My gauge from the Peacock, Bozza & Slats podcast, Code Sports episode 3, is that Danny Townsend had driven the code into the ground, jobs for the boys, junket trips to the WC for a host of 'Keep Up employees' & the Worst tv deal in Australian pro sports' history. Yes, he was not alone in such an effort.
Apl refuse to hold an independent inquiry as well.
If it is true,
Apl are not showing Newcastle's financial returns, 'the books' therefore, the new owners are not signing off on the ownership atm.
Good work Conroy & Garcia.

It's a cycle that just repeats itself 

I dont think townsend is the main issue as much as institutional momentum

The fa has a 260 million dollar budget, so it can cover big a league losses at the cost of taking money out of grass roots. The lowrys, while good businessmen, are also very rich which provides a second safety net. So the a league is used to a huge safety net so there is no need to look at commercial realities. When the a league broke free of course it was going to keep moving in the same consequence be damned trajectory. Worse, you had experienced business people out the door replaced by the inexperienced.

Now they realize they have to keep costumers happy, they have to develop multiple revenue streams, better stadium deals, more care for youth development so that they can make money off transfers etc.

If the lack of safety net means the a league crashes that is a problem that could set us back years. But if the a league manages to survive, however tenuously, then that is huge progress as a free fa has completely different incentives and can start fixing our grass roots as well as connecting the pyramid

Just on the surface the comments by Slater with his frustration of how much money was wasted. Something about sending Keepup workers to Qatar for world cup coverage. I don't see an issue with that but they should have been keeping an eye on the books.

Slater said those who formed the APL were always complaining the FA had a alck of transparency and now the APL probably won't lay anything bare themselves. Hypocrisy at its finest according to him. 

Grazor makes some good points above. Wrong people in wrong positions. Others in here are much more knowledgeable to comment on the ongoings of it all. 

For all the justified talk of the apl chaos, i wonder how much change there will be at the pfa

The pfa are very negative on an nst, very negative on a domestic transfer system and limit the amount of outreach players can do (one quarter the amount of outreach afl teams do)

Without the safety nets of lowrys deep pockets and the fas 260 million dollar budget they also have to face commercial realities

- without an nst there is no where for places like fury, gold coast the old auckland side and newcastle to go and generous owners propping them up is unsustainable
- without a domestic transfer system you cant maximize the profits of the transfer market which is crucial to surviving without a safety net
- without outreach u miss out on the cheapest form of advertising and clubs cannot survive without it

The Lowys were one of the reasons why the A-league was semi decently run.

Again... That 2016-13 tv rights deal that pulled 120 million or 15-16 million a year wasn't sustainable when there were 10 sides and the salary cap was 2.2 million. 

When it came to the 2013-17 tv deal being 40 million a year, it was sustainable when A-league sides salary cap was 2.5 million per club or 25 million for all 10 clubs. That meant a spare 12-15 million.

That's the irony isn't it?

The APL thought the FFA were holding the game back and were badly run. 

Lookin' back at it, FFA were doing ok. We were getting 40 million a year in tv rights money and needed stability. The FFA gave us that.

You clowns wanted the league to get rid of the salary cap and have no talent dole bludgers being paid 100, 000 Aussie dollars a week. LoL 
 

Yep the APL won't admit they did a bloody crap job. It would make them look bad. LoL 

Again.... Enjoy getting a dollar out of me with how crap this sport is run.

Someone needs to say it... should Danny Townsend, Simon Pearce and co be criminally investigated? How the fuck can you blow 9 figures in less than 3 years? At a minimum, there needs to be an independent inquiry. 

No. The APL is a private business. They can spend their money however they want. 

I mean, they can be if it involved fraud and siphoning money out into their own pockets.

Townsend & his cronies have overly eclipsed any insurance jobs & bank robberies in the modern era in Australia I feel.

correction, the Lowys put the game on as a show like a book signing of a best seller hence decently run but once you got into more chapters it lost its good start and in vein you keep going but comes up a fizzer and wonder what all the fuss was about and leave it on the shelf never to be revisited.
Wish I didn't respond to RR post - for not everybody likes Ramon d lol

Exactly. Lowy era definitely got people in the door, however they seemed to expect some sort of self sufficient organic growth but failed (or refused) to initiate any meaningful growth themselves.