It would have been a whole lot cheaper than a kidney to reform a fan-owned Heart in the Victorian State League system at the highest level that would have let them enter like AFC Wimbledon or FC United of Manchester. 

I suggested as much on here during the CFG takeover but was ignored by Heart/City fans actually believing that CFG cared about them and would spend a fortune, loan City's EPL players and win loads of trophies. History shows how well that's worked out for them.

Northern Fury and Gold Coast City were both reformed in the NPL structure after leaving the A-League, but I guess their fans cared a little more than Heart's.

A counter argument sometimes given to me when I advocate for pro/rel is "well how would you like it if Victory were relegated?". I wouldn't give a shit. They're my team. I would follow my team even if we went down to Victorian State League Division 5 West, even if I was the only fan showing up aside from the player's mums, because they're my team. Hell, after so many years of Lowy inertia I'd welcome the variety lol

I think its a different situation. Fury and Gold Coast clubs were dead Heart were rebranded. Im sure City group would have shut down any attempts to get up a Melbourne Heart VPL side going

Sounds pretty hypothetical and neither of us has any proof either way.

I personally doubt though that anybody in Abu Dhabi would have noticed or cared if eleven blokes took to the field in red and white further down the system.

With all the talk of A-League teams being "plastic franchises", imagine the credit Melbourne Heart could have earned if they reformed themselves in that way. After all, didn't Munn originally couch the concept of Heart as being "the traditional club, for purists"?

Oh well, not my problem.

Saying Heart fans don't care enough is extremely unfair and disingenuous and is only a cheap dig. They were told by CFG that they would keep elements of Heart's identity (like making the Heart kit the away kit for example) while expecting their club to be much more successful and much more financially stable. Unfortunately CFG haven't delivered and understandably the Heart fans feel disenfranchised. This is the fault of CFG and only CFG.

I feel I addressed the bolded parts above in my post: the wool was totally pulled over their eyes by CFG. Most of us weren't so easily fooled at the time, however, but they were only Heart fans so you can't expect them to be all that bright.

But even now it's not too late; it only takes a phone call to FFV to register a club, anyone can do it.

It's still a cheap dig. It's very understandable that they'd believe it. CFG turned a mid-table club that no one really cared about into one of the best clubs in the world. How would a fan not get excited by that, especially as CFG said they'd keep elements of Heart's identity.

You'd have to be a bit naive to believe that the Sheikh would invest anything like the resources he did into Manchester City, let's be reasonable.

They kept the red and white stripes to appease the heart fans. Cfg  didn't want to have any remnants of heart but the fans weren't happy so to appease them they kept it. Cfg buying heart and rebranding them is basically doing a red bull takeover of Salzburg. 

Obviously they wouldn't put the same amount of money into Melbourne as they did in Manchester but you would've thought they'd spent more then what they have.

They did. They hold the record for the biggest wage bill ever for a HAL season at an estimated $9.15M. All they have to show for it is the FFA cup. There is simply not enough incentive to spend big in the HAL. If they had sorted out the Bruno situation early on or pre-season, then they would have been a much more competitive side.

There will be fan forums in Wyndham, Geelong and Ballarat. as for dates, I have no idea. 

Forum definition:
NOUN
1.  A meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

Going to be a bit of one-way traffic in these forums you would think.  Anything that fans could have had a say in has already been decided.  🤔

yep, agree. 

The only possible explanation which could be at all seen as a positive is that the bid group wanted the whole say at the start, create a framework and make it as generic as possible in the early days and then consult and engage the wider community that they've ensured they've encompassed through their bland generic-ness and then rebrand and relaunch the whole shebang when the stadium is finally built with greater communitity input. Maybe?

Orrrrr it's a real estate scam and they don't really care about the soccer team.

Fair enough. I've heard it said before but how's it actually done?

Pretty simple. The club will not own the stadium. That is a common misconception. The stadium will be it's own business entity that happens to share the same owners as the club. They setup WUFC on a shoestring. Secure the land from the state government and build the stadium. Once complete, they find a buyer(s) for the HAL license. They retain the stadium and are able to lease it to the new owners. Long term goal of demolishing the stadium and using the land for something more lucrative in the distant future.

You missed the biggest part: they got the land for free.

I don’t know how the model will work, but such a deal described above doesn’t exactly seem much different to the one in Perth that seemed to cause so much grief for a while with their former owner.

I don’t think it would work that way somehow, as there would need to be more of a garauntee by council on the use of the land when the land provision deal was arranged. The point is to further enhance sport, whilst developers can create value through commercial and residential opportunities. There’s no point not safeguarding the sports facilities, as doing so they might as well have just sold off the land to a developer for more.

The key part that really needs to be made public is who are the investors. Such smoke and mirrors so far, saying it would only be announced if the bid was successful, as they only want to be associated with success. The bid was won and it’s still silence and deflection. No wonder the Birmingham Sports info was bigger than it had to be, as it all could have been avoided by just communicating what the actual case is.

ah, that is a very, very cynical view my friend. but you have missed one crucial aspect... the huge influence the Wyndham council has over the project. from what I understand, they are ones responsible from removing birmingham sports holdings from the bid team. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it turns out they are one of the major shareholders of the team... which would mean the land didn't come for free. 

Just playing devil's advocate. I don't actually think they will do anything like that. I'm more of the opinion that they didn't actually expect to get a license and are now completely overwhelmed with the job at hand. That's why info is few and far between.

 My neighbours  work for the council  . One of them works in the building  and town planning side. The rumours you heard are swirling in the offices . 

Have they bought the shovel at least? 
If it's true as to the councils direct involvement, that'll be heaps handy as the new club should have good access to the works depot. They'll have a lot of shovels that WU can use.

I’ve changed my mind a bit the team is looking good if they come in and start winning they could still get a crowd in Geelong

On paper looks like a big city Mariners..some of these players havent kicked a ball for yonks.

actually its the opposite. they were very confident and thought they were over the line. they only got nervous when the old FFA delayed the announcement because no one knew if the new FFA were gonna accept the Deloitte recommendations. Plus it also gave Team 11 more time to get their stadium funding. 

The info is few and far between because they have shit loads to do. Just think about what they have to do... start a team from scratch, sign players and staff. design and build a stadium. find a temporary stadium. find sponsors. enagage the fan base. etc, etc. I don't believe they have the resources yet to do all of this at once, so I do agree that perhaps they were a bit naive and underestimated the tasks at hand.


FWIW, i don't know if this it true or not. I am only speculating. but it makes total sense.  

Yeah, it looks like a nothing team right now. Their choice of marquee hasn't filled me with confidence.

This teams needs a Honda, or bigger, and right now I don't see that coming from them.

Yeh I agree they could get anywhere between 3k and 4.5k.

Quote.. so I do agree that perhaps they were a bit naive and underestimated the tasks at hand.

Lou has done it all before.

@ feed the Bronx....yes, they have shitloads to do. Even more reason for giving them the license now but to enter them comp the following season.(have more to do than Macarthur SWS FFS)

And as for using that as an excuse for pisspoor fan engagement....all it takes is ONE Full-Time employee on a modest salary or Hell there are plenty of marketing agencies out there that you could out-source it to if it’s all too hard.  Fair Dinkum...with today’s tech and SM platforms it ain’t that hard to reach out to people.