Get in. I love the persistence and ambition in the face of 12 years of being dragged through it.

Surely the FFA could deal with a little cash injection this FY from selling a new license?

Michael Caggiano just won’t give up, I love it. While many Canberrans are weary of the FFA and in fact the rest of Australia’s football community, Caggiano seems determined to get us into the A-League. Good on him, I’ll put some money in the pot and sign up as a member right now if the FFA are genuinely entertaining a Canberra team, rather than using us as a fluffer bid again to drive up the price of the licence. I’d like to hear something positive from the FFA, like the positive remarks they made about WSW many years back. On the European connection, the Canberra football rumour mill is suggesting an Italian group, but who knows. 

I’d buy one well mate I’d love an away trip to Canberra. 

Great opportunity for our youth to aspire towards after life in NPL

Just give them a fuckin spot already.

I'm excited. Make a Canberra and second Brisbane/SE Queensland team the 13th and 14th teams would be fantastic. Go to a 26 game league with finals and we pass the AFC number of games test. You know it makes sense!!!!

Strange comment:
"He added: “Players like [Socceroo] Tom Rogic and [former Bundesliga defender] George Timotheou skip the A-League and sign directly with top overseas clubs "

Didn't Rogic play for the Mariners?

Correct, Rogic played for CCM and what Caggiano said was not perfect but if anyone knows Rogic’s story it sort of makes sense. At various stages of his career Rogic has been shunned and had no clear pathway to the top, and this was not helped by not having an A-League side in Canberra. As an aside, Rogic was an excellent Canberra Futsal player but was not rated as highly at outdoor when younger. He ended up coming to more mainstream attention via the Nike program and only then got picked up by Arnie at CCM. None of that means an A-League side would have certainly discovered him but then again, his chances and others like him from this region would be increased if we had an A-league side. Other Canberrans before him have found alternative pathways, such as Valeri and Zelic. 

Not with a winter season!

Damn, do I really have to feel optimistic again, only to be let down, hmm???

A summer season is a boiler there tho as well, prefer to rug up in winter and head down.

FFA need to let/make this happen, we need people who want to invest and work into the game, id prefer the 13th but if mariners have to go to take a step forward, sadly it must be that way. 

Hope Canberra get a club. Can’t have Canberra ‘Mariners’ though?!

From memory he was also lined up to head to Reading after Nike but didn’t have the visa

Or let 16 teams battle it out in the 2nd division and promote the winner for the next 4 years to get 16 teams.

Then go full pro / rel.

Or just keep manufacturing plastic franchises that no one cares about. 

With the tightening of their belts, money hard to come by, FFA should let in another 6 franchises and make a motza, even teams without homegrounds if they must.
Then the execs can give themselves a pay rise after that. That's a fair call.

That sounds right, from memory.

Notwithstanding I am expecting to be strung along and disappointed again, if I allow myself to dream about entry and a name I struggle a bit. I actually just like Canberra FC but I think the local Croatian club have the rights to that name. A part of me likes the name Canberra Cosmos, notwithstanding that venture’s sad demise - it would be a big middle finger to those who like to use that experience as a reason not to let us back in, as if that was only yesterday and the landscape is still the same. The uniform was pretty good too.

I hope you get the chance, thanks mate. There’d be some good road trips for fans from Melbourne and Sydney, and for us going the other way too. 

Always liked the name Canberra Athletic and makes some sense with its AIS links.

I’m happy for Canberra to join if they can prove self sufficient and don’t take the Mariners license. 

I don't mind Canberra Athletic (some team should take the "Athletic" moniker at some point), but my money is on Canberra Rovers. The consortium is called CRFC (Canberra Region Football Collective), so I imagine they will stay with the same initials, and Canberra Rovers has a nice ring to it.

Good suggestions, Athletic and Rovers. And I agree, I would like to get entry but not instead of the Mariners, rather in addition to them. 

So damn true. Canberra winter nights in particular are an experience. Day time matches only there please or get that indoor stadium built fast :)

I agree that the FFA/iAL should get them in, even if it’s a couple of years away, they can still plan and have a roadmap to entry. 

Pretty sure they've reverted back to Canberra or Deakin Croatia FC now that NCIP is dead. Canberra FC should be fair game.

Canberra United, as it already exists as a football brand and can build from that base. 

Not quite correct. He had been identified by Lawrie McKinna well before the Nike challenge and was being monitored by Ron Smith on the Mariners behalf. He was going to be signed by the Mainers that season with or without the Nike program. All that did was complicate the matter with Reading's involvement.

Would fans get behind a Red Bull Canberra club if investment was to come from them?

I didn’t know that but it doesn’t surprise me, as Ron Smith has a great eye for talent as we all know. 

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/we-have-everyone-behind-us-canberra-tables-fresh-bid-to-join-a-league-20200825-p55p2u.html

Clive Palmer's former club joins Canberra in race for A-League licence

Correct. They are now Canberra Croatia FC. However, many things still list them as Canberra FC, so not sure if they still have rights / will make it hard for an A-League franchise to use it.

Yeah, my money is on Canberra United. The W-League side of things is already (at least moderately) successful, so would be a good idea to piggyback off that.