With only 10 teams in the comp Sydney has a point.

Would love to hear what those agreeing with it would say if their club was bought out and their colours changed lock, stock and barrel.

I don't think they are that concerned. A successful winning side, playing good football blended in with a bunch of high profile players will certainly get new fans along. [/quote]

Re marquee, i beg to differ. Case in point Sydney Fc. Last year and this year they avg more than 18k, more than 6k more than they had back in 2011 despite playing some of the worst football and not even making finals last year. You would have thought the intro of the wanderers would have diluted the fc fan base even more but it has 't.

My point is that ADP was the perfect marquee for attracting new fans. And i don't see why people won't flock to watch melb city if they have a successful team on the field with a couple of high profile players to get the casual fan along. With time some of these casuals will convert into regulars.

If they do go to sky blue it should be partial.

There kit should be sky blue and red. Could probably make a nice kit out of that.

I fail to see where Sydney fc have any sort of say about this in the first place.

But what is the point of compromising?!?

This wasn't an amalgamation. This was a takeover.

Nobody has paid $11M or whatever it was to oversee two completely different clubs become one loving partnership.

LOL, as if anyone didn’t see this coming. Heart should have formed an alliance with South Melbourne. The FFA have erred here.

Take the FFA to Court, South. South’s Licence is registered in Melbourne, Australia. Man City’s Licence is English-based but the owners are from the Gulf.

What’s the difference, on discriminatory grounds?

I think it shows disrespect to the A-league and it's short but still important history. I feel like the A-league may stop this for now and they will possibly go inverted for home and away compared to the Man City city but when promotion and relegation is introduced here they will probably go Sky Blue. Without Man City backing them this would be suicide and really shows they are not trying keep the Melbourne Heart part of the clubs history around.

Some other kits they could go with are the original black with white shorts which would probably just be a copy of Man City's away kit but using white shorts. More interestingly they could go with their 1956 FA cup final kit of Maroon. This would also give them a good slogan to use (From Wikipedia)





This again would most likely just be temporary until they can use more teams in a pyramid system to change to Sky Blue. Also if they get blocked I could still see them using sky blue home kits for ACL home games which they would see as more important than A-league games as mainland Asia is a lot bigger than Australia.

Eurosnobs who stay up to 2am every second week watching the EPL but don't care about the A-league on in prime time. Get a big Marquee and a pre-season friendly against Man City and they could pick up 5k new fans

Thupercoach, Where did the WSW fans come from, certainly did not take away from SFC's numbers. I don't think it will be a case of taking fans from MV, just a case of better utilising the potential fan base in Melbourne.

Edited by spfc: 15/4/2014 10:22:37 AM

It's a bit like the gay marriage debate really.

If you don't like Melbourne City in sky blue, then don't follow them.

I can't see SFC having a leg to stand on in this. All remnants of Heart will be eradicated and they join the NZ Knights to be little more than a footnote in A-League history.

Eurosnobs won't stay around long enough, the standard isn't high enough for their liking.

As for SFC, there was a clear, geographical point of difference between us and the new team.

Just as Heart have struggled with differentiation, so will City. But by getting away from red and white they will lose some of the fans they have today.

Losing some out of 'not many' won't cause Melbourne Citeh's front office too much heartache, I'm sure.

They should have read the fine print, South Melbourne could have gone ahead and bought CCM and then discovered they had to play most of their games at Gosford. The FFA actually owns the club , and control what they are called, jerseys etc even though they are usually a rubber stamp. The only thing I think they have not approved from the owners is Clive Palmer freedom of speech jersey. If the FFA decide to put their foot down this time they are 100% entitled to do it.

If they can make a decent argument it will damage the leagues overall marketability having two of the same color teams in terms of things like pre-season promotional material or that this will damage their product significantly enough they may argue the FFA are breaking possible promises which come with owning a license to an A-league club. We have no idea what is exactly stated in the licenses. on the recent license extension Gallop said:



Now if Sydney think this makes licences less valuable or means they will not have the peace in mind to further invest in the league the FFA are going against their own objectives and breaking possibly contractual agreements set out in the licenses.

Scott Barlow is the Chairman, Tony Pignata is the CEO. I'm not sure that the Chairman is even a remunerated role, maybe someone else knows. I'm quite certain at the FFA at least it's only an honorary role.

It's Manchester City, one of the world's richest clubs, who have bought out one of a start up leagues poorest performing (off field) clubs. Money talks and if Cardiff City, a Premier League club with 115 years of history, known as 'The Blue Birds can have their colours changed to Red than Heart sure as hell have theirs changed to blue.

I don't get the argument people are throwing about with existing sky blue clubs like Marconi and Sutherland. They already exist and are entrenched in their communitys' history. Should either of them qualify to play in the a-league I don't think Sydney would have any problem with them playing in sky blue.
The issue for me is that Melbourne Heart or City changing to sky blue is not with creating another a team in this country synonymous with that colour but the taking of ownership of that colour in this country by a team that plays on the other side of the world. When we see Melbourne play, in my mind, their colours should say Melbourne to the viewer not Manchester City.

i actually think that looks pretty good

lets face it Man City are pretty much bigger than Australian sport, sydney fc fans are deluded if they think they are a factor in this, man city wear a different shade of blue anyways its not like both home jersey's are going to look the same, and away jersey's were created for a reason

sydney fc and sydney fc fans are threatened by fucking everything

Edited by swarth: 15/4/2014 11:20:44 AM

I doubt very much that SFC can argue for a monopoly use of a colour. And we know the FFA will side with the new money coming into the league.

Catania does great with their kits and that colour combo.

While i can understand sydneys/nsw link with the colour sky blue, i think that now with the FFA Cup starting and one day hopefully becoming an Australian mainstream event and all the teams that wear sky blue, red, stripes etc barlows view becomes invalid.

Plus we have away kits for a reason ffs.

So you think FFA weren't involved in the negotiations? .....and you don't think those details were concluded at the time of negotiations? :-s

I think that looks great!

I'd be very much in favour of a colour mix. It offends no one, they won't lose the existing fan base,it keeps Citeh happy and we retain Sky Blue. Win win all round.

Edited by thupercoach: 15/4/2014 11:58:32 AM

Edited by thupercoach: 15/4/2014 12:00:14 PM

Marconi to file a formal complain against Sydney FC.

agree. if the premier league was 8 years old with ten teams teams just starting out - they would be a lot more particular about the colours.

you cant just let the money take away the culture, otherwise your left with something as culturally deficit as queensland.

That's not as awful as I was imagining... :-k

Maybe they did have a large role to play in these changed license terms as far as length but they announced at the time of the take over they were going to consult the fans and nothing of this sort was decided. They might have asked the FFA if they would have no issues with a change but there is no way the FFA would have changed the terms of the license regards this as its the cornerstone for being able to continue clubs after their owners go broke or turn rebel. The FFA is not going to give away that power.