Murray and Craig Foster backed by JiaYuan for third Sydney A-League licence


Sydney beat Victory in Big Blue

A Chinese property development company has teamed up with a team of iconic Australian football personalities to launch a bid for a third Sydney A-League team, to be based in the southern regions and South Coast.

Former SBS broadcaster, Les Murray, has reignited the debate around A-League expansion by leading a bid funded by Chinese company Jia Yuan to establish a team likely to be based in Sutherland Shire while also representing St George and the Illawarra regions.

Flanked by former Socceroo Craig Foster as the steering group's Head of Football and former head of NSW PCYC, Chris Gardiner as the chief executive, the bid is hoping to be granted a licence for the 2018-19 A-League season and promises to build its own purpose built football stadium and Australia's largest training academy, both at a yet to be determined location.

Aimed at targeting Australian football's biggest player nursery, the bid with the working title of 'Southern Expansion' claims to have already brought the local associations of all three regions on board with the pledge of investment into junior training facilities and elite academies.

"Much like the MLS, new entrants must be prepared to invest in infrastructure and facilities as well as contributing to the visibility of the leagues through marquee players," Foster said. "Southern Expansion has committed to major investments in all three areas including plans for Australia's largest football training facility, premium marquee players (female and male) to further grow our international brand."

"Perhaps most exciting of all, the group is prepared ot invest in our own purpose built stadium for the future of the game."

A-League bid: Les Murray and Craig Foster are part of a consortium seeking an A-League licence.
A-League bid: Les Murray and Craig Foster are part of a consortium seeking an A-League licence. Photo: Ryan Pierse
They are hoping for an immediate introduction into lower ranks, and are pushing to have W-League and National Youth League teams enter their respective competitions later this year.

​The bid say they have already secured a guaranteed $12 million from Jia Yuan to convince FFA they mean business.

With all three local associations on board, they envisage games will be split between Cronulla's Shark Park, Wollongong's WIN Stadium and Kogarah's Jubilee Oval, while trumpeting a commitment to construct Australia's first purpose-built football stadium to host the club, described by Murray as a "super club".

"The question is not if we will come in, the question is when we will come in," Murray said.

"When there is expansion, I think resisting this project would be very difficult for the FFA."

Murray met with David Gallop last week and said the FFA chief executive was a "cautious man" but "not discouraging", noting the governing body's interest last season in harnessing the southern Sydney area as a replacement for under-fire Wellington Phoenix.

He understood FFA's position that expansion would not take place before at least the 2018-2019 season, after its stark admission last week it can't afford to add new teams until a new ownership and operating model has been developed in consultation with clubs.

The bid is sure to be met with anger from Sydney FC, who draw a big chunk of their talent and fans from the Sutherland Shire, while it will face intense competition from a Wollongong Wolves' bid.

There are as many as 10 proposed bids for new licences, also including Tasmania, Geelong, Brisbane, South Melbourne and Dandenong-Casey.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/southern-sydney-aleague-bid-confirmed-with-les-murray-and-craig-foster-20170306-guri2d.html

Is Foster still PFA chairman?

I gave you the metrics for the Southern Expansion region not for NSW.  NSW has over half of the registered players in the country i.e. 280k out of 530k by the last figures I have.  As far as club representation is concerned based on where players play then NSW is under-represented and only Qld is more under-represented in the A-League.  Of course that metric is only one of many that need to be balanced when considering where clubs should be located.  I'd love to see 2 clubs in each of the major capitals and another in Canberra as well as another in Victoria and a couple in NSW but at this stage only clubs in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane offer the uplift in revenue that is needed to power the game into the future simply because of the size of the markets there.

On the issue of making our sport "an actual national one" it could be construed that you want unequal opportunity for players and fans in the states where the code has had the lowest penetration and in that you would be disrespecting the hard work done over 100+ years by thousands of volunteers to grow the game to where it is in the locales where greater penetration has been achieved.  Just something to think about.

SBS is going to cover the shit out of this.

Marquee Ronaldinho?

Does anybody else think its a bit too easy to say "We're gunna build our OWN stadium - and we'll get the Government, local council, THE CHINESE to pay for it!"

@absent

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium_diplomacy

Guess Foster will be giving up his Analyst gig now he has vested interests

Finally, a world power has noticed the mass stadia famine crippling our sporting fans ability to survive!

It's ok mate, I've had my rant and will shut the fuck up.
On a positive note it does look terrific.

Spot on!

We need to become saturated in the two biggest cities. Get greater media attention which will result in better media deals etc. The spin off from that will result in the ability to bring in regionalesque clubs into the fold down the track.

We don't need another CCM or even Newcastle at this stage. 

Any time I see his name

Cheers thank you for making my point a lil easier then. There will be fans down there that will likely embrace the new club, even if they would ultimately prefer a standalone team. 

From hearing some people here, it sounds as if no Wollongong person would ever dare go to a game that isnt the wolves. But seems like there will be plenty that will go if NRL is anything to go by.

No I think most people from Wollongong hated the idea of a St George/Wollongong team. The other thing you are missing is that while Rugby League is popular, I would say support for football is even more popular. I was quite surprised how many people love football in Wollongong. Lots of migrant communities in Wollongong so its not really a surprise. 

I must have missed the bit in the press release that said the FFA is funding the club alla WSW. But please direct me to that part of the PR.

All we know is that it's backed by a very rich company that are likely to invest big dollars, not a corner store operation. We also have a chairman that is considered to be the father of old football who has previously had very much opposing views to FFA and the way they have done business. And finally they have a football brain in Craig Foster, and whether you like him or hate him, you can't argue he doesn't know his football and that he has the game at heart.

So I certainly wouldn't say the bid is rotten at the core at all, other than it may be the choice that FFA will go with because it's the area they see most potential in. Doesn't make it rotten at all unless it was 100% FFA owned bid with poor planning for what the club will become.

Wollongong is wrong tv zone for a stand alone team, not going to happen as 11th, 12th or WP replacement team.

Which part? The 2nd Division? or that it will come in 2,3 years. The former will occur, however whether it will be in 2,3 years, that's to be seen. Probably unlikely tho.

I must say I dont like this aspect either. I don't mind that they claim to represent 3 regions, but geez they should at least keep their "home ground" as one and only. Perhaps that's why they want to build a separate stadium which will become the home of the club in years to come. 

Wollongong>south sydney

South Coast shouldn't accept expansion bid 'crumbs', says Wolves CEO

Papakosmas was reacting to the announcement on Monday of the "Southern Expansion" bid for inclusion in the A-League, which has the support of the Sutherland, St George and South Coast football associations.

Southern Expansion's bid CEO, Chris Gardiner, was bullish in comparing the relative merits of his bid and the Wolves' bid, including saying his group's bid would be a "far stronger bid than the Wolves can ever put on".

South Sydney A-League bid 'impossible to resist'

The high-profile consortium behind the multi-million dollar Chinese-backed bid for a South Sydney A-League "super club" believe Football Federation Australia will find their case impossible to refuse.

Papakosmas reacted to Gardiner's comments saying he wouldn't expect anything different from the rival bid.

"Oh mate, of course they're bullish. If they weren't bullish they wouldn't be going into the market with this, but at the end of the day it's not a surprise and nothing has changed from our original position," he said.

"There was always talk about a Sutherland, St George and Illawarra hybrid team being put together.

"But is it the best way moving forward for expansion? Is it in the best interests of the Illawarra and South Coast and our juniors in particular? Or is it the Illawarra being thrown a couple of crumbs to jump on-board another Sydney bid?

"We're not Sydney we'll never be Sydney. If they're that confident in their bid then that's fantastic, because we're just as confident in our bid.

"It's a bit presumptuous to make any type of comments on what our bid may be and what it could possibly look like when you're not sure or you don't know."

Papakosmas said the emergence of the new bid, covering an area Football Federation Australia is known to regard as attractive, would not affect what the Wolves were doing with their bid.

He ridiculed suggestions the emergence of the new bid would deal a heavy blow to the Wolves' bid.

"As long as you're doing the right thing for the right reasons, the right outcome happens," Papakosmas said.

"Football South Coast has gone on public record saying they'll support the Wolves and they'll support a hybrid bid. The question is: What's going to be in the best interests of the region?

"We've already got a home ground, we've already got a fan base and an agreement with Illawarra Stingrays in the premier women's division down here. We've got every single item that is necessary and we're representing a region.

"We're not looking to go outside or include anyone that's not part of what we call home.

"We'll be putting in a very strong, very competitive, very inclusive bid and the reality is that, eventually, we will have a stand-alone presence.

"We will not be selling ourselves short. We have the ammunition that is required and we will not be piggybacking on some sort of merged bid."

Five things we learned from A-League Round 22

The A-League championship is there for Sydney FC to win if they go in with their heads screwed on at the business end of the season.

Football South Coast chairman Eddy De Gabriele told The World Game in early January that FSC would support a strong Wolves bid if it was obvious that was the best option, but that: "If we get an indication from the FFA that they definitely want to go with the model involving associations joining forces to cover a wider area and won't support a bid from a stand-alone team, then why would we put all our eggs in the stand-alone basket?

"We've got no problem with the Wolves putting together a bid, but we're trying to understand what the best option would be for FSC and support that."

Papakosmas said the Wolves were powering along with their bid to be one of two teams added to the A-League, hopefully in time for the 2018-19 season.

FFA recently announced the release of expansion criteria would be delayed for months, but that the 2018-19 season was still in the frame for possible expansion.

"It's not going to do anyone any good to say 'our bid is better than yours' or whatever," Papakosmas said.

"We'll worry about we need to do to get our bid in order and we're more than confident about what's happening down here and the direction in which we're going with new appointees to the board, new sponsors and other initiatives.

"Any talk about what areas FFA is keen on or not keen on is purely speculative. What FFA is keen on is doing what's in the best interests of the game.

EXCLUSIVE: Miller poised to make A-League coaching return

Former Newcastle Jets coach Scott Miller could be poised for a return to the A-League, revealing he has already received interest from a host of clubs.

"We'll give Illawarra and the South Coast a team that represents Illawarra and the South Coast and you can see in the past some of these hybrid sporting teams that are put together hoping to get that local connection don't work.

"If some sort of manufactured, hybrid team that includes Sutherland, St George and the Illawarra is in the best interests of football in this region, than I'm possibly not the best judge."

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/03/06/south-coast-shouldnt-accept-expansion-bid-crumbs-says-wolves-ceo

I support the FSC chairmans stance. He will support whatever it takes to get a club to his region. Unlike the Sunshine Coast guy who doesn't back his own regions bid.

Wolves will try to divide the supporters but FFA have never hidden their desire.

I think we need to accept that not every team is going to be from a major city. As a stand alone club I think Wollongong would be fine. They might not be the next team to get into the A-league but I can eventually see them get in when a 14-16 team comp is on the cards whenever that is. 

No, you are 100% right. They won't, not in large numbers. 

If this actually happens I reckon they'll stop playing in the gong within two years.

I know this is tough for the people of Wollongong but as a WSW fan I can relate. I was always waiting for a team from Western Sydney. I didn't go to one A-league game until that happened. Was definitely worth the wait. 

OKay so if there are plenty of Sharks jerseys then there will be even more Sth Expansion jerseys (or whatever they will be called).

Not going to please everyone.

For me the biggest concern is the splitting up of the home games to 3 diff stadiums. That's the biggest concern, not the name of the club and who they say they may represent.

The bid looks to have some heavy backing, I'm very against sharing games between the 3 areas, especially Wollongong. They are a strong enough to support their own team. I also fear for my club Sutherland Sharks as they have been overlooked and all the local talent will shift to the new franchise, would have much rathered the Chinese taking over our club and building it, but to be honest that was never going to happen. Nevertheless exciting times for football in our region.

also i am kinda tired of sydney fc complaining god forbid they get some competition and actually have to improve their community engagement 

You prove my point though. There is a St George/ Illawarra team in NRL and they wont support it. They don't like the joint venture. I would bet you there would be more support for a Sutherland/St George Bid in Wollongong than a mish mash of Sutherland/St George/Wollongong. But don't be fooled the most popular bid in Wollongong would be a standalone bid. 

Wollongong wolves got crowds of 5,000 in the NSL reckon they struggled to support there own team. Would go down the Southern Sydney route but pick one stadium to play in.

didnt basically everyone get garbage crowds in the NSL?

The A-League is a completely different animal. Football is bigger than ever before in this country. We will be absolutely fine down here. The only issue is a lot of people have become sick of waiting for a team and they've gone to support Sydney/WSW.. and the longer it takes I fear more and more will head that way