What about a total new brand? nonetheless exiting times:) really looking forward to this, might actually start supporting a state side:)

Well, why? The club still has fans behind it whereas a new 'brand' wouldn't have that support.

Looks like we are heading for anarchy in South East Queensland. After weeks of an APL roadshow all of the larger clubs in brisbane have decided that they dont want to be in APL prefering the brisbane based premier league. Football brisbane have been reviewing there competition for a couple of years and are due to announce the clubs selected and the formate tomorrow. This has been met with threats from football queensland not to sanction the competition and legal action if they go ahead.
I have little doubt FB will not back down.
On the sunny coast the best mate of the FQ ceo owns a club called the Fire if they are given the license against the wishes of the 22 member clubs of the local federation they will join the brisbane comp. This leaves the Gold Coast federation that wants to go APL with the support of its local clubs but FQ want to give the license to a local club Palm Beach against the wishes of the members.
I think that is an accurate summary.

The Gold Coast could have a new A-League team in five years if an ambitious plan to springboard a Glitter Strip team back into the national competition through the Australian Premier League comes off.

From the ashes of a failed bid to save the ill-fated Gold Coast United, a new push has emerged that hinges on Football Gold Coast's application for a license in the Queensland conference of the new second-tier APL, set to begin in 2013.

Concurrently, FGC is also well advanced in a move to secure a 21-hectare parcel of state-owned land adjacent to Metricon Stadium.

FGC has made an application to the Newman State Government for the land, on which general manager Damien Bresic hopes to build a training centre and a boutique stadium for 8000 people.

The end goal is to bring an A-League team back to the region by as soon as 2017, Bresic told Goal.com.

"Hopefully in four or five years we could go back to the FFA, show them what we've achieved and our player pathway, and say we want to come back now," he said.

"The idea is that they wouldn't have one single reason or excuse to knock us back. We're not going to die wondering."

The bold proposal for the land package is still in front of government officials, but Bresic declared "all systems go" on FGC's bid for an APL license.

If successful, FGC will establish a separate entity to run and manage a club in the new state-based competition, intended to underpin the A-League.

Bresic said the APL side will come at no significant cost to the governing body, because it will essentially be a rebadged version of their successful Junior Premier League operation.

"The only difference is a senior team," he said.

FGC director and former Gold Coast Blaze general manager Troy Bingham has been charged with steering the APL license application successfully past Football Federation Australia.

A meeting will be held on Thursday, when approval from all 29 local clubs under the FGC umbrella will vote to approve or reject the governing body's plans.

But Bresic and Bingham are both confident they will beat out a rival bid from the Palm Beach Sharks, a Gold Coast Premier League side.

The FGC club is to be run the same way as the JPL - on player fees, in a what is effectively a user-pays system - with sponsorship and potentially outside equity to be sought once the APL itself is fully established to reduce costs.

"We have no interest in picking up 30-year-old ex-pros for hundreds or thousands of dollars a month to try and win the competition," Bingham said.

"This not about trying to run-a-for-profit set-up. It's about ensuring on the Gold Coast there is a development path for every young player into an A-League environment."

Bingham insisted the Gold Coast has learned from the hard lessons of the Clive Palmer-backed United and outgoing QSL side Gold Coast Stars, which was run by businessman Ahmed Sokarno.

He said by having the APL club under the ownership and operation of FGC, the local clubs would have a vested interest and a stake in the team, which they did not have with United or the Stars.

A lack of community engagement was one of the key reasons why outspoken billionaire Palmer's A-League club is said to have fallen over.

In terms of the identity of the club, FGC is leaning towards abandoning the 'United' name and going back to the community and clubs for ideas and for a vote.

"If I was a betting man I would think we would try to come up with something new, but it will be up to clubland," Bresic said.

Bingham said if and when the club was up and running, they would be "crazy" not to have discussions with sports entrepreneur Geoffery Schuhkraft, who was behind the 'Save GCU' bid and until recently was involved with the APL effort.

"The Football Brisbane Zone Council met on Sunday 2nd Septmber, to ratify the recommendation of the 2013 Premier Review Committee with relation to the composition of the 2013 Brisbane Premier League.

The clubs that have been selected for the 2013 Brisbane Premier League competition are as follows:

Albany Creek Olympic FC Brisbane City Peninsula Power Eastern Suburbs
Redlands United Ipswich Knights Rochedale Rovers Lions FC
UQFC Logan Lightning Wolves FC

Three clubs have indicated to Football Brisbane that they are currently considering an application to the 2013 APL. The Zone Council thanks these clubs for their candour and wishes them success in those applications. The Zone Council has given these clubs until the 14th September 2012 to accept or decline a position in the 2013 Brisbane Premier League.

Should all three clubs be successful in their APL applications, the Brisbane Premier League will become a ten team competition consisting of the remaining nine clubs to which one further Brisbane club will be added. If there is any other outcome of these applications, the Zone Council has established a contingency plan to deal with those outcomes. Those Brisbane clubs who intend to play in the Brisbane Premier League competition in 2013 can now plan with certainty. The composition of the other Brisbane Leagues will be decided after the situation becomes clearer on the 14th September 2012.

The Football Brisbane Zone Council thanks all clubs who submitted an application for the 2013 competition. The standard of those applications was universally high and were a testament to the standard of football in Brisbane.

Our congratulations go to the successful clubs and we are sure that there will be healthy competition to enter the 2014 Premier Competition when promotion commences."

The rumours are suggesting that the three clubs in question are recently crowned BPL champions Redlands United, Olympic FC and Brisbane City. Nevertheless this is the first public acknowledgement that some Brisbane clubs have indeed expressed interest in entering the APL, despite the earlier boasts that NO clubs in Brisbane were considering the new format.

What also raises eyebrows in the statement is that FB have given the three clubs until Sept 14 to make a decision. That date is before Football Queensland announce who will participate in the 2013 APL. A bit of gamesmanship hey? I can only imagine if the mystery clubs are fair dinkum about the APL they'll be asking some questions of FQ to help them make a final decision on their BPL involvement.

Interesting times but it is good to know that the Strikers might be able to establish some proper local rivalries again next season. Something that's been sorely lacking in the last two seasons.

Gold Coast Youth played Brisbane Roar Youth today and lost 2-0. We certainly weren't pushovers and we did very well with a group of GCPL players picked only a few days ago. They played in GCU shirts so maybe it's a sign of things to come in the APL from Gold Coast.

Posted this in the Roar thread, did Yeboah play?

Must have been a bit emotional seeing the kit again. How permanent is this team going to be and how many are there from the youth squad that was in place when GCU were in the a-league?

It was a bit strange but it didn't quite feel the same if I'm honest. I think the most depressing thing in the past six months is seeing the A-League fixtures list.

I don't think there were any former GCU youth in the squad as far as I know, although I do know a few former youth players are still kicking around in the GCPL. Makes it even more impressive in my opinion. I hope this becomes a permanent thing, nobody knows for certain really.

NORTH Queensland's 10 Junior Premier League teams will merge with the Razorbacks next year to form a single club as part of the changes for the new Australian Premier League competition.

Razorbacks officials on Thursday submitted the region's application for a licence in the new Football Federation Australia-devised competition, which brings all of the nation's state leagues under the same banner.

North Queensland Football president and Razorbacks chairman Greg Redington said the boys and girls JPL teams, which currently play in the Townsville Football competition, would join with the Razorbacks from next year.

"We'll basically have the one club doing the elite player pathway from under-12 through to the senior team," Redington said.

He expected the JPL program in North Queensland to run much the same as this year but said the under-17 and under-19 NQ Academy teams, which currently play in the Townsville Football reserve grade and premier league competition respectively, would be changed to under-16 and under-18 age groups.

From a state league perspective, the Razorbacks will benefit from a cap on travel payments - set at $20,000 for regional teams and $10,000 for southeast corner sides - with the rest covered by Football Queensland.

But with the current nine-team, 27-round Queensland State League next year turning into a 12-team, 22-round competition - which will include at least four teams from Brisbane - Redington said the Townsville side would likely have little increase in their amount of travel but he welcomed the cap.

"From that point of view, (change in the number of rounds), travel will be a little bit less but you've got to basically make it affordable for everyone otherwise the travel will just blow out to something shocking for the regional teams," he said.

The Razorbacks chairman said that in their application to Football Queensland for a licence, the club had to present a five-year financial forecast, a club vision and a direction on how their youth development would fit into the national curriculum.

Redington said there was a possibility of a name change for the new club, adding the club would wait until receiving a licence before announcing whether they would stick with the Razorbacks moniker.

Football Queensland is set to announce the 12 successful clubs on September 26.

AN Australian Premier League team called Cairns United FC would be based out of Trinity Beach under a proposal by Marlin Coast Football Club being considered by Football Queensland.

With applications for the new national second-tier club closing on Friday, Rangers president Peter Doutre yesterday outlined his vision for an "inclusive" and "united" club to represent the region.

State League licence holders FNQ Bulls are also applying, teaming up with the Centre of Excellence and other "key stakeholders" to form Far North Queensland Football Club.

Football Queensland will spend next week meeting officials from each bid before the September 26 announcement of the state’s 12 successful applicants.

FNQ FC officials chose to not discuss the bid publicly because they believed doing so would compromise its chances. But a person with knowledge of the situation did confirm the team intended to split their home games between Cairns and Mareeba.

The club also released a statement and although short on details it highlighted the credentials of the FNQ Bulls and the COE and FNQ FC’s strong ties in sport, business and government.

Doutre was more detailed about his team’s vision.

The key points he raised were:

The club would operate parallel with Marlin Coast FC, providing teams for the APL and the FNQ Football competitions.

The junior development system would run in lines similar to the existing COE system, with Cairns United representative teams playing up one age group in the local competition.

Marlin Coast’s headquarters at Trinity Beach would be the new club’s base, with Cairns United playing on alternate weekends to the Rangers’ senior sides.

Marlin Coast FC would control the business side of the club but a committee comprising two senior Marlin Coast officials, the FNQ Football GM and five representatives from other FNQ Football clubs would run football operations.

Many details are undefined, but Doutre said the most important thing was creating a culture for the APL team to be successful.

That means getting all the teams on board and working together for a single purpose, something that has proved difficult in the past.

To help build that culture Cairns United’s football operations would run with the input from other clubs, Doutre said.

"You can’t take from Peter to feed Paul. You can’t weaken the competition to strengthen one team, it has to be for the good of football in the region as a whole," Doutre said.

An FNQ FC representative also confirmed its club would have "a process for community club representation" on the board to give the other clubs an active role in operations.

Both groups believe the APL bid is vital to football’s development in Cairns and both are equally confident in their ability to deliver.

While the region’s success in junior football and the Bulls’ stellar record in the soon-to-be-defunct Queensland State League should inspire confidence, Football Queensland received 35 expressions of interest for the 12-team competition.

Some of those expressions of interest may amount to nothing.

Southern Cross Strikers and FNQ Football registered expressions of interest but only as a precaution, in case no other entity from the Far North bothered.

When serious contenders emerged, the pair decided to not follow through with a bid.

The FNQ Football zone has remained active in the process, attempting in vain to convince the Marlin Coast FC and FNQFC to merge into one bid.

"Obviously, that would be the ideal situation, but the zone is going to support any bid that is successful," general manager Duncan Sims said.

Initially, many clubs thought an APL system would be too costly, but now both Marlin Coast FC and FNQ FC are confident they can afford it.

"We have been very conservative with our estimations and we believe that this is possible," Doutre said.

FNQ FC claimed in a press release to have "strong support from across the Far North’s sporting, education, community, corporate and local government sectors".

According to Couriermail Tues. 18/9/12:-
22 applicants for the 12 team APL

1.Brisbane Strikers
2.Brisbane City
3.Redlands United
4.Mitchelton
5.North Star
6.Moreton Bay United
7.Western Pride
8.Palm Beach Sharks
9.Gold Coast Football
10.South West Qld
11.Sunshine Coast Fire
12.Sunshine Coast United
13.Wide Bay Revolution
14.Spirit FC
15.Capricorn Cougars
16.Central Qld FC
17.Mackay Crusaders
18.Northern Fury
19.Cairns United
20.Far North Qld Bulls
21.QAS
22.Olympic

26th September marked, dated and circled on my calendar. For fucks sake it better not be Palmy.

Thats good to see so much interest. Who would the 12 most likely bids be?

Carn the Fury!

No Toowoomba/Raiders/Darling Downs?

Forgive me if it's covered up there, my Queensland geography isn't so hot.

The man charged with running this bidding process is Ben Mannion, guess who he played for on the Gold Coast?
I am told the Gold Coast Football bid was accompanied by a letter of support from every club on the coast except Palm Beach but dont be suprised if the deal has already been done behind a closed door. If we are going to develop an a-league club from this competition it wont be happening with Palm Beach.