Anyone who watched the (great) game last night and stayed on for the post match interview should have take note of two things:
1. Mitchell Duke hinting that his playing future is up in the air BUT any decision will come down to the *money*. Not if its a winter comp, not if there's P and R. M O N E Y.
2. JP DeM the Wanderers coach saying if every team had a player like Diamanti we ie the A-Legaue would not be in the state we are in.
Right there is a summary of what works in this country for football.
1. M O N E Y. Without it, good local players will leave. To get that money, you need eyeballs watching matches. Eyeballs watching is a "metric". Not P and R, not winter com, not something ...something "football reasons". Eye balls watching. Metrics matter....
2. More eyeballs watch when you have quality marquee players that people will pay to watch. We know marquees increase the number of eyeballs watching matches because we had that and it works. Now contrary to popular opinion, the primary role of marquees is NOT to convert more fans to stay on once they leave. Most of these fans are not going stay on to watch the Jason Hoffmans and Matt Simons ran around for 10 years. The marquees primary role is to get eyeballs watching matches when they are here.