Have   an    independent   A- League -   let   the  club  owners   run  the   competition   the   way   they  want .  They   are  smart   businessmen ,  who   understand  football .

About as strong a statement as most other weak statements just in less words 

Adelaide United Chairman, Piet Van der Pol, wishes to make the following comments regarding the Australian Professional League’s (APL) announcement in relation to future A-Leagues Grand Finals.

“Adelaide United was not part of the decision to host each A-Leagues Grand Final in New South Wales, as it is one of the Australian professional clubs without a seat on the APL Board.

“As a proud club dedicated to the people of South Australia, we believe the decision has not been made in the best interests of our fans.

“We have waited until now to make an announcement to be fully appraised of the facts that have led to this outcome.

“While a democratically made decision cannot be overturned, the process has highlighted the need to review the decision-making processes of the APL.

“We acknowledge the importance and need for Government support, and we will continue to work with our fans on what is best for our game.”

Also Sage claims he didn't know either I think but no official release that I have seen.

I'm yet to see a truly damning statement anyway.
Everyone's happy to take the money.

The clubs not on the board get to say they had no idea don't blame us.
The Victory guy gets to have a vote then take the high ground once the money was secured.
The others all wanted it.

It never actually occurred to me that only a few big clubs had a seat on the board.
Is this a rolling seat?
Mental

So we know this deal is done. It's probably a case of they would need to pay a hefty compensation fee if the APL were to pull out of the deal. OK, whatever, fuck you.

So, thinking out aloud here. If this deal absolutely can't be undone, would this be an acceptable compromise? The GF becomes a home/away tie. One leg to be played in Sydney to meet the requirements of the deal. The other leg to be played at the interstate team's home stadium. If two interstate teams, then highest ranked gets the home leg. If the highest ranked is a non NSW team, then they get the second leg, so they have the opportunity of celebrating with their fans should they succeed. This way the home advantage is still there for the highest ranked, which balances out the unfair nature of Sydney being guaranteed a home advantage should they qualify. Two finals means more overall ticket sales, more TV sponsorship sales, etc. Right now, very few fans are going to travel, however if it was home/away they may get fans wanting to go to both. 

According to Ray Gatt voting yesterday was as follows:
For (8 votes) 
SFC
WSW
MAC
NJ
CCM
BR
WP
MC

Against (4 votes)
MV
PG
AU
WU

stupid question: don't we have that now?

Was this at a little sit down after the decision was already made?
Not sure I understand how they voted if they get no votes.

Glad to be on the right side of that list though at least, that's something.

if that list is true it's funny coz it's NSW teams and teams that have no intention of making a GF in the next 3 years (+MC our supreme leaders) 

That's his point. "Be careful what you wish for" etc

Yeah it must have been a bit different as it was an emergency meeting. Like I said, just going off of Ray Gatt so not 100% sure. 
Not really surprised at CFG, SFC, WSW, MAC. 
NJ don't have owners, so they would just fall in line. 
Based on who BR are owned by, can't be too surprised there either. 
CCM I'm a little surprised. 
WP I'm very surprised. Maybe they are afraid of getting the boot. 
PG, Tony Sage would always be against this. 
WU are hated enough as it is, best for them to be on the light side for a change. 
AU, good on them, I would have thought they would go the other way. Pleasantly surprised. 
MV have too many fans to lose. I already know a few mates who have got membership refunds and ticket refunds for the away derby. They would already be bleeding and needed to plug the wound. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/a-league/article-11535161/Fans-League-club-decide-stage-mass-walkout-game-grand-final-switch.html

oh yer I read between his spacing - trouble was pre ALM was damned if you do daamned if you don't right.
Everything with SLowy smelt and their track record was a train wreck so many wanted change, well now its proven both stink, all about the money, leave the fans out and not the big picture of the game.

So now its quite ironic, ol socka supporters left out on the cold have something in common with the new are experiencing once again and worse.
What a vicious circle we have for our game.

Already have. See latest post

https://www.facebook.com/TheCove23

"Anything is better than Lowy"............................

APL want our money to give back to SILVERLAKE as a pre arranged deal. This deal didn't even go to tender.

Worth mentioning, this includes the A-League womens' GF as well ... Which already averages only around 5K currently.

Can't wait to see Melbourne City vs Adelaide United in the A-League womens GF in Sydney in front of 15 spectators.

Townsend and O'Rourke, follow DiPietro out the door and resign tomorrow, your self interest HAS BEEN EXPOSED.
You are the cancer in the Apl. This was never a new tradition, you are paying money back to Silverlake!

Fantastic response. Well done to The Cove👍👊

I wouldn't say fantastic. I'd like to see them join MV, MC and AU and walk out. Silence isn't much of a protest. Especially seeing as they benefit the most from this. Guaranteed home GF even if they finish 6th. Something is better than nothing though, so have to give them a bit of credit. Hopefully they follow through and boycott finals like they say. 

Cool, good that they have said they will boycott the finals

Somehow we need 2 national divisions - it is too steep a drop from the state to the national division to have p and r without a semi pro comp in between the top and state leagues

yet how does the a league survive this? They lost a bunch from their war with the active supporter groups, they were crippled from covid (not their fault) and only just viable without all that

the contract is probably signed and irreversible so i dont see how this conflict resolves without the entire apl board stepping down

You can get out of any contract. 

You come to an agreement or pay compo, or have a good lawyer who put in a great caveat.

No they haven't, there staying silent for 23 minutes. They are basically staying silent until the yellow army walks out. It's actually a pretty big dick-move.

tsf said he hoped the Cove would boycott the finals.

What I just posted confirms that the Cove are boycotting the finals

Yep walk out probably is better- but threatening to boycott finals is good. Can imagine FA or APL will insert pre-recorded or fake crowd noise during broadcast. and Melbourne derby they won’t show any footage of fans walking out 😞

Sorry, Ill just read back where the discussion was coming from.
Just shitty about the lack of solidarity on the walk out, feels like a dog act.

Seems to me that if it was done for financial reasons that...

* It isn't that much money spread over several years and several clubs.
* A Grand Final that isn't a sellout will lose money considering the usual stadium expenses & potential reduced advertising spend. 
* They've already annoyed their broadcaster & sponsors.  These relationships are important.
* They've annoyed large sections of their fans who spend money in & out of the ground.  Football without the fans is nothing.

So much for a sound financial decision.  Administrative amateurs I tell you what....

Townsend must go

The other scenario we could see play out is a very poor ROI for Destination NSW. Let's say it ends up being a MV vs AU grand final. We know in that scenario, very few will make the trip for the game let alone the 'festival of phonies'. That leaves the Sydney neutrals to fill the gap. We know Sydney people aren't that interested in paying to see neutral games so end figures could be pretty dire. Deals like this aren't usually paid in up front payments. It would likely be a yearly payment. So if the first year is a disaster, Destination NSW may then want to revisit and  renegotiate the deal as they wouldn't be getting what they were promised. So, not only would the APL not get the money they want/need, they will also have caused irrepairable damage to the fanbase. 

M City statement. (Seems to be fit it.)


https://melbournecityfc.com.au/news/club-statement-on-a-leagues-grand-finals