Fixed

Yet he still can't chuck some cash towards Football.

-PB

inb4paulc

Just because his companies are doing well doesn't mean he's seeing any of it.

And it's a bit rough, after all that he's done for the sport in this country, that we go back complaining that we want more money.

He's stumped up money to begin with?

-PB

I find this statement rich.

If it wasn't Lowy, someone else would have picked up off the back of World Cup success. I have to say, the crowd growth in the early years of the A-League came off the back of Socceroos success.

You forget that if it wasn't for Lowy there wouldn't BE an A-League.

It's like Monty Python...

"What's Lowy ever done for us?"

I know, right? I know it was a going on 8 years ago now, but have all these people legitimately no idea or recollection of what he put into the game to establish the A-League and fund our World Cup qualification? :oops:

Debatable. The Crawford Report was conducted prior to Lowy coming back to the game. Soccer Australia was already in the basket. The PFA had conducted an audit and report on their model for the future of the game.

If Lowy had turned down the request to come back - someone else would have taken the position, and the A-League would have started. Whether it would have been bigger, smaller, or more of the same can't be known.

Best thing Lowy did was push hard to get Hiddink in to run the Socceroos - then get the government to put enough money in to spring for proper travel arrangements for the Socceroos (the charter flight back from Uruguay, etc.).

End of the day - for all the talk of Lowy's genius - if Schwarzer doesn't save a couple of penalties the game wouldn't have grown as fast as it did in the early years.

Lowy was still a key contributor in laying those foundations. The amount he's done for this game is still significant.

IIRC he was a key investor in getting Dwight Yorke out here too.

He was a key contributor in laying these foundations; all I object to is the notion that we wouldn't have a national league if it wasn't for him. Credit to him for what he did - but let's not pretend or believe that it was him or nothing.

Mayhaps. But the notion of "if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else with a looser wallet" is ridiculous. As is the notion that we have nothing to be thankful for in his association with the sport in Australia.

Frank has done so much. Didn't he put some of his own money into getting Guus? He also worked hard to get us into Asia. Pretty much as soon as he came in. He helped calm down Nathan at a time when we had just lost the gold coast.

I don't agree with everything Frank has said or done. I vaguely recall him saying years ago that instead of the aleague,the j league and the korean league we should have something like the super 12 or 14 they had in rugby union. Many of the old teams that played in the national competition and were left to rot when the aleague was created. But the good he has done really outweighs any criticism I would give him.

I don't think "a looser wallet" is the key issue until people start making statements about (a) how rich he is, and (b) how he's just got richer. His wealth ultimately has little impact on the league because he opts not to invest it.

With regard to being thankful - I think we've got plenty to be thankful for, I also think he gets a lot of credit for things that aren't really down to him. Those who initiated the Crawford report are the real heroes, followed by Crawford himself for compiling such an excellent paper. Lowy was brought in to act on that report - he (rightly) took advantage of the opportunity and created what he wanted.

It's impossible to argue that the game isn't better for his involvement over the last 8-9 years - however, the level of worship he gets from some is out of kilter with his achievements.

The NSL report recommended starting with 10 teams which would target break-even after 5 years and average crowds of 10,000 each. 8 years on, we are struggling to maintain a 10 team league (this is the first year for quite some time that we've all been confident that all 10 sides will still be here next season), we're getting all excited because 2 teams expect to break even next year, and we still have 4 out of the 10 teams failing to get over 10k per match.

I'd also argue that the move to Asia hasn't help us that much. Our league sides are competitively disadvantaged and lose money competing in the ACL, our national team hasn't improved, we lose an increasing number of players to big paying but ultimately not great leagues under the +1 visa ruling. What do we gain? A greater chance of playing in the World Cup? Really paid off with the thrashing against Germany and the first round exit in South Africa.

Where I will give massive credit to Lowy is his actions in the off-season this year. Stepping over Buckley to sort out Tinkler's issues, then quietly showing Buckley the door and ensuring that Gorman was eased over to a position he was more suited to - then replacing them with two guys who actually seem to know what they are doing. A massive few months there.

Edited by Benjamin: 3/3/2013 12:08:37 PM

His company got richer. That doesn't necessarily mean that he did.

Likewise the level of disdain showed by the likes of PB and Lukerobinho.

blazin' 420 err day