it's been confirmed this rumour is crap

heart are fine to be honest, there hasn't been any reports on saying the financial position of the club is bad

but the TV rights deals will give every club that much needed boost

It was widely discussed on this forum, and (I believe) admitted by Fox and the FFA, that an offer was rejected by Buckley that was worth considerably more and would have allowed around $2.5m per franchise (for 12 franchises) rather than the (at that time) $1.4m per franchise for 11.

My reasoning for believing the next deal will not be so good is down to the reduced number of teams in the competition, the reduced probability of a Western Sydney side, and the failed world cup bid.

HOPEFULLY - the arrival of Kewell and Emerton, the revised start to the season, the lack of mid-week games, the loss of Fury, the new owners (removing the fear of failing franchises) and a good promotional campaign, will see average crowds rise and improve the media perception of the health of the competition... Leading to a more favourable bidding environment.

Edited by Benjamin: 4/10/2011 09:21:39 PM

so if that last offer was $2.5m per franchise, SURELY with the increase in standard this season of the league once again, the arrival of 2 high profile socceroos as well as a couple of other socceroos, better advertising for the league, and a MUCH better scheduling of matches, this would lead to an increase in crowds and will be a big talking point in the media (as we have already seen so far in the pre-season)

If all goes to plan, i wouldn't take anything lower than $3m per franchise which would mean that no team makes a loss this season.

Mail I just received

Melbourne Heart to go into administration within 2 weeks.

Apparently FFA to take over

If true this will make a mockery of the Nth QLD Fury fiasco and the FFA not supporting them financially

Edited by chris: 6/10/2011 02:54:01 PM

Absolute crap. This entire thread seems to be a "Heart will go so SMFC can come back" wank.

Let me me this abundantly clear: Heart is not in crisis. Sidwell is going nowhere. We, in fact, have more investors than last year. We will not go into administration. Full stop. End of story.

This isn't my opinion. This is fact.

Please post that in AF :lol:

why post it when it's a rumour that has no sources?

it was confirmed on the melb heart forums that this rumour is crap

I saw somewhere today that we just signed a 2 year sponsorship deal with Whirlpool. Did anyone else see that or did I just imagine it? Anyway 2 year sponsorship agreements would suggest that things are going along as normal.

For the :lol: mate, for the :lol:

I've not seen anything about SMFC coming back. This has all been about Heart's future.

I've heard RUMOURS from several sources that back up what Chris is saying. RUMOURS though. Don't know whether to believe them or not, but do know that Heart didn't perform as investors expected last season, and is expected to perform no better this season with the Kewell-fest at Victory.

Whilst I applaud Heart's youth policy - if you look at last years squad, and look at this years squad, you can't help but notice how much they are cutting corners on salaries alone.

Increase in standard isn't that important - last season had a higher standard than previous seasons, but both attendance and tv viewing figures dropped. TV companies don't often RAISE the price for a product that is LOSING viewers.

2 high profile players returning may have an effect - but for the tv deal to be affected, we would have to have MORE coming back next year. The novelty of Kewell and Emerton will have eased a fair bit by next season.

Increases in crowds should have a positive effect.

Most important element of the rejected bid though was that it was for at least 12 franchises. We're back to 10 with the FFA admitting a freeze on potential expansion. So it's 5 games a week rather than 6. 15% less live action per week.

Again, hope the crowds go up, the play is better and attracts greater viewing on tv, the stars do well and encourage more to return (Cahill, Neill, Kennedy, etc), Neill decides to go for it with West Sydney, Canberra, Tasmania and South Coast all get up and running, etc., and the new deal is worth your $3m/season each... I hope so, but I'm not overconfident. I suspect we will have a deal that is perhaps a little better than the existing one - which will put the squeeze on investors long term planning.

we need an increase in standard if the league is going to grow. If we have quite a decent league, and are challenging EVERY year in the ACL, getting to the final of the Asian Cup as a nation, then it will attract the attention of bigger investors from overseas and attract the attention of better players from overseas looking to come to the league.

I've heard way too many people say that they don't follow the a-league because they think the standard is 'shit' however, they are die hard european football fans. And there seems to be a lot of those kinds of people. If you can get the interest of those people then the league will be successful

The only people using 'quality' as an argument are the people who only want to watch the EPL, or Primera Liga, in which case it doesn't matter what happens here - they won't be interested, because we'll never be at that level.

The standard is fine as it is - if it gets better, which I hope it will, then that's a bonus for those who watch it.

Did you get this mail from the same person who told you last year that they were being investigated by ASIC for being insolvent?

If this was true wouldn't they have let Colosimo go to Victory and save $250k a year in wages?

this ! people who say the aleague is shit will never give a flying stuff if the aleague is on .

If they only lost $2m this year, the amount of money the FFA spent on a year and a half of NQF could sustain Heart for 5 years. Even more when you consider they would find ways to cut more costs. If they let Colosimo leave and didn't spend his 250k wages, you could support the club for almost 6 years with the $10m NQF got. :lol:

Edited by macktheknife: 9/10/2011 10:58:53 PM

The FFA will not let the Heart go down. Its too important in the scheme of the A-League's future to have a second Melbourne team. If the current owners want out, new one's will be found. If costs need to be cut, they will be cut. If there are no new owners the FFA will take it over until new owners are found. If Heart goes down, you can bet the whole league is going down too.

Big screwup placing the Heart in the middle of Melbourne and playing out of the same stadium as Victory with no discernible difference at all from the Victory.

Whereas at least Western Sydney will be targeting a completely different geographical and social demographic.

i think the ffa reasoning for having heart was to carve up the melbourne market!

There are a few theories...

One was that Victory were disproportionately larger than any other franchise, and as you suggest, another side could split the membership and create two sides with good numbers.

Another was that Melbourne clearly loves football, so let's give them a chance to see football every week.

A third was that the new franchise was supposed to tap into as yet untapped supporters. The vast majority of Heart fans I've met either (a) previously Victory supporters (mostly from 2-3 years ago) or (b) not interested/around when Victory started up.

As others have stated, and as I have said many times, the biggest problem with Heart is that the only difference between them and Victory is the name and the strip. Sharing a stadium shouldn't be a problem, it's the steadfast refusal to define themselves in any way for fear of chasing anyone away.

No doubt about it - they will seek out new investors and support the franchise in the short term. There's a distinct possibility that once Sidwell is out of the picture, Mirabella might well come back and do the very things he left because he wasn't allowed to do!

Do any of you boys know if Manny Galanos is still an investor with the Heart?

I don't think football clubs should be created with a marketing inspired identity. They're created as football clubs. And that's the only definition we need. As the club begins forming a history, it's culture and identity will emerge organically - as it should. Already we've been able to position ourselves with a grassroots identity, and a commitment to a style of football different to what Victory have provided.

And to the idea of an FFA conspiracy to weaken the Victory, surely a second team in Melbourne is needed only because in a city of 3 million people, there's more than enough room for two A League clubs. It provides a local rivalry, and as you point out, it provides a game in Melbourne every weekend. The main problem was that there weren't two clubs in both Melbourne and Sydney from the start.

Heart will be ok. We'll probably always be the smaller club in Melbourne as a result of being the second team, but from what I've seen, there's plenty of passion and committment around the club.

A second team in Melourne doesn't weaken the Victory, it strengthens them...and the A_League as well.

Thats a weak argument though isn't it. The same could be said for the nine afl clubs based in Melbourne. Yet they have no trouble attracting large crowds.

Two clubs in melbourne are required to help the game grow. It leads to more media attentions, coporate dollars and increased fan interest in the long term.

"Heart watch ep 3"

The latest episode on that shambles Of a team called the Melbourne Heart

I broke the news that Sidwell wants out

It gets better

Buckley has now offered our old mate Joe (light bulb) mirabella an "opportunity" to buy out and take full ownership of the Heart

Mirabella said no thanks as he now owns 8% of the victory

Chris, I'm not saying your wrong mate but if that actually happened wouldn't their be such a thing as commercial confidences kept...it wouldn't be in Mirabella's interest to let that kind of information out would it?

Isn't Sidwell only one of about half a dozen investors who have shares in Heart?

Yep, we were saying this when they set the thing up, truly poor business plan.

Agree completely that two teams in Melbourne is required and desirable for the growth of the game. Agree that having a game in town every week helps with commercial concerns, etc. However, I believe that simply having a red team and a blue team is of lesser use than having a North and a South, or an East and a West, or a blue collar and a white collar, etc.

The fact that Heart struggled for numbers last year, including the corporate side, is proof of what I'm saying. If they had got it right, they wouldn't be struggling in this city.