the NPL.

SMFC welcome knights.

most SMFC want an open and transparent competition, and SMFC have a lot to offer.

And even if knights get in and SMFC don't, SMFC will still be aiming for the A league and they will get there too. 

I am sure the old Croatian, Italian and Macedonian clubs would say exactly the same.

Well they should, and probably do.

no one cares anymore. 

point is this. there is a lot more bad behavior at current A league teams than there is at any of these clubs. in fact, some supporter groups like WSW think they are so hardcore.