There were some football people on board. 
Steve Horvat and Lou Sticca were initial investors I believe. 
Steve Horvat still part of the ownership group too. 
Even so, they all would've been across what messages were being put out in the media. 

Also, they aren't a property developers specifically. Perhaps more of a diverse investment group.
To undertake this sort of property development they require a partner with significant funds and experience.of which they don't have enough of for this project. 
 That's why they aimed for probuild as a sponsor with hopes of a bigger deal. 

This is the major issue in the delay. They don't have anyone to stump up the $$$ required. 

As I mentioned. 
Geelong was the plan to be their home base. 
For 2 years. 
Avoiding Geelong now is only because it was a complete and utter failure of a strategy. 

https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/sport/local-soccer/aleague-club-western-united-to-claim-geelong-as-roadshow-comes-to-town/news-story/17d06f99993cedc43b3f3b8a4718a504?amp=&nk=52cabbfa5b3055405a70822f16dbf265-1651537929

It's too simple to dismiss the criticism as a case of "haters gonna hate". 

1, they are not building their own stadium and training fields. They are not building anything yet. 
2. WU pushed the "west Victoria" representation of the club. Including Geelong which was meant to be their main base until Fantasy Stadium was built. 
3. Caroline Springs is in the west. They are talking about playing out of a smaller stadium of it gets built (by council). They could've played at Georgies or Somers st. In the western suburbs. Only one game in 3 seasons was played in the west - western oval. 

The lack of substance coming out of the club is the issue. Look at them. 
The criticism on this forum is valid. 

Yeah. 
If you think he is trustworthy to believe everything he says. 

Licence including 3 years worth of funds being returned to the club because they were getting TV deal distribution money to cover salary cap. Approx $3M. 

Talks about stuffing up saying it will be ready in 2 years but blames old management. There is no way management would say that if he didn't authorise it. Management would only say it if it was discussed at highest levels within the club. Sourassis wouldve believed this also. 

The question that remains is how will the stadium be funded and as of today does the club have the funds to build if they have final approval? 

The answer is no. 

Blaming government for funding??  
He expects a train station to be built when there is no demand by customers?? Lunacy. 

Lakeside stadium - did he say they didn't get final approval from Hellas before making an announcement? Did he Blame his CEO for getting ahead of himself?? 
That was a pure fark up by WU. 
No doubt mono has more info about that. 

You do realise that Caroline Springs is in Melbourne, very close to Tarneit, and nothing at all to do with Geelong don't you?

Which is a nonsense statement to make. If WU was founded by a bunch of football people (example: ex-players, coaches, etc), I would have no problem believing that statement. However the club was founded by property developers. They knew that the plot of land had zero infrastructure in place and they knew what that meant for their timeline. This is not something they discovered after they got the license. With their experience in property development, I have no doubts that they also had very clear knowledge about the planning process and the red tape they would be required to work through. To say that 'they got ahead of themselves' is just taking the piss and trying to cover their dishonesty. 

Any Western United critic needs to listen to the Archie Thompson/Michael Zapponi podcast from last week featuring WU chairman Jason Sourasis. He provides a pretty good insight as to what has happened behind the scenes over the past 3 years.

-  The cost of the license was $19.8 million.
-  He said the club stuffed up by stating the stadium will be delivered in 2 years after the receiving the licence. The site wasn’t ready as it had no infrastructure in place (roads, power, sewerage, etc). He admitted the club got ahead of itself.
-  The state government took over the approval process as they believed the Wyndham council had a conflict of interest (which is true) and delayed the approval process by 6-12 months.
-  The site south of the railway line is owned by the council and will be turned into a new town centre. So, they expect the region will become a hype of activity. He compared it to Milwaukee (where his wife is from) where the Milwaukee Bucks stadium is integrated into the CBD.
-  Criticised state and federal governments handing money to the AFL at the expense of other sports (I also think he was alluding to the lack of news regarding the train station being built).
-  Says he followed South Melbourne growing up and claimed the situation regarding playing out of Lakeside was an example of Football continuing to work against each other and not for each other (he claims both clubs would have benefitted from the agreement).  
-  Now that there is some infrastructure on the site, he says the 5,000 stadium will be completed in 12-15 months and the 15,000 stadium will be completed in 2 years.

I’m sure there are other points to include, but I couldn’t remember them all. Listen to the pod.

But it IS in our hands to change EVERYTHING mate....  This abomination is standing directly opposed to any true second division and linking of the football pyramid... Unless it (along with a couple of others) die then we will never have what the majority of football fans in this country want...... 

But sure Ill continue watching my club play in whatever league we find ourselves allowed to play in..... 

It's not in our hands to change anything. Leave the bitching for the missus, have a coffee and wait for the NSD and watch your teams in that.

Has done 

Oh there is a lot to hate here. Lies, duplicity, the damage this disgrace off a club hasn't done to the A league... 

Waiting to build a stadium and training fields, for all their participants, it's on their own patch of land  with that headquarters as stage one as well.
Caroline Springs doesn't work because the team is not the Geelong bid, not called Geelong either way and that is an Afl region, out n'out.
The haters will hate. That's life I guess.

Not sure what their scheme is, but building a football club is nowhere near the top of the agenda. 

Shit you almost make it sound like the football club is just a scam to get a local council to give favourable land prices and invest in facilities for a property development scheme.......

Exactly. 
Their whole plan initially was to be a travelling circus for everyone west of the Westgate bridge. 
With Geelong being the main base?
And then pissing them all off when Fantasy Stadium was built. 
Anyone with half a brain knew this will not work. 

Pick a venue in the west and base yourselves there and invest in the venue. Somers st? Georgie's ?

Will be 4 or 5 years into their existence before they play their second home game in the western suburbs. If not longer. 
The "shiny new toy" novelty will be well and truly worn off. 
Hoping to get an extra 3000 supporters just because you start playing in Tarneit is not realistic. 

WSW got a shiny new stadium back in their heartland, but the crowds haven't even returned. Fans that actually watched the team previously. 

But if a council owned 5k ground is what gives them their legitimacy, why not play at Caroline Springs ... shit they already paid for the tarps with the WU logos?  ( I am assuming they paid but it could be a "gift" from council)..... No jealousy or envy pal, just DISGUST and pity for the poor misguided fools that are so desperate for this to not  to  be another nail in the coffin of the ISUZU truck event football show they are just excusing every single dodgy step these con artists  make.....  Piss weak is the excuses these guys feed you .......

Ofcourse  I've seen how this thread goes with the common theme, the argument is piss weak everything.
There is bitterness, jealousy and envy of a team that have stretched the truth about having a Stadium built and ready in an unrealistic time frame BUT..
The training ground is sufficient. If you look at a parallel, Ross County's homeground is about that size, 5k. It is sufficient for any other NSD team as well.
WU can become legitimate when they lay down roots in the area they represent.
Macarthur are a bigger pain because of non footballing greedy fatcats charging like bulls, and they have an ideal homeground, virtually for free.
They don't allow for a fanbase to build.

The original Chinese backed WMG got their license in 2018  and pretty soon had poor little Albanian "Panagiotis" in a hard hat on a Probuiild site.....  he must have been pretty shit on the tools because covid or not,  not even a haul road is up yet.....

They can root their plants all they want at anyone of the dozens of other council owned facilities in the west.... why wait for one to be built???? They all look the same, chainlink fences and crappy 300 seat demands..... Sourasis didn't even need to fork out for the revised revit files.....

Have you not been able to follow the thread?

They wont get a crowd as the 'Travelling Wilburys.' They need to lay down roots. That is the only way and in the area they represent, even on a training ground.
They'll still house 5k. 

Don't be fooled by COVID delaying this stadium. 
It was always a mirage fooling the FFA board and nuffies who thought it was a new dawn for Aussie football. 

They never had the money for it. And still don't. 

Their crowds extremely ordinary in the first year too. 
The travelling circus was in since day one. 
Nothing has changed. 

Roar cannot play out of Perry Park because the Latte drinking, dog walking locals veto the idea of any sporting teams playing there because of noise.
That was never going to happen. One can only walk they're dogs there only.
WU came in and after that like clockwork, the World got Screwed over with this Covid rubbish. That was a 1-2 year delay, like everything else.

Football in Australia is pretty easy to build success on field. Spend stupid money. 
Although its unsustainable. 
Carlton, Parramatta in the NSL latter years. 
Gold coast previously in the A-league. 

The issue with WU was all the hoopla about building a stadium that was shovel ready.
The backtracking from the owner will do nothing to minimise that damage done. 

If Brisbane moved to Perry park they would have a ground that will match the proposed training ground stadium for WU. 

The bigger issue for all A-league clubs is that most of them have not made stadiums, training grounds, clubhouse, juniors etc a priority. 

Furthermore, IF WU win the comp, great kudos to Aloisi and his team, that would mean they have won alot all of a sudden.
Roar don't even play in Brisbane, they are based on the Gold Coast and play out of Moreton Bay.
They need a boutique stadium and they have a bigger problem with nothing on the horizon. 
WU have a training ground as stage one on its way in the near future, where they can plant their rootes.

Correct. 
Expect an Epping or Hume city size "training ground stadium". Funded by the council which means council run and owned. 
Even the training grounds will be community funded and council built and run. 
Therefore available for the community and other clubs to use. 
Nothing exclusive for WU I'd guess. 

So kind of doesn't really fulfil the so called "first" for the A-league, a fully owned and operated stadium for a club. 

As I've said before, the WU group is chasing investment to built the "real" stadium. They don't seem to have the funds to build it now. 
So the club are claiming the council works as progress from their end. Just a mirage at the moment. 

WU did outbid everyone with payment of $19mil. That probably propped up the ALeague at that stage three years ago as well.
The precinct was ALWAYS going to be part funded by the Council. 
Expansion should happen in the near future again, as will the NSD next season, which is a step forward for NPL teams, particularly the ex NSL teams.
I notice that once WU start to show progress with the training grounds for their Men's, Women's and Youth teams, certain types have already started raising the bar already as to how and where that club should be placed, and are NEVER HAPPY.
Once WU go to their patch of land, that is their home, at least they will fit 5k in the new facility.
Afl and Nrl play their biggest clutch matches at the main Stadium in the given City of a given State, not necessarily at the homeground of a team anymore, not for years.

The training ground the council is now funding and building for them is the same as what a dozen other NPL and state league teams in the west already have 300-500 seats and 5k "capacity" no different to Caroline Springs Georgies ground they have been training out of before this year..... Even if/when it is built THEY WILL HAVE DONE NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Short answer is no. Something is obviously better than nothing, but it's not enough. People want to see the main stadium actually receive planning approval and construction commenced. Last I checked, they only have proper approval for the training ground and not the main stadium. If the main stadium has commenced construction by the time the training ground is ready, that would be great. However if there is still just a training ground by the end of next season, the already low number of fans will drop off further and probably consist of mainly direct locals to the area. Then there is the fact that home games against MV and MC will still need to be played elsewhere to accommodate the large attendances. As long as they are playing home games against their biggest rivals at their rival's home ground, they will be copping deserved criticism.

I do not support 'Western', far from it. IF the training ground is infact ready for fans late  next season let's just say, would that appease the people because they will be playing out of their correct area?
It would mean it would have taken around four years, not two, given its the training ground, not the main stadium.
At least they play out of that I say.