Ofcourse  I've seen how this thread goes with the common theme, the argument is piss weak everything.
There is bitterness, jealousy and envy of a team that have stretched the truth about having a Stadium built and ready in an unrealistic time frame BUT..
The training ground is sufficient. If you look at a parallel, Ross County's homeground is about that size, 5k. It is sufficient for any other NSD team as well.
WU can become legitimate when they lay down roots in the area they represent.
Macarthur are a bigger pain because of non footballing greedy fatcats charging like bulls, and they have an ideal homeground, virtually for free.
They don't allow for a fanbase to build.

But if a council owned 5k ground is what gives them their legitimacy, why not play at Caroline Springs ... shit they already paid for the tarps with the WU logos?  ( I am assuming they paid but it could be a "gift" from council)..... No jealousy or envy pal, just DISGUST and pity for the poor misguided fools that are so desperate for this to not  to  be another nail in the coffin of the ISUZU truck event football show they are just excusing every single dodgy step these con artists  make.....  Piss weak is the excuses these guys feed you .......

Exactly. 
Their whole plan initially was to be a travelling circus for everyone west of the Westgate bridge. 
With Geelong being the main base?
And then pissing them all off when Fantasy Stadium was built. 
Anyone with half a brain knew this will not work. 

Pick a venue in the west and base yourselves there and invest in the venue. Somers st? Georgie's ?

Will be 4 or 5 years into their existence before they play their second home game in the western suburbs. If not longer. 
The "shiny new toy" novelty will be well and truly worn off. 
Hoping to get an extra 3000 supporters just because you start playing in Tarneit is not realistic. 

WSW got a shiny new stadium back in their heartland, but the crowds haven't even returned. Fans that actually watched the team previously. 

Shit you almost make it sound like the football club is just a scam to get a local council to give favourable land prices and invest in facilities for a property development scheme.......

Not sure what their scheme is, but building a football club is nowhere near the top of the agenda. 

Waiting to build a stadium and training fields, for all their participants, it's on their own patch of land  with that headquarters as stage one as well.
Caroline Springs doesn't work because the team is not the Geelong bid, not called Geelong either way and that is an Afl region, out n'out.
The haters will hate. That's life I guess.

Oh there is a lot to hate here. Lies, duplicity, the damage this disgrace off a club hasn't done to the A league... 

Has done 

It's not in our hands to change anything. Leave the bitching for the missus, have a coffee and wait for the NSD and watch your teams in that.

But it IS in our hands to change EVERYTHING mate....  This abomination is standing directly opposed to any true second division and linking of the football pyramid... Unless it (along with a couple of others) die then we will never have what the majority of football fans in this country want...... 

But sure Ill continue watching my club play in whatever league we find ourselves allowed to play in..... 

Any Western United critic needs to listen to the Archie Thompson/Michael Zapponi podcast from last week featuring WU chairman Jason Sourasis. He provides a pretty good insight as to what has happened behind the scenes over the past 3 years.

-  The cost of the license was $19.8 million.
-  He said the club stuffed up by stating the stadium will be delivered in 2 years after the receiving the licence. The site wasn’t ready as it had no infrastructure in place (roads, power, sewerage, etc). He admitted the club got ahead of itself.
-  The state government took over the approval process as they believed the Wyndham council had a conflict of interest (which is true) and delayed the approval process by 6-12 months.
-  The site south of the railway line is owned by the council and will be turned into a new town centre. So, they expect the region will become a hype of activity. He compared it to Milwaukee (where his wife is from) where the Milwaukee Bucks stadium is integrated into the CBD.
-  Criticised state and federal governments handing money to the AFL at the expense of other sports (I also think he was alluding to the lack of news regarding the train station being built).
-  Says he followed South Melbourne growing up and claimed the situation regarding playing out of Lakeside was an example of Football continuing to work against each other and not for each other (he claims both clubs would have benefitted from the agreement).  
-  Now that there is some infrastructure on the site, he says the 5,000 stadium will be completed in 12-15 months and the 15,000 stadium will be completed in 2 years.

I’m sure there are other points to include, but I couldn’t remember them all. Listen to the pod.

Which is a nonsense statement to make. If WU was founded by a bunch of football people (example: ex-players, coaches, etc), I would have no problem believing that statement. However the club was founded by property developers. They knew that the plot of land had zero infrastructure in place and they knew what that meant for their timeline. This is not something they discovered after they got the license. With their experience in property development, I have no doubts that they also had very clear knowledge about the planning process and the red tape they would be required to work through. To say that 'they got ahead of themselves' is just taking the piss and trying to cover their dishonesty. 

You do realise that Caroline Springs is in Melbourne, very close to Tarneit, and nothing at all to do with Geelong don't you?

Yeah. 
If you think he is trustworthy to believe everything he says. 

Licence including 3 years worth of funds being returned to the club because they were getting TV deal distribution money to cover salary cap. Approx $3M. 

Talks about stuffing up saying it will be ready in 2 years but blames old management. There is no way management would say that if he didn't authorise it. Management would only say it if it was discussed at highest levels within the club. Sourassis wouldve believed this also. 

The question that remains is how will the stadium be funded and as of today does the club have the funds to build if they have final approval? 

The answer is no. 

Blaming government for funding??  
He expects a train station to be built when there is no demand by customers?? Lunacy. 

Lakeside stadium - did he say they didn't get final approval from Hellas before making an announcement? Did he Blame his CEO for getting ahead of himself?? 
That was a pure fark up by WU. 
No doubt mono has more info about that. 

It's too simple to dismiss the criticism as a case of "haters gonna hate". 

1, they are not building their own stadium and training fields. They are not building anything yet. 
2. WU pushed the "west Victoria" representation of the club. Including Geelong which was meant to be their main base until Fantasy Stadium was built. 
3. Caroline Springs is in the west. They are talking about playing out of a smaller stadium of it gets built (by council). They could've played at Georgies or Somers st. In the western suburbs. Only one game in 3 seasons was played in the west - western oval. 

The lack of substance coming out of the club is the issue. Look at them. 
The criticism on this forum is valid. 

As I mentioned. 
Geelong was the plan to be their home base. 
For 2 years. 
Avoiding Geelong now is only because it was a complete and utter failure of a strategy. 

https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/sport/local-soccer/aleague-club-western-united-to-claim-geelong-as-roadshow-comes-to-town/news-story/17d06f99993cedc43b3f3b8a4718a504?amp=&nk=52cabbfa5b3055405a70822f16dbf265-1651537929

There were some football people on board. 
Steve Horvat and Lou Sticca were initial investors I believe. 
Steve Horvat still part of the ownership group too. 
Even so, they all would've been across what messages were being put out in the media. 

Also, they aren't a property developers specifically. Perhaps more of a diverse investment group.
To undertake this sort of property development they require a partner with significant funds and experience.of which they don't have enough of for this project. 
 That's why they aimed for probuild as a sponsor with hopes of a bigger deal. 

This is the major issue in the delay. They don't have anyone to stump up the $$$ required. 

Anyone living in Melbourne knows that Tarniet - the site of WU's supposed new home stadium - is a frickin sheep paddock with nothing around it.

The idea that they would have a stadium on it within 2 years wasn't an error or miscalculation - it was a blatant lie.  There'll be no stadium there in 5 years. The club will be gone before then. 

He blamed 2 club representatives who are not at the club anymore for making these OTT public statements. Lou Sticca was one. I can’t recall the other name. The statements had nothing to do with the developers.  


I recall him talking about getting a loan from the government to cover the remaining costs until the land sales are completed (related to the AFL talk about how the give tens of million to AFL club training facilities and $150 million for the latest stadium upgrade in Geelong).

As I stated, the Wyndham council will be building a town centre south of the train line and the stadium will be built north of the train line. Nearby stations are at full capacity. A train station will be built at some point. The VIC Govt are yet to commit to it, but I’d be very surprised if there is no announcement this year with an election coming.  

What Mono says has zero relevance. SM don’t own Lakeside stadium.

https://probuild.com.au/news/news/probuild-supports-western-melbourne-group-in-its-bid-to-bring-another-a-league-team-to-melbourne

Either incompetent or deceitful ..... you decide I guess? I know which of the two I beleive.

Interesting. 
Fully privately funded they say?
And now asking for government funds?? 

Surly even the most ardent of supporters would say something just doesn't smell right. 
Even if you still want to defend them. 

The club hierarchy have been spruiking this development since day one. 3.5 years now??

The criticism isn't just unfounded hatred spewing out from behind the keyboard. 

What criticism is not valid?

I would like to know why you would think I believe South own Lakeside.?... Fact is we have a lease in place, which has proved to be cast iron, and involves us having a veto on all football related activities at our home ground.... It also involves us capitalising on both the social club and futsal court which we lease out and thus as a club profit from.
"South Melbourne following" Jason believes South allowing 30 paying WU customers a week to dirty our stadium every second week would be beneficial to both clubs does he?... Maybe he should have asked the club and members he so respects first before making a tit of himself in public.... 
Hope the state government builds your Milwaukee train station and your CB Smith reserve clone stadium in the 2 years he has now firmed up..... Hope your opinion has more relevance than mine..... 

Well said. 

Bottom line is WU botched the announcement. 
WU ceo announced games will be played at Lakeside with NO signed agreement in place. 

Did sourassis admit to that on the podcast??

A little too much passing the blame on things that have gone wrong. 
Old management. Government. South Melbourne. 

And afl wonen's team needed it for pre-season training, and.told WU to leave as well just quietly.

We can come up with all the excuses as to why the Geelong experiment was abandoned. But ultimately they can always schedule in games well in advance of any AFLW training commitments. 
And no, AFLW needing the ground for preseason training is not the reason 

The club finally realised that playing at the cavernous kardinia park was a massive mistake. Even moving a game to Footscray in the first season. 
High costs. Low crowds. Poor advertisement for the club and league. 

https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/its-happened-really-quickly---the-rapid-process-behind-bringing-the-a-league-to-the-dogs-536349

The reality it was a shambles from the start, and has remained a shambles ever since. 

He's hardly what anyone could call a reliable source. 

... just ask Liam Pickering :)

Seems like EVERYONE has been telling them to leave just quietly .... wonder why only Essendon AFL  allows them to train at their facilities?

They can have whoever they want in the A League, as long as NSD gets started, eventual pro/rel, and my former NSL team gets a fair chance to come up into the top league in the not too distant future. My energies are better spent there.

Geelong never embraced WU because they had their own bid.