Many, including myself, tipped against them for this game as it is still early days. Going to Wellington and getting a result in their first HAL match was a good outcome.

Next week is the big test though, on and off the park.

I don't think anyone claimed that they would be awful on the pitch.

Great start, well done Western United. 

Huge game against Perth in Geelong, fingers crossed for a good crowd. I’m optimistic it will be 10,000+.

I stumbled across a tweet last night, I can't remember now who it was, but he was saying that many of the WU backers have either bailed or are trying to bail, i.e. there is no money for the new stadium.

All I can say is that at no point have we ever been made aware of who these financial backers were.

yep, what an absolutely cracking first post. 

However, being an on anonymous forum means we have no idea if the claims you have made are true. That is unless you are willing to reveal how or why you know these things you claim. I concede that I am not as privy to some of the information i received early in the peace. So I am only making my more recent assumptions based on what people like Bisetto, Horvat and co have stated publicly. The interesting part for me is the council. How involved they are and how they have gone about doing what they need to do to get things done.

and like you, I do want to see them to succeed in their plans. i really do believe teams building their own stadiums is the way forward for the HAL. And we will need to sustain at least another 3 more teams in Melbourne if we're looking at 30-32 teams in 2 tiers.   

Agree wholeheartedly about the 'Melbourne three more teams' comment. So we - as in Melburnians and football fans - really do need them to succeed (or at least not crash and burn). Definitely don't want to be seen to be death riding them, it's just that there does need to be some level of accountability for some of the things they've said, or at the very least some skepticism applied given the lack of really probing questions that seem to be asked of them by media.

Would also love to see as many teams as possible build / own their own stadia. The reality is it's an expensive exercise, it's not as simple as saying "we own it, we keep the profits". You've got to employ staff, cover running costs, cover maintenance costs and develop a slush fund for when the time comes to renovate / redevelop in the ensuing years among many other things. So, if this stadium in Tarneit does get built, it will be a very interesting test case that's for sure.

Fair call re the anonymous post thing. You're exactly right. I know it to be true, but you don't. So you just either have to choose to believe me or not - which is fine either way. Just as everyone has to choose whether to believe the things officials from the club say publicly.

Your guess is as good as mine about the Council involvement. Obviously there is some level of involvement given the stadium plans. But how directly they're involved in the club is anyone's guess. I'd suggest maybe not as much as people might have thought considering the Sportsbet sponsorship announcement last week. Almost all local councils are desperately fighting against gambling. I can't imagine a club that has a Council as a major financial backer giving that sponsorship the tick of approval. Indeed, you saw one of Wyndham's councilors admonishing it on Twitter and saying he was going to take it up with the CEO because it wasn't a good look.

Council may well have ownership, but I'd suggest giving them too much ownership would be fraught with danger given you're at the mercy of Councillors who can be, how do you say, an interesting bunch. The majority might be supportive now - although in the absence of any publicly available documentation from Council meetings we're not to know - but if several new Councillors get elected after the next elections (next November I believe) who are not supportive for whatever reason then the rug could be pulled from under them. And then what? 

It's all very interesting.

I tend to agree. There has been very little evidence to suggest that the council has any direct involvement with the club at all. There definitely hasn't been any evidence that they somehow have any sort of ownership. If they did, and maybe traded the land for some sort of part ownership, I'm sure there would be a requirement that that information is made public. Wyndham City council is extremely under funded and are very desperate for money. Just a few days ago there were reports they have requested approx $8.5M in state funding for projects like Ballan Road upgrades as well as kindergartens and an early education centre. There have also been requests to fast track the completion of the additional train station in Tarneit. All of these are just requests. None of them have been committed to by the state.

I suspect that is the case. The more I think about it, the more I reckon they haven't publicly released their ownership structure due to potential backlash from ratepayers if they own a large chunk of the team. Just look at trouble Maribyrnong Council are having re Victory’s COE at Footscray Park for example? However, they this can’t remain private forever.

Yeah you’re right. Cause there was Council involvement in the Team 11 bid too (and Macarthur maybe? Not sure) and it became public during the bid. I can’t find the article where it says the shareholding was approved but it was forecast in one of the local rags: https://dandenong.starcommunity.com.au/news/2018-12-06/team-11-requests-1-25m/

So yeah, as you said, if there is ownership it would come out eventually you’d think. I’m surprised the Council hasn’t copped any ratepayer questions about it because you’d think they would have to respond publicly.

Living In wyndham and  having a neighbour work in town planning  and she said theres been a bit of wtf  going on

I thought it would be a draw but Wellington are unlikely to offer much this season.

In terms of off the Park Heart got 11k to its first ever home game and I believe that was a Thursday night from memory as I was there, they would want to be matching that at least.

Awkward much...

What a dog act Rudan.  Doing the WP cleaning staff out of their jobs!  

Don’t worry though when the Vuck visits we’ll remember to leave crap everywhere just like we always do.  #vucksrespectthecleaningstaff

nothing but sour grapes from Wellington Phoenix.

The sour grapes seems to extend far beyond WP, and right across the board when it comes to WU.

As is the case with so many things in our game, the negativity about WU is at fever pitch constantly. 

Not everyone will like them, or think they make sense in this competition, but for once can people just look at the bigger picture. This club MUST succeed, as failure will certainly take the code back a few steps. We need to grow the game, not have some ‘experts’ sit back and try and create self-fulfilling prophecies.

Lets hope they deliver on their stadium plans and truly bring something new to the sporting landscape in the process.

I really don't agree. I would rather have no new teams that one that is a high risk of failure and might end up being the redheaded stepchild that needs to be propped up.

We could have had an easy win with a team like Wollongong.

still sour over that huh?

Yes, I am sour that the A-League keeps making bad moves. But as a Victory supporter, it doesn't bother me that much; we will outlast the A-League.

Says who? No guarantees that or Canberra would thrive either.

The biggest issue for WU is its nomadic life in the next couple of years at least, which may well be a mistake, but like it or not, if they fail, things will certainly not play out well for the competition. We don’t need any clubs failing, so let’s not try and constantly talk them down to make some feel smug about themselves.

I am going down to Geelong this weekend to catch up with a friend that lives down there now and is going to the game. Will be interesting to see how they go. Will likely be there the week after also to watch MC, so at least I will be adding to the numbers at each match.

Funnily enough the Dandenong, Frankston and Casey councils were more than happy to tell everyone that Team 11 was a joint venture by the three of them, and nobody down there complained at all. Perhaps more evidence that the bid had good public support. I really hope they keep that land by the station available.

did you know the Gold Coast and Townsville failed because they had such a small population? Sydney and Melbourne can fit many teams due to the sheer size of their population.

 They failed because both were badly run clubs, and both shouldn't have been included.

It was a shocking decision on expansion at the time, especially considering both Sydney and Melbourne only had 1 club each back then. 

That land near the  purposes new tarneit station was actually for a shopping  and town  centre . The stadium hopefully  does  happen sooner rather  than  later.  People been saying oh theyve seen the stadium go up . And im like thats road and house works  going on

Just curious, the road and house works which is going on, is it on the parcel of land the WU owners were granted?

I love how everyone from outside of Wollongong and Canberra especially non nsw folk wanted these regional bids to get a license. Imo these regional bids are so much more a risk than clubs like WU and Team11 etc.

Could havr thrown South melb into the mix.
in the case of WU, for three years they will be playing in Geelong and Ballarat

Actually I was referring to the land Dandenong council was willing to hand over for a stadium for Team 11, right next to Dandenong station. They did mention they'd keep it in reserve in a press release, but that can't be forever.

In the case of Team 11, the land and stadium was going to be publicly owned, If I'm remembering correctly.

So that's a bit of  a difference to the WU situation.

bloody hell. Wollongong would have been a disaster. a much bigger risk than Western United. 

Very true, but Wollongong and Canberra seem to be the flavour of the month for some supporters.