A Geelong Advertiser FB post got 15 likes and two people saying they 'might even support them' and another saying they didn't think 3 Melbourne teams was a good idea. Metrics etc etc

They've got about 200 extra twitter followers today, broken the 2,000 mark

There is a untapped market here. A lot of immigrants who love football . Hell there is heaps of Sudanese  youth who are obsessed  with chelsea and city but cant stand the hal due to it being not europe. T

That makes me feel a lot more optimistic.

Pretty much this

Which why snaring a player like Thomas Deng from Victory could be a good thing

And perhaps giving Elvis Kamsoba an A league contract

Deng is contracted  and elvis should  be signed by mv in jan. Wmg should  target  someone that  these kids would know . 

Someone on another forum proposed Wyndham as their name, I think that's not too bad and lays the groundwork for the future as the Werribee/Wyndham area is exploding.

If they give it a generic name (eg Western Melbourne or Victoria blah ) then I guarantee the club will be doomed...no doubt about it

The site is on Sayers Road, about 2km away from the train station.

West tarneit is going to get built soonish. 

a bit over 2km away, being V/Line, not sure how frequent trains are (that actually stop there)

Looks like people are warming up to the team

This club will struggle to get fans from areas like St Albans , Sunshine or Footscray, as it is easier to get into AAMI Park or Marvel Stadium than to Tarneit. The whole temporary base in Geelong part makes it even worse for connecting to their target market.

The Western Suburbs may have 1.5 million or so in its broader region, and it is certainly growing significantly, but one can realistically maybe count a quarter of that as a realistic zone at this stage.

As for the transport to the stadium, the Vic Govt announced prior to the election a Western Rail Plan that would see extra likes and a move towards electrification to Wydhamvale. As the stadium will be between Tarneit and Wydhamvale, a station has been proposed for that area in the original RRL line project for the future, so it could easily happen.

At the end of the day, one wonders what this will end up looking like as a club. It just seems to be a situation that they will be on the back foot for a few years, hoping desperately that their stadium turns around their fortunes. Relying on a smaller market like Geelong to fill the stadium will be hard work.

What are the thoughts on team name, badge, colours etc?

I think Western Melbourne FC actually sounds good with some nickname that links to the area, but with Western Sydney, South West Sydney, Western Melbourne and Central Coast it sounds like we are just naming teams after directions. But I guess alienating it to a specific area (particular when they will be playing in Geelong initially) is not a good idea.

Chicken Tikka FC

In all seriousness though, West Melbourne would be a brilliant spot for a BBL franchise. You'd get 50k each week, no problems.

https://amp.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/western-melbourne-yet-to-strike-formal-agreement-to-play-at-kardinia-park-20181213-p50m4i.html?__twitter_impression=true

Not sure if this has been posted yet. Interesting bit of news.

They can't keep going for the generic names,  central coast and western Sydney work, they appear to have clear boarders but western Melbourne doesnt.

There really isn't a broader name for anything west of the yarra and i don't think people are going to relate to a name like wyndham.

Someone did say something like Westgate fc... but i do know that's taken,  but that never stopped Melbourne city. 

It needs to be non specific,  but something people can relate to. 

Call it You Yangs FC. You can see them from geelong and maybe from tarneit... if you climb a tree

Western Plains FC it is :)

Honestly, if they play in Geelong for a couple of years they surely can’t have Western Melbourne as their name if they want anyone showing up.

The fact they were selected astounds me.

Victory has a massive hold on the west more than any other area so they need to really pull something out of their arse to make a success of it. Playing out of Geelong for 3 seasons is not going to do anyone any favours, especially when it becomes clear to everyone in their target region that until 2022, it's still easier to go watch Victory at Etihad than it is go watch their team that supposedly represents them.

At least Team 11 were going to still play in the South East in a temporary stadium rather than fly off to another city.

I think that’s the most interesting part about Team 11 not getting the licence.

David Gallop seemed to make the case about Casey Fields being unsuitable as a temporary venue, yet I am sure they would have at least been able to get their planned training complex, with the mini stadium for 5-10k up and running in year 2 at least. Year 3 could have been them move into their new stadium, whilst staying in the same general region.

Going against my initial feelings about the discussions, he also appeared to indicate that the Vic govt were generally supportive of the Team 11 stadium plans, but kept going back to their temporary arrangements as the issue.

Strange logic, which could well be a result of a lack of understanding of the Western region of Melbourne, which is not a cohesive catchment area in the traditional sense.

I could live with 'Wyndham Vale FC'. With their nickname being 'The Valiants'. A bit like Port Vale FC in England

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Sydney FCs strong opposition to southern expansion was a factor in them being overlooked. Could melbourne city have quietly (as in not via the media) opposed the south melbourne bids?

Big mood

-PB

I saw somewhere (it might have been in relation to the info night) someone suggest the name Three Rivers FC after the Maribyrnong, Werribee and Barwon Rivers in an attempt to cover all the areas they are trying to represent.

Western Melbourne are basically the Southern Expansion of Victoria. Massive statements, massive plans yet none of it actually exists. Until they are lining up for kick off in it, I struggle to believe that they will actually build this stadium. The fact they think it will take 2-3 years is laughable. Just have a look at Parra stadium and how long that took from knockdown to planning to submissions to construction to finish...

Everything points towards them being a much better candidate for the 13th and 14th license which would most likely coincide with their stadium being complete.

That article someone posted above about Kardinia Park trust appears concerning, doesn’t look like they’re overly interested in hosting them at all.

A football writer needs to put the blowtorch on this.

Kardinia park is a bad idea for so many reasons. Firstly it's way too big for a new club. Secondly, being a cricket venue over the Summer makes it tricky as the cricket pitch needs to be removed for football. Victory don't play any games at Marvel during the T20 league, all games scheduled over that period are at AAMI. WMG don't have the luxury of two venues. However, that's the decision that's been made, so I'm sure they'll come to some agreement to play at Kardinia.
Does anyone know why Whitten Oval isn't being considered as a temporary venue? It's closer to the Tarneit area and only holds 12K which is perfect for a new club trying to grow a supporter base.

The Whitten Oval likely wasn’t considered as they would have had the same outcome as what occurred for Team 11.

Kardinia Park is a much better stadium, which has been renovated significantly over the past decade, but the whittern oval is no where near that level.

The FFA would consider everything from corporate facilities, lighting and video screens, which would be sub-optimal at the Whitten Oval.

At this rate though, looking at the news about not yet having a deal to play at Kardinia Park, the Whittern Oval would likely be wise to be discussed as an option. It would at least make more sense geographically.

I get that the FFA/Fox want attractive stadiums for their broadcasts, but an empty stadium looks so much worse on TV than an older stadium with a packed crowd. Just look at how bad Roar games look on the TV. The AFLW uses Whitten Oval and they get much higher crowds than what we can expect from WMG. Maybe it would be a good option to host half the games at Whitten. Many people simply won't want to travel to Geelong. Maybe the lower profile matches (eg: Nix, Mariners, Jets) could be hosted at Whitten.