Rudan’s coaching power in action again. 

Is it true that they are about to implode financially?

Footscray is smaller than Geelong in the sense that it has a smaller capacity, it's still a big AFL oval, I was just looking at both on Google maps, if anything, the Geelong oval is narrower than the Footscray oval

I read on another forum that Footscray JUST played games at this ground for a few seasons, I went looking for some vision, but couldn't find any, found this game instead from 1988, Sydney Croatia vs Footscray JUST, good passage of play, and it looks like a good crowd, but this is what you get with boutique stadiums, even 5k looks and sounds good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dKeX1fkwoU

Source???

Something was said on the Destruction in the Box podcast last night.

Timotheou has signed on loan 

Apparently last weeks game was free entry or gold coin donation?
You would think if you are about to implode you would want to draw every cent you could get.

that money went to charities for the bushfires 

Which is certainly a great cause.

But what I’m saying is if an organisation is ready to financially implode they would not be in any sort of position to basically throw the gates open and make a large loss on the gate.

Those who bought a ticket to the very first home game of the season were given season tickets, so they're probably aren't going to be too many walks up paying for entry on any given day, not worth paying people to collect.

They would already be making big losses at the gate. Kardinia is a big stadium and WU are averaging 6k attendances. They would be taking a massive hit every home game anyway, so a bit more wouldn't make much difference. 

It really depends on the contract signed. Docklands is a massive stadium and Victory make more money playing there than they do at AAMI Park

Given that the Kardinia Park Trust seemed to be playing hard ball with WU for a while there, I doubt it was a great deal.

They knew that WU didn't have many options on the table and the FFA talked up the quality of it as their interim stadium as a key reason for the bid was selected.

The Cricket and AFL seemed to be bigger considerations than football.


Not sure where you got the impression from. 2 friends and I paid for tickets at their first game and there was no season ticket forthcoming to us.

Difference is that over the years MV get good attendances at Docklands. If they only got 6k to a game, they would definitely be losing money. 

Nah the contract at  marvel means a crowd of 6 k still makes mv money.  Hence  why the afl wanting us out because of the contract we signed meant  we made more money then the afl tenant clubs 

It was reported at the time.

It might not be popular with everyone, but Victory did some good business locking in that long term deal with Docklands before the AFL takeover. We barely make money with a good crowd at AAMI Park (which we haven't had for a while) but with our current deal at Docklands (which originated in the pre-Big Bash era when we were their only choice for summer content) we recoup a lot, subsidising the club through our AAMI Park games. If we held out until the AFL took over they would have told us to fuck off, but now they're stuck with us lol

actually, i've got my wording wrong, you could become a member by purchasing a ticket to the opening home game, I think that is what was reported

This is a good 5 year or so years ago but it was reported at the time with a potential expansion club for Geelong having a break even point of 4,000 crowds at the time.
There was no summer tenant at the time, they’ve had another stage of redevelopment since so it would’ve gone up a bit since but I wouldn’t have thought they’d be paying Qld like rentals on the stadium.
Besides the occasional big bash game not much happens at Kardinia Park over summer.

Yep, but the club sure pays a price for using that awful venue in other ways. I suggest the deal, overall, has not worked for Victory.

Kardinia Park was a highly profitable ground for the AFL team. going back a few years ago they used to make 750k for a full house and the breakeven figure was very low. I’m sure that has changed since the recent upgrades, but it’s still supposed to be a cheap venue to run.  

I suggest without the Docklands deal Victory would not be the financial powerhouse in the A-League that they currently are. While the supporters don't like Docklands the club needs it to keep consistently being the only A-League club to profit

If you guys had a chance to change the club name next season, what would you change it to and why?

I would. West of what? Its so vague currently.

Looks like they  will play more matches in Footscray as the advertising is headlined 'We start in Footscray'. To me that sounds like they will be targeting the area in the short term at least.

I think the name choice has affected the clubs identity and as a result the crowd attendances are lower. Geelong locals would basically be thinking why would I support a club that's not really going to be here in a couple years time. 

I'm not so sure about that. Victory fans hate Marvel so much now thats its affecting crowd numbers. at some point it will have to hurt the bottom line as well. and fans will continue to vote with their feet if the club doesn't start listening. 


I've always said they should be called "Westgate." people of the west can identify with that. so can people from Geelong. and even Ballarat. 

Westgate Wogs would have been perfect.

Westgate Snakes has a ring to it.

I'm thinking the WU people would have approached the Wyndham City Council, and said something like:  give us a  huge parcel of land for us to develop...in exchange for this bridge over here.  Yes, yes, of course we own it.