True.

so true

No need to do anything more.

AFL v sockah was a tame code war compared to the bloody war that finished us the fuck off: sockah v sockah

That’s about it more than anything but I’d point the finger to Lowy and Jnr appointing afl/nrl/cricket leaders leading a game that they detested previously and knew nothing of its dna in the first place.
Sure our game has been its own worst enemy normally but looking from the sidelines stuff me having those mugs turned away all their devoted supporters more than anything else and here we are.

Question: do u think if we had football people running the game from when the a league was riding high until now, do we avoid the crowd doldrums we have now?

Yes and now that we're not doing that football has never had it better- who wants mainstream media attention, who cares about packed stadiums, respectable TV ratings, household name sponsors, anyway?

We showed them alright!

Should have appointed a panel of socceroos captains instead

I was neutral about the war between Lowy/FFA against the AL clubs.

Paul C was strongly in support of Lowy. Most of the rest of the forum were on the side of the clubs. 

We have to credit Paul C with being right.

The AL has  plummeted since the AL club ascendancy, with FTA TV, which all of us, me in particular, thought would advance the game.

I feel like we are heading down the old NSL path to failure again.

I'm very involved with politics off forum. What is always a problem is the enormous ego of some stakeholders - often clashing on the same side. This phenomenon extends to football.  The winners in football v football have prevailed, but the game is moving backwards.

The problem as well is picking Paramount stan sports would of been so much better 

I was strongly supportive of Lowy as well.

The problem is as we move further from the past, people forget it, and then repeat it..  "Careful what you wish for" - S Lowy 16 August 2018.

But lowy was no good either. APL or FFA wasn't working we need a proper leader in charge like Johnson only suit that's worth even knowing his name 

So things are better under Johnson than they were prior to 2018?

fair question grazor - and look I'm no white collar board type nor a oricle for the game how to best improve the top flight participation and reasons for and against.
I come from a humble grass roots background as many do here I suspect.
We can see some very well presented response's here by people who are even more involved in game compared to me let alone with their english whereas I'm just a devoted punter, self made owner business without any uni degrees yaddayadda.......
D2 mentioned paulc, yep he had/has some good imput and stood behind the Lowy reign just as Enzo the poor fella, sure it was a new dawn and opportunity and well set up especially $$$$ wise for the game but why a man with so much business nouse and a football tragic so to speak not see the train going off the track.
One thing I have observed dealing with customers of mine in the corporate world alot of the Heads/CEO's etc do not get down in the trenchs themselves and gain some intel for themselves instead of relying on reports presented by their own Yes men.
Huge fail - I've seen many a grand projects/company buy outs ruin very successful aquisitions within 2/3yrs. 
Here we are be it APL now or as it was before, it wouldn't have got any better IF it stayed in Lowys hands in anycase so pushing that barrow is quite narrow minded imo.

Are football background people any better ? trillion $ question.
Obviously not all for lets face it some are not good in business or understanding and more so some have their own agendas to push and thats another red flag. (ie QNPL fella)
Captains, great banter Enzo - whats your picture to improvement ?

Grazor I suppose balance of both types - JJ seems to be in the right position by the look of it, not sure what his support staff is like but surely he's directing them all accordingly.
Consulating companies are used alot, some of that intel should be reviewed a hell of alot - used due to lack of resource imo.
Start from the ground up being its huge grass roots sport.
The JJ's but more so his own staff need to visit the coal face, don't know if they do or not, Association football - then NPL, not just rely on the Feds own reports might I add for they also have their own agendas.
Its a tribal game like any sport, new found entities have not worked out, they don't connect to the roots, people like paulc/Enzo are clouded by the honeymoon success and lets face it, was it any challenge to improve what was before ???.
Ofcourse not but people are convinced this is the answer, well it hasn't turned out that way.
You can throw bucket loads to anything but doesn't mean it will succeed as proven.
The game is not a retail product first and foremost.

Sort out the ethnics and other NPL clubs, they are the salt of the game here no matter what others say.
Nothing is perfect but its the foundation that needs work, and NST is the first piece or renovations under FA's guidance.
It connects to the ground, will take alot of time yet, will take alot of weeding out of the rougues in the Feds etcetc but thats my kind of belief looking ahead.
The countless more migrants coming will have football in their souls more than afl/nrl for starters, the Mums today are starting to avoid those school sports, football has heaps to gain.
As long as the eco system starts to get the funding it desparately needs and link to each level above its no diff to years and years ago, its all there to build this sport where it belongs.

Great old saying Enzo, I sure wouldn't give Lowy Jnr any credit whatsoever, he was only worried about their pockets and losing control of the game they fucked up differently to the NSL times.
They both had things in common.

Well Johnson has done great with the FA. I have no doubt he would do well with the a league if given the chance 

So go the FA gets control of the clubs back..like what Lowy wanted?

Sure but Johnson gets the wheel not lowy he can.. help with the luggage 

Never a truer word been written, we continue to fuck ourselves over.

Ange said it perfectly, when the NSD was announced & his delight that Sth Melbourne was involved.
The A-League was needed but so many good football people were discarded.
We had to marry the 2 old soccer & new football, but this was not done.
The old Ethnic NSL clubs needed to expand & needed to be encourage to expand in this new football, but this was not done or they didn't want to (not privvy to that decision).

Someone above said what has JJ done? He's done heaps, won & hosted a wonderful women's WC, Support the Soocceroos to best ever WC result, brought in the NSD.
It's only the A-League that stinks & that's the APL & especially that STUPID decision to hold all GFs in Sydney. This is not JJ's doings.

Maybe too late for for me, but I long for the day we stand united, no agendas, no personal gains for the good of the game.

Absolutely they are.

We have just hosted the most successful EVER Womens World Cup
Our FA has more money in its coffers than it has EVER had
Incredibly mind-blowing viewer numbers and attendances at both Womens World Cup and Mens fans sites have elft the FA in a position to negotiate for a bumper new broadcast deal
The FA is finally working through some key issues with the game, namely a proper national second division and domestic transfer system.

I would say that things are a thousand times better than the old administration.

Only facet of the game that seems to be lagging is the Aleague(s) who gives a shit?

And we always will until the "original sin" is resolved.
Your two below points (paraphrasing Ange) are bang on.....

1. We had to marry the 2 old soccer & new football, but this was not done.
2. The old Ethnic NSL clubs needed to expand & needed to be encourage to expand in this new football, but this was not done or they didn't want to (not privvy to that decision).

OK I'm silly enough to ask why, but please stay away from agendas & BS just stay with facts.

Don’t want to rain on your parade but also heard that before. Winter will generate a new set of problems and commercial hits. Need to just grow within our means. 

I can never follow this logic. If it was needed, why or how were they discarded? The better explanation is a small number, not "so many", supporters of certain NSL clubs chose to be bitter about the change and not support the direction the game was taking. Those people chose to ignore the glaring reality that the change was needed to better connect the large interest in the sport to the top domestic league. Those people failed to recognise that supporting the A-League did not mean you were or had to turn your back on the clubs you had previously supported. But the small number of people you are referring to are insignificant to the issues the A-League is facing currently., based on their numbers they just do not matter and spending time, energy and financial resources attempting to appease them is a waste. 

The real issue for the A-League and all sporting competitions, is media and corporate attention. This is why Lowy is so missed and the current A-League governance is so poor, they have little to no sway in the Australian corporate or media scene. No the Lowy chairmanship was not perfect, but it cannot be ignored that it was during his tenure that the game thrived like it had never previously and has not since.

It was so painful reading so many push for the separation of the FFA and A-League on the false premise that it will bring more capital and investment into the A-League. It has not. It was never going to. The primary goal was/is to artificially increase the value of their licenses by adding control of the competition. It was a poor strategy (as evidenced by current licence issues) and the impact it had on the game in general has been significant. The A-League should always be run by the Federation, as representative of the sport's participant's, its grassroots.

Yeah well a home World Cup will do that.  The public interest and growth of the game has since then has been extraordinary.

You were right too, EB.

In 2005 I was thrilled that Lowy  et al had taken over the game. Like any regime there was criticism of the Lowy  epoch after a decade, but not from the perspective of people who had operated with more success than Lowy and his cohort.

In coach education there was a lot of  criticism of the new direction  in Aus from 2008 onwards with what Baan and Berger were implementing. This includes many players in the GG, until recently.

Craig Foster and Ali Edwards  from the GG , were  voices supporting the new coaching methodology. I certainly was supportive of the new regime. One senior Aus coach in the FFA  system told me some people just don't like change. And the naysayers, had absolutely nothing to propose as an alternative to the Berger coach education metamorphosis in Aus.

Now that the 2022 Socceroos have achieved our best results ever at a World Cup, there is a new generation of much more modest Socceroos, who have achieved higher than anything previous on the biggest stage of the WC. Some of the massive  egos  from the GG have finally shut up - as the current gen have achieved higher in international football. It is time for Zelic, Bosnich, Slater to an extent, and plenty of  their peers, to step forwards and say they were completely wrong when they criticised the new direction.

The Matildas, admittedly under Gustavvson, an anachronism as an Aussie coach in terms of tactics and structure, although I admit may be a brilliant player manager of female players, have achieved 4th at a WC.

It is no coincidence that  Aussie players have been coached in a uniform development system in underage ranks. This has contributed to the success as a Socceroo team unit in international football, despite lack of players in top leagues, in the men's game in particular.

More Matildas are playing high level club football.

Aussies are well coached tactically at all elite levels in Aus. Thank goodness this is a legacy of the current Aus coach education  from the metamorphosis of 15 years ago.

That is, even if administrators who thought they knew all the answers are now taking the A leagues in a downward direction. IMO the awarding of 4 new NSD clubs to each of NSW and Vic, is another regressive step towards building the game. 

We now have 7 AL clubs in each of NSW ( 8 million) and Vic ( 5 million). Conversely,  Queensland,  despite having almost as big a population as NSW, and decidedly bigger than Vic, only has 1 current AL club for a population of 7.5 million!

Have Tony Labozetta  and his acolytes resurfaced?



 

Well you know what I think mate but you are right its just an opinion right??? But have you got any OTHER plausible reason as to why? Serious question? You admit it your self it should have happened., WHY didnt it is the question..... 

So supporting new clubs did NOT mean turning your back on clubs many had supported for generations??? What a fascinating statement.

Such a shame the Aleague franchises find themselves where they are today ... really such a shame.... I hope the supporters they have managed to garner over the past 20 years stick by their clubs through thick and thin like we insiginificant few did.

Yeahs since 2018 ....... 

You may want to check your numbers there. Not sure where you got that 7.5M from.
NSW -  8,297,000
VIC - 6,780,000
QLD - 5,418,453

Lets see where the significant few AL Club supporters end up IF/or when the whole game is turned on its head OR P/R gets introduced.
Will they stick by their Club when demoted or let alone the license holder sells up, will they be bitter let alone support another club.
What a Song and dance to another significant few.
So Lowy is sharper and better than Lederer and the many other well off ogarlords involved, what about CFG, they got a dollar or 2.
The goal posts have moved on since Lowy presenting a shiny new toy with his mate Johnny's blessing, I'd say these other white collar ogarlords have far bigger fish to fry in their portfolios instead of one that has flat lined.......one wonders what the future holds.

Thankfully Lowy's were pushed off the plank for below was never gonna have a hope, now its IF/when the APL lasts.
Sorry something got to give once again in the future..