I think this is an excellent outcome for Macarthur.  

so what does that mean? are we in huge shit or something?

Walker sold his share for more than $7m so the new shareholder obviously thinks the club is a goer.

Best news yet. They’ve just lost a loose cannon.  

I thought it was well reported Rabieh was moving on shortly or am I thinking or what happened with Archie Fraser?

I wonder if Walker would be interested in providing the seed capital for another HAL club.

Hopefully he'll invest in canberra and maybe Tasmania

Told everyone they are full of shite. 
Marginally better than the thieves from Western United aka Fraudsters

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/macarthur-chairman-steps-down

They’ve yet to kick a ball in anger but A-League expansion club Macarthur Bulls have already lost a CEO, major backer - and now chairman Rabieh Krayem is gone.

Updated 11 hours ago        By        Dave Lewis                Share   
     
Krayem - who was appointed by erstwhile owner, billionaire property baron Lang Walker - has been replaced by shareholder and co-founder of Sydney’s third top-flight club, Gino Marra.
Formerly the CEO of axed A-League club North Queensland Fury and head of NPL umbrella group the AAFC, Krayem was in situ for just eight months and presided over the club’s inaugural signing, Tommy Oar from Central Coast. 
His appointment came weeks before the resignation of CEO Archie Fraser, with Walker departing the scene last week after selling his 50 per cent stake

Marra, an existing board member, was the initial face of the club when it emerged as a serious bidder for an A-League license, and he is based in Western Sydney.He has appointed two new female directors as part of the shake up whilst former FFA executive Mal Impomato, the brainchild behind the FFA Cup, will step up from general manager of operations at the Bulls into the role of interim CEO.

Wow if they turn out to be a failure then what a fail expansion was 

do some research on Rabieh Krayem and see what you think. My guess is the mistake was appointing him in the first place. 

too early to jump to conclusions on this one

Walker didn't want to sell, he knocked back the initial offer and only sold when they increased it. He is also sponsoring the club for $5 million a year, I believe.
I think it is a bit of a shame because Walker sounded like an ideal backer but if these guys have the resources the passion and the sensibility to run it, then should be fine. Hopefully they are still looking at the stadium upgrades.

The stadium upgrades were tied with the local council, so theoretically, should be no effect on that.

Walker said right up front that he wasn't in it for the long haul so it's not surprising that he accepted an offer that gave him a small profit.  Walker's sponsorship is for 5 years and it is thought to be in excess of $1m pa.

Still good commitment from him to the club 

Fuck all these franchises.  The last thing we need is another fabricated entity created.  There's dozens of likely candidates ready to go.

The FFA should invite tenders from established clubs that meet X amount of criteria and plonk the winner in the A-league.  The rest can go in div 2 with a view to pro / rel down the track.
 

Another HAL club can include existing clubs too who may need an owner or major sponsor to help them professionalize.

It could but I doubt it.  They've decided to emulate the MLS and the die is cast.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/everything-s-fine-a-league-boss-defends-macarthur-fc-after-another-off-field-exit-20200226-p544p0.html

'Everything's fine': A-League boss defends Macarthur FC after another off-field exit

By Vince Rugari

February 26, 2020 — 6.59pm

A-League boss Greg O'Rourke insists there is no cause for concern at incoming expansion club Macarthur FC despite a concerning turnover of key personnel, which continued with the departure of football director Ken Stead.

High-performance guru Stead, who worked closely with Ange Postecoglou during his successful tenure at Brisbane Roar, was appointed in October to a wide-ranging role at the head of Macarthur's football department.

Trumpeted as a "major off-field signing" at the time, Stead was to have oversight of not only the A-League team but all academy and community football structures beneath it.

But his role was made redundant this week, club sources said, in the latest round of behind-the-scenes changes at the Campbelltown-based club.

It comes days after executive chairman Rabieh Krayem quit and major investor Lang Walker sold his 50 per cent share in the club, while last year, Archie Fraser's tenure as chief executive lasted just four months.O'Rourke told the Herald "everything's fine" at the club, describing Krayem's resignation as a natural consequence of Walker's decision to exit as a shareholder. Walker, however, remains attached as a five-year major sponsor of the Bulls.Macarthur FC was conceived after two rival expansion bids from Sydney's south-west joined forces - one of them led by Walker, the other by Gino Marra, who has become the new chairman."When they were building the ownership structure, they had a plan, but when Lang came on, he said as part of his conditions of being a 50 per cent investor that he wanted his owner leadership team," O'Rourke said. "When he left, they went back to plan A, and that didn't include the people brought together by Lang."Marra would not comment when contacted by the Herald.

Macarthur, who will be coached by Matildas boss Ante Milicic, have only officially confirmed the signing of one player, Tommy Oar, but are believed to have several others locked in that they are unable to announce due to agreements with rival clubs.

The A-League can ill-afford for a second expansion club to hit rough waters. Western United have endured a difficult first season in the competition as they await construction on their proposed stadium, with average crowds of around 5,000 at multiple venues scattered across the western part of Victoria.

Well, if Greg says so !!! 

I work down in the Camden/Narellan area a few days a week which is smack bang in the middle of their catchment area. The growth in population and development that I’ve witnessed myself is crazy. Talking to a lot of football fans down there, most seem to be adamant they will continue supporting WSW. Despite this, I reckon rams will be a hugely supported club. They’re a very proud and involved community which still has that very country style feel to it where everyone gets around it. I don’t agree with their inclusion but I don’t think they will be a concern like WU are.

I wouldn't hold them to that. Macarthur is close enough for an away trip but far enough that travelling every fortnight will get annoying. When I moved to Oran Park I stopped going to WSW games altogether. Now that I'm back in the West I have started again, but I eventually will move back to the Campbelltown area. I'm about 70-90% sure I'll be switching to Macarthur FC when I do. I expect many of the new arrivals to do the same, even if they don't know it yet.

It's a distinct enough region, to be honest if the Campbelltown area is not distinct enough for the 3rd club, then no part of Sydney is distinct enough for the 3rd club.
It was the logical one for inclusion, and by some margin.

I checked through the Macarthur Football Association annual report for 2019 last night and came across an interesting split of where the players in the association live.  In Camden, which us where the majority of the new development is happening, the numbers of registered players works out to be 4.4% of the population which is slightly above the average for FNSW of 4.0%.  In the other two "older" LGAs, Campbelltown and Wollondilly, the numbers work out to be 2.4% which is still above the national average of 2.2%.  Both Campbelltown and Wollondilly are planned for increased development over the next 16 years so it is quite likely that penetration of the game their might approach the FNSW average especially with the Bulls influence.

With projected population growth of 109,000 in Camden, 100,000 in Campbelltown and 35,000 in Wollondilly the number of registered player in the core Macarthur area of the Bulls is likely to double to 20,000 by 2036.

Penetration of the game in the northern area the Bulls seek to represent is 1.8% in the Southern Districts Soccer Football Association and 2.9% in Bankstown District Amateur Football Association.  With projected growth of 125,000 in the Liverpool part of SDSFA and 35,000 in BDAFA the number of registered players in this region is likely to increase by 7,000 to 22,000 by 2036.

There are another 3,000 players in the area that play in the various state and NPL competitions.

All told the club currently has 28,000 registered players in its area but this could be 45,000 by 2036 due to population growth.

With the obvious difference in penetration of the game between developing areas and old areas in the Bulls "territory" it might be good for FFA and the State FAs to set a long term strategy to increase the footprint of the game through growth in the grassroots in developing areas.

I'm not sure if this has been reported anywhere on this board.
https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/macarthur-fc-face-prospect-of-legal-action-over-axing-of-football-director-stead

Axed Macarthur FC football director Ken Stead is considering legal action after being off-loaded by the A-League expansion club, just five weeks into his tenure.         
Updated 1 day ago        By        Dave Lewis       

Stead, who worked in tandem with Ange Postecoglou during the Yokohama F.Marinos kingpin’s trophy-laden reign at Brisbane Roar, was cut earlier this week, the latest head to roll in an off-field purge at the Bulls.

With the newcomers in turmoil before a ball has even been kicked, there are also question marks over how closely the remaining management structure at the Campbelltown-based club resembles that of the South West Sydney bid, which had little hope of winning a license prior to being corralled by the FFA into an amalgamation with billionaire Lang Walker’s rival Macarthur-based bid.

In the past two weeks alone property baron Walker - whose entry into the game was seen as a major coup - has sold his 50 per cent stake in Sydney’s third A-League club, executive chairman Rabieh Krayem has stood down and the prospect of another significant back-room departure is looming.

That’s on top of the abrupt exit last year of CEO Archie Fraser after just four months in the job.

Stead expressed his “surprise and shock” at his role being made redundant when contacted on Friday by The World Game.

“Yes, it certainly came as a surprise and a big shock to me the way things have turned out, especially after relocating from Queensland,” he said.

“I’m disappointed for the people in the Macarthur region who have been very welcoming to me.

“The club have said they’re going in a new direction, I think there needs to be some clarity provided around what that direction is going to be.”

Stead’s appointment in October was hailed by the Campbelltown-based club as “a major off-field signing” in an over-arching role within its football department as a key figure in building its community and academy structures.

It’s understood that Stead is pondering litigation over his role being made redundant, though he declined to comment specifically on that prospect.


[this next bit is actually news to me, that one half of the joint bid for the 3rd license effectively controls the whole thing now]

Marra and former Sydney United boss Sam Krslovic now effectively run the show, as was the case during their partnership as leaders of the initial SWS bid team.

    

The way this club may eat into the Wanderers fan base is still a huge risk. It’s like killing the golden goose. It’s not all about population and metrics. I would have preferred Canberra but that’s old news and an old argument, so maybe next time for us, when we go from 12 to 14 teams and before pro/rel. In the meantime, I hope this new franchise succeeds and also doesn’t have a negative effect on WSW.

could Canberra become part of the new national 2nd division?

It would depend on whether the last bid team was willing to do that. Canberra bid 2.0 was much better than the earlier bid, and we again had local government support, a ready to go stadium, local and international sponsors, and a decent number of members etc, but I am not sure we’d get that same support for a second division place. It just might not happen, sadly. So, we have the infrastructure and players but a 2nd division spot may not get local government, commercial or fan support. Maybe it will, but we are all quite gun shy after two failed attempts. Me included, too much emotional energy and bitterness to navigate! Oh well!!

Sorry mate, but you are everything that is wrong with sport in this country. You can't just swap backwards and forwards between clubs.