Perfect match of clusterfucks.

There are some WU fans? 

Yes . There is but they're gone quiet.  Even on facey it's usually 3 or 4 posting on there page.

It was obviously a bad decision to let them in, particularly right off the bat when it was clear they were a long way off from building a ground. If their bid was superior to Team XI (debatable), then the A-League should have let in Macarthur and Canberra initially, then given WU a provisional expansion spot pending the actual construction of their stadium, alongside Wollongong Wolves.

It might have meant not receiving the expansion money from Foxtel, but that's turned out not to have materialised anyway. And it's better that than having a club that's just weighing down the entire reputation of the competition with no ground, no fans and no prospect of this changing any time soon.

That said, if they can get their stadium built, and City do likewise at Dandenong, then you actually end up with a pretty decent situation: three clubs in Melbourne each with a distinct geographical identity (west, central/north, south-east) and with stadiums that would be well suited in terms of size and location to their respective fanbases. Granted it might not be till 2030 or thereabouts that this actually happens, even in an optimistic scenario (and WU will have to avoid going bust beforehand).

WU need to lease a stadium in their precinct and Stay There for home games. A rectangular stadium at that.

Sadly their isn't a ground suitable enough.  All the grounds around here hold under 2k .

It may be my lack of knowledge, or it may just be a dumb question, but why can't WU build a temporary ground on the massive chunk of land they have. I'm talking basic pitch. Temporary stands like they use at the F1 (they could probably use those exact stands). Marquees and basic temporary structures for team rooms etc. Portable toilets like they use at events like F1 and music festivals. I'm curious what would be the roadblock for a solution like that. 

For that they need money.  Their owners have gone quiet . Wu could've used any of the numerous grounds here. Truganina hornets have a ground and training facilities which they could use but decided to use the Georgies  ground in Fraser rise as a base 

Did someone once say it's still a single lane road along where the stadium is meant to be built?

Still is.  Or it's becoming a two laner

Does anyone have any idea STILL who the "owners" are... These selfless investors in the well-being of Australian Football?

Dont know about CFG but MV especially were quite vocally against Team 11... as for South Melbourne... hahahahahha they would have taken a team backed by the Communist Party of China playing out of AAMI over SMFC .... wait a minute ......... hmmmmmm hahahahahahaha?

The south Melbourne part is irrelevant, more importantly, it wouldnt surprise me that an aleague club would be against it, interesting that you believe it was victory. And more info or reports you can share on this? 

Rumour has been - for a long time - that they don't want to spend any money on the stadium until the council and transport authorities confirm they will be improving the infrastructure...  Authorities, whilst supportive of the development have said that they won't invest in infrastructure until it's required - so we have something of a stand-off.  For those who aren't keeping up - the infrastructure improvements required for the stadium would massively increase the value of the land around the stadium for anyone who was thinking of developing in the area...  Allegedly. ;) 

No info or reports. It could just be my perception but I do seem to recall Team 11 bid was pretty much a no brainer up until the 11th hour and after a meeting of the then outgoing FFA board and a delegation of the "clubs" - and the inevitable will they or wont they announce the two expansion bids before Stevie rides off into the sunset - Duvas Team 11 bid magically lost all govnmt funding and the WMG were announced. Its all in the expansion thread and maybe I am misremembering but I am sure that there where comments by MV board to the effect that SE bid would cannibalize support but no mention of WU.... Ill see if I can go back through it all tonight and post what it was - maybe Im wrong...
As for South ... obviously both franchises prefer another franchise over a club. Don't blame them for that, its called self preservation.

Council and the authorities won't do anything until they get given a clear plan . All they got was what we got told. They're given wu everything. Council is awaiting on them and vicroads the same

The reporting at the time was definitely that both Melbourne clubs opposed Team 11.
Around the same time, someone released data showing the number of members each Melbourne club had and what part of Melbourne they came from - there was a relatively large number of members from SE Melbourne, in particular, Victory members.
No surprise that ultimately the FFA chose a team to be located out in the middle of nowhere, I'm sure the Victory owners and CFG couldn't hide their mirth when it was announced.

WU were the only of the 3 bids that was pretty much guaranteed to not take any fans away from City and MV, it was also a no brainer that they would start in Geelong. 

Team 11 were the better bid. Still miffed how wu got the licence when team 11 had every s.e football club backing them and both dandy and kardina councils backing the bid. That region compared to wyndham is huge 

This.

The reality is, for Team 11 they wouldnt have had a stadium either and relied fully on government, and youd assume if the government saw they were fine at AAMI and that the AFL can manage by having all clubs essentially based out of MARVEL and the MCG, it would be fine for Team 11 to be simply be a third tenant in the CBD, ulitmately making a third CBD club, which is what they wanted to avoid to spread the fan base and gain potential new fans. 

Ultimately i think the whole '1 city, 1 club' rule which they built the A-league on has backfired, as its hard to position new clubs, as most clubs are based centrally and dont allow for much give in terms of new teams, which is the primary reason there is a problem with a 2nd brisbane, perth or adelaide side.

Good point re Brisbane. COVID has given the impetus for Roar to morph into a North Brisbane domiciled team. Would enable Western Pride (and even Gold Coast) to bring genuine tribal type rivalry. Before when Gold Coast were in there wasn't as much differentiation as I had expected. Now is the opportune time to create the separate identities.

Pride got a decent stadium and some money?

The one city one club strategy isn’t the issue for adding new clubs. 

The difference is that if the government commits to building a stadium, there is a certain guarantee that a stadium gets built. Funds are allocated and the project moves forward. You don't get that with a private company. They can say whatever they want and have no obligation to follow through (or complete) any of it.

... but they promised everyone they would build a 15k stadium AND a 5k training centre if the council gifted them the land AND developed the infrastructure around their housing estate (ooops I mean sports precinct)  :( 

Hence why this bid was always shonky.   When a new bunnings is nearly completed in tarneit and which was approved after wu  bid something is up

They've got neither afaik

I must say I had wondered for a long time how the infrastructure would be built, as that will be quite an undertaking for that location.

How was that not factored into their model in the first place though? It’s not like the stadium was the only consideration, and even with the rest of the houses and commercial development, that was always going to be a significant undertaking. 

Maybe with the Olympics in Brisbane, their Gov can build a couple of training stadiums, about 7-12k capacities around the S/E Qld region.

Wasn't it always rumoured that WU's owners were a Chinese consortium? If so, could it be that the current stand-off/tiff between the two governments could also be a factor in the lack of development going on? The FA should be setting a deadline tbh, and if they don't come through: take them out of the league, and bring in someone who'll add something to the league. It's getting beyond a joke really, and you can't expect a squad of 25 players to play their home games in every region of Australia bar the one they're supposed to represent!

Only plus side for the current WU players would be the frequent flyer points they're racking up :laugh: