From The Vaults: Man United’s relegation in 1974

Opinion is split on whether 6th place, a League Cup and the Europa League represent good value for money at Manchester United.

It’s certainly not a bad return in a footballing sense but not so much in terms of the level of investment this season. Something doesn’t seem right about a club boasting a world record transfer sitting behind a side in the table that still gives Lucas Leiva a run-out every couple of weeks or so.

Still, if you think this campaign has been disappointing for Manchester United, then you obviously weren’t alive in 1974.

In 1973/74, Manchester United were relegated. Tommy Doherty was tasked with reinvigorating a side that had just lost Bobby Charlton and George Best following a period of decline after the Matt Busby era.

In the latest of our From the Vaults series, watch the video below to find out what unusual decision Doherty took regarding their goalkeeper, what incredible statistic followed as a result of said decision and how a nightmarish end to the season saw three of their fiercest rivals conspire to doom the once-great Manchester United.

https://www.footballfancast.com/football-videos/from-the-vaults-man-uniteds-relegation-in-1974

I-League, ISL situation explained: New proposal shakes old wedding

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and IMG-Reliance’s (IMG-R) decision to increase the number of teams in the Indian Super League (ISL) and its duration has given rise to speculation that it might supersede the I-League to become the premier domestic competition. Former I-League champions Bengaluru FC have already shown interest in jumping ship while East Bengal, it is believed, wrote to the AIFF and sought a meeting on May 22. And with Mohun Bagan, too, likely to make the move, the remaining I-League clubs now fear that they will be left redundant. Here’s the conundrum surrounding the two leagues explained and its potential ramifications for Indian football.

What is the latest proposal and how will India’s domestic structure be next season on?

It’s yet to be made official but it is believed the ISL and I-League will run simultaneously for five to seven months. The winner of the I-League will compete in the AFC Champions League playoffs and efforts are on to get an AFC Cup spot for the ISL champions. A new tournament, Super Cup, has been proposed, which will have top-four teams from both leagues. It will replace the existing Federation Cup.

Is it normal to have two parallel leagues, as it might soon be in India with ISL and I-League?

No. Normally, every country has one premier league and one Cup tournament. In October 2014, then FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke had said on his visit to India: “We will not call ISL a league. For us, there is one league and it is the I-League. ISL is a tournament and helps in the recognition of the sport, because it brings a lot of attention not only in India, but also outside. But then again, you cannot have two leagues in a country – it doesn’t work. So, for us, there is one league under the aegis of the federation and that’s the I-League.” AIFF president Praful Patel, too, had echoed his views.

So will the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA allow this to happen?

It looks like, yes. Last week, former IPL CEO and current head of Reliance Sports Sundar Raman travelled to Bahrain to meet AFC general secretary Dato Windsor on the sidelines of the FIFA Congress. AIFF secretary Kushal Das was also present during the meeting and it is believed the AFC has agreed to make an exception and grant ISL recognition. Windsor himself is expected to make a visit to Delhi in the last week of May to make the announcement.


Why this sudden change of heart?

How the AFC explains this, if it indeed happens, is still unknown. But eventually, they will support a league that has AIFF’s backing. The federation gets roughly Rs 50 crore annually from IMG-R and it does not wish to bite the hand that feeds it. So it has gradually softened its stand on the ISL and is now backing it to be the recognised league.

Is this structural change necessary?

Yes, extremely. The Indian football calendar is a shambles right now. The I-League begins in January and ends in April/May. Then, the Federation Cup takes place in unplayable conditions in May. The ISL pre-season begins in July or August and the tournament ends in December. In between, there are international matches and camps. So the players essentially play all year long without a break . Also, the AIFF is under pressure not to organise international friendlies during the ISL. A revised structure would go a long way in sorting out the domestic calendar.

How are I-League clubs reacting to this?

They are insecure about their future. Because of its financial might, the players prefer ISL over I-League, which is practically a semi-professional tournament. The ISL is also promoted aggressively and is shown live on television during prime time, which means it is a lucrative investment for the sponsors. The I-League is poorly marketed and does not have a TV deal for next season. Naturally, the I-League clubs feel threatened and have opposed this move.

Are any I-League clubs expected to join the ISL?

Former champions Bengaluru FC have already picked up the bid document, which has to be submitted by May 25. The ISL has left the door open for Mohun Bagan and East Bengal as well by inviting bids for franchises from Durgapur and Siliguri. Bagan have their youth academy in Durgapur while Siliguri has been the second home to East Bengal.

East Bengal, it is learnt, wrote to the AIFF and sought a meeting on May 22. How would they benefit from joining the ISL?

There’s plenty to gain for them and, seemingly, little to lose. The visibility ISL gets is much more than the I-League and the tournament is better organised. If it’s a longer league, the standard of foreign players, too, is likely to get better. Plus, the clubs also stand to earn revenue from the central pool, although that hasn’t happened as promised in the first three seasons. All this is missing from the I-League.

Are there enough players, grounds, referees to conduct two tournaments?

All the top players are expected to play in the ISL because of the big bucks it offers. The biggest problem is the availability of grounds and match officials for running ISL and I-League simultaneously. Even the AIFF and IMG-R see it as a challenge but not big enough to stop them from going ahead with this.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/indian-super-league-bengaluru-fc-mohun-bagan-isl-bigwigs-likely-to-jump-aboard-4657431/

Here's why you'd want to make the six

Getting rid of Gulati would be good for US Soccer (the closed systems first line of defense)

Possible U.S. Soccer presidential challenger emerges

by Paul Kennedy, May 16th, 2017 1:21AM

Comment (26) Recommend (28)

Subscribe to Soccer America Daily RSS Email Print MOST READ 1. Soccer on TV 2. Pep Guardiola looks on the bright side 3. MLS Power Rankings: Toronto FC rolls to the top 4. NWSL: Players take first step toward union recognition 5. Video Pick: Kaka controls and connects 6. USL Rewind: Monarchs match mark at Republic's expense 7. Mbappe is just the tip of the French iceberg 8. NWSL Rewind: First defeat for Courage, first win for Pride 9. MLS Injuries: Giovinco and Hagglund sidelined for TFC 10. What They're Saying: Neil Sillett TAGS:  fifa, fifa scandals, jurgen klinsmann, sunil gulati, u.s. soccer,women's national team, world cup 2026 MOST COMMENTED 1. Possible U.S. Soccer presidential challenger emerges 2. NWSL: Pugh signing is 'monumental moment' 3. NWSL: Players take first step toward union recognition 4. Soccer on TV 5. Bruce Arena: MLS venues are way to go for WCQ 6. U.S. Abroad: Lloyd scores at Wembley, Morgan injured 7. What They're Saying: Michael Bradley 8. MLS Week 11: Toronto FC has won six in a row 9. Video Pick: A stunning bicycle kick own goal 10. Dramatic goal by substitute captures Premier League title for Chelsea Boston attorney Steve Gans, who has been involved in soccer as a player, parent, attorney and adviser for 40 years, says he is considering a run for U.S. Soccer president, a position Sunil Gulati has held unchallenged since 2006. Gulati was elected to successive four-year terms in 2006, 2010 and 2014. New U.S. Soccer term limits were approved with Gulati's support in March, but he will be allowed to run for one more term in 2018. (Gulati has made no decision about whether he will seek another term.) "This is democracy," Gans told Soccer America. "This is America. For an organization this big, a $150 million organization, to never have a challenger, a fourth term without a challenger, is not good from a process perspective. For the good of the game, somebody should run. I think I should perhaps be that somebody." Before making a decision about whether to run, Gans says he will spend the next 60 days or so meeting with soccer constituencies and listening to what they have to say. "You have to wonder why no one has ever opposed Sunil," he said. "I don't think it's because he's doing such an excellent job. I get a lot of calls from people who are unhappy, so I am aware of some of the issues. But in the interim period, I want to go on a listening tour. I think I have some good ideas, but I am going to listen. I want to hear what the feedback is." Gans points to three of Gulati's decisions that he says showed poor judgment and leadership: 1. Extending Jurgen Klinsmann's contract through 2018 before the 2014 World Cup finals were even played. (Klinsmann was fired in November 2016.) 2. Not attending a Senate subcommittee hearing on U.S. Soccer's involvement with FIFA and Concacaf in July 2015. (Gulati later said he did not receive specific legal advice not to testify and U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn was instead chosen to appear, based on a wide range of topics the subcommittee initially planned on reviewing.) 3. Letting the labor dispute with the U.S. women's national team linger and become a major media story. "The men's national team has gone backwards," Gans added, "and youth soccer is in disarray." Gans, who played college soccer at Cornell and Brandeis, served on the board of directors of and as legal counsel to FC Boston, an original member of U.S. Soccer's Development Academy program first known as the Greater Boston Bolts. He worked for the NASL's New England Tea Men and the MISL's Baltimore Blast and was a Soccer America correspondent before pursuing a law career. He represented the owners of Foxboro Stadium, Steve Karp and Robert Kraft, and worked with the local bid committee in connection with securing World Cup 1994 matches in Boston. Gans later founded Professional Soccer Advisors, which has represented English Premier League and other European clubs working in the U.S. market. He also explored the feasibility of forming an alternative MLS players association to the group, backed by the NFL Players Association, that lost a drawn-out antitrust lawsuit to MLS and was later replaced by the current players union. In addition to his legal work in private practice, Gans was for many years the COO and general counsel of New England Mobile Book Fair, one of the nation’s largest independent book and publishing companies, and its popular online cookbook company, Jessica's Biscuits. All that, Gans says, gives him a unique perspective on the game. "Sunil is a very intelligent guy, and has definite strengths," said Gans. "But in all humility, I think I am more well-rounded, being a parent of Development Academy players, being an adviser to executives and owners of Premier League teams, having represented players and management. I understand all their perspectives." U.S. Soccer's membership (pros, youth, adult, athletes) will pick its president at its next AGM, which will be held Feb. 8-11, 2018, in Orlando. That will come a month before U.S. Soccer must submit its three-nation proposal to host the 2026 World Cup and four months before the FIFA Congress is expected to award the 2026 hosting rights to the USA, Canada and Mexico. https://socceramerica.com/article/73401/possible-us-soccer-presidential-challenger-emerg.html

The Ligue 2 Title Race Is Ridiculously Close With 6 Teams Still Fighting & Only 1 Game Left

In an ideal world the Premier League would have a six-horse title race. In reality you'd be lucky to have more than two left fighting to the very end, but imagine the hyperbolic explosion in Sky Sports' marketing department if Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham were all still in with a chance of lifting the trophy come the final day.

It's not quite the Premier League, but that scenario has sensationally materialised in Ligue 2 in France as no fewer than six sides are in with a chance of the title with only a single game left.

FBL-FRA-LIGUE2-LENS-STRASBOURG
One of the six will take their place in Ligue 1, proudly one of Europe's 'big five', as champions next season. Another will follow them with automatic promotion in second place, while a third will enter the promotion/relegation playoff with the top flight's 18th placed team.

And three will be left disappointed, guaranteed to spend at least one more season in the second tier despite having been so close to the elusive prize.

It is Strasbourg who are currently in the driving seat for the title. Arsene Wenger's home-town club have 64 points from 37 games, giving them full control of their own destiny as they face 14th place Bourg-Peronnas to wrap up the season on Friday night.

FBL-FRA-LIGUE2-NIORT-STRASBOURG
Amien and Troyes are second and third respectively on 63 points each, while Lens and Brest are a further point back on 62. Nimes, Eric Cantona's final club in France before heading to England, are still within touching distance of the top on 61 points. Their goal difference is actually better than Strasbourg's so it really is all to play for.

Remarkably, none of the six clubs involved are playing each other in the last game. It means all those below Strasbourg can do is win their respective last fixture and simply hope and pray the other results go in their favour.

Last Game for Top 6 (Friday 19th May):

Stade Reims (7th) vs Amien

Sochaux (11th) vs Troyes

Brest vs GFC Ajaccio (9th)

Strasbourg vs Bourg-Peronnas (14th)

Lens vs Niort (10th)

Stade Laval (20th) vs Nimes

​Pos   ​Club   Pld​   GD   Pts​
​1   ​Strasbourg   ​37   ​+15   ​64
2​   ​Amiens   ​37   ​+17   ​63
3​   ​Troyes   ​37   +15​   ​63
​4   Lens​   37​   ​+17   ​62
​5   ​Brest   ​37   +10​   ​62
​6   Nimes​   ​37   +17​   ​61

http://www.90min.com/posts/5014878-the-ligue-2-title-race-is-ridiculously-close-with-6-teams-still-fighting-only-1-game-left

I'm a Brest man

LOL

Always love to see a goalie run away from the rest of the team who've just done 120 minutes 

7:00

STRASBOURG AND AMIENS WIN PROMOTION TO LIGUE 1 IN DRAMATIC FINALE
May 20, 2017
Paul Smedley
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strasbourg-picked-up-a-point-away-to-lens-earlier-this-month-which-has-helped-them-to-the-top-of-ligue-2francois-lo-prestigetty-images


AMIENS won promotion to Ligue 1 after an extraordinary final day of action in France’s second tier last night.


Sitting in sixth place in the live Ligue 2 table prior to free kick in the last seconds of stoppage time, Amiens was given the gift of promotion from Emmanuel Bourgaud, whose kick on the final whistle of the season allowed the club to leap four others with a stunning 2-1 win over Reims. That goal meant Amiens is one of those two teams, so you can imagine how big of a deal it was, and if you can’t imagine that, just watch the players react and listen to the call.

While Chelsea have been Premier League champions for a week and with Middlesbrough, Hull City and Sunderland already condemned to relegation, the only remaining prize to be fought for on the final day of the top-flight season is Champions League qualification.

Strasbourg beat Bourg Peronnas 2-1 on Friday to secure promotion while a 96th-minute victor ensured Amiens will join them in France’s top division next season. Troyes will enter the two-legged promotion/relegation playoff later this month against whichever team finishes 18th in Ligue 1. Their late victor means that Troyes, the side finishing in third, must now play off against the team that finish in 18th in Ligue 1 after Saturday’s final round of fixtures. And it’s a heartbreaking end for Lens, Brest, and Nimes, who will all feel like they had good enough seasons to go up, but fell short.

http://pppfocus.com/2017/05/20/strasbourg-and-amiens-win-promotion-to-ligue-1-in-dramatic-finale/


Yep this one was Chulls

Even though the A-League isn't perfect, with uneven home and away and finals video like that should convince people imo that it still would benefit from having simultaneous kick offs in the final round. Even without relegation you have the potential excitement of the premiers plate and top 6 (positioning). It would make things a little fairer anyway.

Lens finding out live that they stay down  after the 95th minute goal

Was gonna post about that. Absolute scenes!

Yeah good luck explaining that to Fox

Will only pop up when the season is close. I dont even imagine Gallop brought it up at the meetings. 

Jesus. Just imagine the same basic initiatives put in place here. Shame the flogs in charge are incompetent af. 

On another note fucking love listening

Forward David Wheeler says the contrast in Exeter City's fortunes this season is "poetic" after reaching the League Two play-off final.

The Devon club went bottom of the table after a last-gasp 3-2 loss at Carlislein November, 17 games into the season.

But they beat the same opponents by the same score in similar circumstances to seal a trip to Wembley on 28 May.

"To come back the way we have and get to within a game of going up to League One is just incredible," Wheeler said.

"When it was Carlisle away in November - probably our darkest time - we were trying to get back into things, get out of the relegation zone, and then we lost at the death.

"To contrast that feeling to this is poetic."

USL's ambitious efforts paying off with rapid growth, 'great ownership'

Kevin BaxterContact Reporter

Didier Drogba has appeared in three World Cups, played more than 250 games for Chelsea in the English Premier League and once delivered the game-winning penalty kick in a Champions League final.

But this year, at age 39, he has taken on the biggest challenge of his career: He has agreed to spend the summer in Phoenix, where the temperatures are regularly 30 degrees higher than what Drogba experienced growing up in West Africa.

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“People have spoken to me about that,” Drogba said Friday. “It’s quite scary what they’re saying. But I really love the heat.”

There’s heat. Then there’s Arizona in July.

In any case, Drogba has agreed to endure a summer there as player-owner of Phoenix Rising FC, a fourth-year USL team whose efforts to prove a flower can grow even in the desert is emblematic of the Division II league’s mercurial and Quixotic growth over the last seven years.

Since its first season in 2011, USL has doubled in size to 30 teams – making it the world’s largest tier-two league – by adding franchises in 13 states and two Canadian provinces. Fresno, Las Vegas and Nashville will join next season with Birmingham and up to eight additional clubs being added by 2020.

Attendance, meanwhile, has grown by more than 32% in each of the last two seasons – albeit to a modest 4,179 a game. And the league, second only to MLS on the U.S. soccer pyramid, recently announced plans to launch a Division III league in 2019, further expanding its reach.

It’s an ambitious model, one league president Jake Edwards says can succeed only if the USL continues to draw passionate, professional and prosperous owners. Which is where Drogba and Phoenix Rising come in.

The team reorganized last year when it was sold to an investment group headed by Berke Bakay, the Turkish-born CEO of the Kona Grill restaurant chain. He assumed an ownership team that included Pete Wentz, bassist for Fall Out Boy, and music impresario Diplo, then expanded both its celebrity and wealth by adding Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy and Drogba.

“The ownership we have now, I would stack up against any Division II league in the world,” Edwards said. “And we’ve worked hard to achieve that, to attract those kinds of owners.”

In addition to the well-heeled and well-known Phoenix group, USL owners who joined the league since 2015 include Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns San Antonio FC as well the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs; Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman, who is part of Sacramento Republic’s ownership group; and Carl Lindner III, co-CEO of American Financial Group and majority owner of FC Cincinnati.

Cumulatively USL owners — excluding MLS-managed teams such as Galaxy II — are worth a collective $4 billion.

And while some of them signed on with an eye toward joining MLS someday, others such as businessman James Keston, who bought the Orange County Blues in September, consider USL a major league in its own right.

Keston, who once harbored ambitions of owning part of an MLS franchise, wouldn’t say what it cost to buy the Blues but confirmed it was more the USL’s current $5 million expansion fee — or about three times what each of Chivas USA’s four original owners paid individually to join MLS in 2005.

“You’re seeing great ownership come in,” said Keston, who rechristened his team Orange County SC and will soon move it into a new 5,000-seat stadium in Irvine’s Great Park. “In the next two years you’ll hear a lot more everywhere around the United States about ownership groups that want to come in and want to spend real capital and want to build soccer.

“MLS is one model. USL is a completely different model. People like me – especially ones who saw MLS 10, 15 years ago and found it very interesting – now look at USL and see that same interesting growth and say there are amazing things we can do with this business.”

USL has professionalized in other ways, too, investing $10 million in USL Productions, a broadcasting and content-development arm, and reaching agreement for Sirius XM to carry a game of the week and a weekly one-hour talk program on satellite radio.

But Keston said he doesn’t believe MLS and the USL — who have a partnership regarding player development — are competing for fans. Although MLS will have two teams within 45 miles of Irvine when LAFC opens play next year, Keston said the explosive growth of soccer in recent years has created a thirst for the sport one league can’t quench alone.

“We’re Orange County’s team,” Keston said. “And there are plenty of people in Orange County who want to see a high-quality product and stay in Orange County.”

(However, Keston will get competition from the NASL expansion team that will begin play next season at Cal State Fullerton, especially if former U.S. national team star Eric Wynalda becomes the team’s manager.)

And that’s where Drogba fits in. Although the former EPL and Montreal Impact star is listed as a player/owner with Phoenix Rising, he has not invested any money in the club and has yet to play a minute for the team.

Instead his role is something of an ambassadorial one, using his experience and celebrity to promote the team on and off the pitch.

“I have the opportunity, at age 39, to give something back to this city and sport,” Drogba said. “Football is a universal sport so if I can help the USL by promoting it and playing here, I will.”

In addition to Drogba, other USL players with world-class pedigrees include Shaun Wright-Phillips (EPL/Phoenix Rising), Joe Cole (EPL/Tampa Bay) and Richard Chaplow (English Championship/Orange County SC).

Drogba would like to expand that list, pointing to David Beckham’s success drawing international stars to MLS to say he’d like to have a similar impact on USL.

“Whoever wants to come here and play, I will advise them to come,” he said. “Because I think the league will become even more competitive.”
http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-usl-baxter-20170520-story.html

Bundesliga adds three new sponsors for play-off games

Bundesliga adds three new sponsors for play-off games
The Bundesliga has secured three new sponsors for its upcoming relegation/promotion play-off games.

The German soccer league has teamed up with shoe manufacturer Atlas Schuhfabrik, business comparison website Werkenntdenbesten, and jobsite Orizon, which previously sponsored the play-offs in 2015. The new partners replace Lieferando, Media Markt, Sky, and Vodafone, and join five existing sponsors.

The three companies will be official partners for the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, and 3. Liga play-off matches, and will receive brand exposure during the games, along with permission to promote the season-ending contests across their digital platforms.

The play-offs take place at the end of each season between teams in adjacent divisions, with the Bundesliga play-off contested by the team that finished 16th in the Bundesliga, German soccer’s premier division, and the side that finished third in 2. Bundesliga, the country’s second tier. The winners of the two-legged tie are rewarded with a place in next season’s top flight, and the same format is used for the two leagues below.

The first game kicks off this Thursday, when 2008/09 Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg will bid to extend their stay in the top flight against Eintracht Braunschweig.

FC Schalke 04 partner with All You Need Fresh

Elsewhere in Germany, 2. Bundesliga side FC Heidenheim have unveiled Voith as their new sleeve sponsor.

The technology company has been a partner of the second division soccer team since 2009 in a deal which includes the naming rights for the club’s Voith Arena, but has extended its agreement to include the company logo on the sleeve of team’s playing shirts.

Lars A Rosumek, senior vice president of corporate communication for Voith, said: “We are delighted that our brand will return to this prominent place on the team jersey in our jubilee year, and we will be able to express our loyalty to our partner 1. FC Heidenheim and the region across Germany.”

FC Heidenheim finished sixth in the 2016/17 2. Bundesliga, and wrapped up their season with a 2-1 victory against 1860 Munich on Sunday.

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/bundesliga-adds-three-new-sponsors-for-play-off-games

This is still one thing I don't understand that FFA haven't tried. Why have 1 sponsor? Why not have Hyundai A-League and Pepsi Max Finals or Pepsi Max Final 6 or whatever you want to call it?

In a 2 tier system you could have up to 4 major name rights sponsor. Eg. Hyandai A-League, Bunnings A-League2, Pepsi Max Final 6 and Hard Yakka Promotion Playoff/s.

A lot of lower league teams starting their own personal streams and grabbing sponsors. Many of whom see the money go straight into their bank. Both good for local businesses and football clubs alike. 

Maybe the lower leagues are better off without the FFA taking their money. :Whistling:

They sort of already do that with the finals, Foxtel is he main sponsor for them.

“No, HSV haven’t won the championship,” said the voiceover on ZDF’s Das Aktuelle Sportstudio as they rolled footage of jubilant HamburgSV supporters streaming on to the Volksparkstadion pitch. “They’ve stayed up.” 


Hamburger SV's famous clock celebrating Der Dino’s unbroken status as the Bundesliga’s only ever-present, which ticked into its 270th day beyond 53 years as full-time arrived.




The effervescent Lewis Holtby, clad in nothing more than the club’s equally renowned red shorts, led the chants from atop the dugout.


excerpts from 
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/may/22/hamburgs-famous-clock-keeps-on-ticking-after-bundesliga-escape?CMP=twt_gu

How a small soccer club grabbed $250,000 in sponsorships and transformed its fortunes - Mumbrella

A small football club founded by some mates at a pub has created a self-sufficient sponsorship platform to help it compete in the NSW state league by offering sponsors a unique network for business and promotion.



Matt Delves, commercial director of Dunbar Rovers says the club started looking at the potential of sponsorship beyond local butchers providing a meat tray to raffles when it saw the escalating cost of registrations and the potential for players to be driven away from the sport.

“A number of years ago we started to look at the cost of regos and obviously they were going through the roof and we said ‘Right, we better go and get sponsorship’,” Delves says.

“It’s probably easier to be said than done to be honest, so we went out and at the time we raised about $6,000 in sponsorship.”

Realising the club needed a more formal approach to sponsorship and backed by success on the pitch, Delves then looked within the clubs’ own network.

In order to enter the NSW state league – a major stepping stone for young players with their eyes on the Hyundai A-League – the club needed to increase its funding capacity significantly.

The first step was separating the community-based club and its teams from the state team so it could stand alone.

“We realised we can’t charge money on the gate, we don’t have access to our own canteen to raise money from and so we really needed to bring it in through sponsorship,” he said.

“We had some sponsors who had been with us for a while and we got them back, but then we started to create a business network encouraging people to be able to do business with each other. On the supply side we considered what are the things businesses need to do business.”

Two of the club’s biggest sponsors, Honan Insurance Group and Attribute recruitment are national companies.

“The beauty of insurance is a number of our sponsors need insurance and we say if you are going to do a transaction, do it with someone within the network,” he says.

“As the team was again promoted it was required to field youth teams and now uses the sponsorship to p[ay for player registration where other clubs force players to pay the fees.”

Sponsorship funding for the club has grown to more than $250,000 per year through packages with Honan, Attribute, OFX, Luxury Boat Syndicates, IOC and Five By Five along with a smaller group of second tier sponsors.

“We call it the Dunbar Economy,” Delves says.

The club has also managed to swing some big names in Australian football behind it with its disruptive model, convincing Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou to speak at a business lunch just 10 days out from a do-or-die qualifier for the team.

Mumbrella will be tackling a range of sports marketing issues at the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit on July 21. To see the program and to buy tickets click here.



Simon Canning

https://mumbrella.com.au/small-soccer-club-grabbed-250000-sponsorships-transformed-fortunes-446163

The advent of the USL system cannot be understated, either.

“When homegrowns started, the league was smaller, there were not as many teams and fewer games,” Waibel said. “Really there weren’t any second-team affiliations. You add teams to MLS, as well as the USL team, and all of a sudden there is the better part of 70 competitive games without counting preseason. When homegrowns first started getting signed it was 28 games with one to two exhibitions, if teams actually played them. The opportunity for homegrowns to get valuable, worthwhile, developmental minutes is exponentially better now.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/rating-mls-academies-homegrown-players-youth-development-progress

This is why my preferred pro rel system would be 14 div 1 & 20 in div 2. So more games are played. It could be up to 24 teams to give 46 games.

How's this for a Derby Match

German has a 2 leg  playoff between 3rd Bottom & 3rd Top of Bundesliga 2

Wolfsburg (now big)  used to be a regional side

Eintrach, (now small) were a Bundesliga start up

England coach Eddie Jones backs proposed Six Nations shake-up - EXCLUSIVE | Rugby Union | Sport | Express.co.uk

Eddie JonesGETTY

Eddie Jones wants the Six Nations format to change
The tournament organisers meet today under pressure to open up the closed shop which thwarts the ambitions of sides like Romania, who won this season’s Rugby Europe Championship on points difference from Georgia who won the previous six editions.

The England coach wants the status quo done away with and a more meritocratic system introduced.

“Georgia and Romania have enormous potential. They have good gene pools for rugby and Georgia in particular has the infrastructure to push forward,” said Jones.

“What they should ideally do is have a proper Six Nations B division and then have a play-off game against the bottom side from division A. Wouldn’t that be exciting? Imagine playing Georgia in front of 60,000 in Tblisi to keep your place.”

Eddie Jones believes countries like Romania deserve a chance in the tournamentGETTY

Eddie Jones believes countries like Romania deserve a chance in the tournament
Italy have won just one of their last 20 matches in the championship and have yet to finish in the top half of the table since they were admitted in 2000. In those 18 campaigns, they have finished bottom 12 times.

But tournament organisers have been reluctant to put the Italians’ place at risk.

“We think they have been a good addition to the championship since they have entered,” claimed chief executive John Feehan earlier this year.

“They have improved dramatically but other teams have improved dramatically – it’s a relative thing.”

British & Irish Lions squad for 2017 New Zealand tour

Mon, May 22, 2017
Express Sport runs through the confirmed Lions squad for the 2017 tour to New Zealand

Lions-squad-New-Zealand-2017 [Getty Images]
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Express Sport runs through the 37-man Lions squad ahead of the New Zealand tour [Getty Images]

A play-off, which also has the backing of one of Jones’s predecessors Sir Clive Woodward, would give the Azzurri the opportunity to show that improvement – if it really exists – against the best of the rest.

It could not be introduced until 2020 at the earliest with the fixtures for the next two seasons having already been released but with Georgia two places above Italy in the world rankings, the pressure for change grows inexorably.

European club rugby last week did away with the ring-fenced system which guaranteed Italian sides at least one place in the Champions Cup each season. They now need to finish in the top seven of the Pro 12 to earn a spot in the tournament.

London Irish will be without centre Aseli Tikoirotuma for the second leg of the Championship final at the Madejski Stadium tonight after the Fijian was banned for four weeks for a high tackle on Jonah Holmes in the first leg. Irish stand on the brink of promotion back to the Premiership carrying an 11-point lead into the game.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/808392/Eddie-Jones-England-rugby-Six-Nations-promotion-relegation-Romania

Kick off in 1hr 45mins
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Wolfsburg’s Failure, and Why the Relegation Playoff is Nonsense

Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, and Why the Relegation Playoff is Nonsense 1

Thursday afternoon, leg one of the Bundesliga relegation playoff kicks off between Wolfsburg and Eintracht Braunschweig. It’s a playoff Hamburg would need to rely on during the 2013-14 campaign, then again the following season. And if not for an 88th-minute winner against Wolfsburg this past weekend, they would have found themselves fighting for their top-flight lives for the third time in four years.

So, what is the relegation playoff?

Well, it’s exactly what it says. Following Matchday 34, the third-worst and third-best club are selected from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, respectively, to battle it out over two legs. The winner either stays in the top-flight or achieves promotion, while the loser either remains in the second division or finds themselves in it the following the season. A shorter answer: the relegation playoff is a system that rewards failure, and it should be done away with.

Look across the top five league throughout Europe. Only two, Ligue 1 being the other, implement such a playoff. Focusing on the Bundesliga in particular, this is a system that was first presented during the 1981-82 campaign—only to run through the 1990-91 season. The following season would see four teams relegated before the league moved back to three—all the way up through 2007-08. Then the playoff came roaring back, and here we are.

But why?

This isn’t even about Eintracht Braunschweig, who haven’t been part of Germany’s top-flight since the 2013-14 season. Hell it’s not even entirely about Wolfsburg, who have been mismanaged more than arguably any other club across Europe this season. In this case, it’s about the message it sends to the second division. What do they gain from this system? Nothing. Why should they have to do more than they’ve already done? They shouldn’t.

Eintracht Braunschweig just took 66 points from 34 2. Bundesliga matches. That put them one point off of second-place Hannover and a whole three behind league-winners Stuttgart. Braunschweig won 19 matches, losing just six and finishing with a plus-14 goal differential. More importantly, again, they finished third in their league. Why should they have to go through a playoff when they have already done more than enough?

Wolfsburg, on the other hand, took just 37 points from 34 matches of their own. Or, just barely more than one point per match. They lost exactly half of those matches and finished with a minus-18 goal differential—the fourth-worst mark in the league. And that’s not even the worst of it. Wolfsburg scored just 34 times this season, or you know, only once per match on average. That’s the third-lowest total across the league. But sure, let’s give them one more shot. Let’s give the club who did the bare minimum all season long one more chance to save their season.

And you know what? They’re probably going to take full advantage of it, too.

Look, there’s no way around it: the relegation playoff overwhelmingly favors the representative from the first division. Back to Hamburg for a moment, who remain the only club to have never been relegated from Germany’s top flight. If not for this playoff, that streak would be a distant memory. Sure there’s a good chance they would come right back up rather quickly, just as it’s arguably all but guaranteed that Wolfsburg would have very little issue in returning.

Of course, that’s not the point.

It doesn’t matter how easy Hamburg or Wolfsburg would find the 2. Bundesliga. There’s always the chance that it will be anything but. Plus, with the way Wolfsburg has been managed this season, we can’t be too sure about anything.

Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, and Why the Relegation Playoff is Nonsense

Last season, there was no shortage of talent across the board—from Julian Draxler and André Schürrle to Ricardo Rodríguez, Max Arnold in Bas Dost. This club, coming off a second-place finish and DFB Pokal trophy from the year prior (when they had Kevin De Bruyne), rode that talent all the way into the quarterfinals of the Champions League. There they got Real Madrid, and after the first leg the German club was actually ahead (2-0). But a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick erased all that, then departures began to mount.

Fast-forward to the present: Dost is gone, as is Schürrle. Julian Draxler left for PSG this past winter—he neither fit into this side nor ever got going with this club. Ricardo Rodríguez and Max Arnold remain, but one must start to wonder for how long. 31-year-old Mario Gómez entered, providing nearly half (16) of his side’s league goals. It wasn’t enough to get them out of the playoff spot, but it’s hard not to see him scoring in either of these two legs.

So how can a team with all this money fall so quickly? How can a team that was just in the Champions League QUARTERFINALS collapse so phenomenally? Sure we could look at the English Premier League’s Leicester City—who won the league last season only to finish 12th (while getting to the UCL quarters as well) this season. But that’s not the same thing at all. Leicester was an aberration. On their best day, I’ll take Wolfsburg’s squad and resources over Leicester’s.

Plus if the Foxes did finish in the bottom-three this season, that would be the end of it. Not so for Wolfsburg, though, who have absolutely no excuse for being in this position to begin with.

Regardless, the playoff will begin Thursday afternoon. And with it, Wolfsburg will get one of two more chances to save their top-flight hopes. On paper, it all seems so simple. But since the relegation playoff doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, perhaps Eintracht Braunschweig can condemn them to the fate they so richly deserve.

https://thesportspost.com/bundesliga-wolfsburg-rel-playoff-failure/