A-Leagues & Football Australia General Chat and News Thread

[craigos]

Whilst in principle it sounds like a great idea, the fact that this would leave one club with a distinct advantage seems a little unfair. If indeed City are in advanced negotiations with Cahill they'll get a massive headstart on the other clubs that have been planning their squad based on rules that most assumed where set in stone for the 16/17 season.

If the other clubs have agreed to this though, I guess they must believe that they can also obtain another marquee quite easily. The issue I have is that the FFA will decide if the third marquee is of marquee status. Which I assume will mean the Sydney teams (and Melbourne to a lesser extent) could get Jamie Carragher signed off on but the other teams wouldn't get an exemption for Gareth Bale.

 

[craigos]

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/socc...n-retain-anthony-caceres-20160610-gpg2e7.html

Amazing that he didn't make it with Man City and ended up being loaned back to Heart. Who would have guessed!

 

[giggler99]

Looks like nobody wants poor old Timmy!

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...as-rival-clubs-turn-away-20160610-gpggx3.html

 

[SloaneysDanger]

Hahahahahaha @ City asking other clubs if they can cheat. Morons.

Also lol @ no one wanting Cahill. Drop your price tag Tim and maybe clubs would be interested.

 

[FAITH]

Hahahahahaha @ City asking other clubs if they can cheat. Morons.

Also lol @ no one wanting Cahill. Drop your price tag Tim and maybe clubs would be interested.

cahill's been great for the soccerros, but man he thinks too highly of himself.

 

[craigos]

To be fair to Cahill, it's the A League and if comparable standard leagues are going to pay three times as much as the A League can I can't hold it against him. He's a footballer, not volunteering for Doctors Against Borders. I don't think commercially it's a good idea anyway, sponsorship would go up for the club imo but hardly think he'd bring people through the gates.

 

[hey shorty]

He knew full well no one could afford him, so was all chummy saying he would be interested in coming home.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

Has been mooted for a while but it's official now - we're under new ownership! Huzzah!

Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today announced that Hyundai A-League club the Newcastle Jets has been purchased by the Ledman Group, a leading high-tech LED signage manufacturer, operator and integrated sports business headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au...ts-by-ledman-group/1s2yla5bazbxs19c1vbhev9kev

Got an email from the club this morning as well - apparently Lawrie McKinna will be our new CEO as well (played a part in brokering the deal apparently). Hopefully the start of a new period or progress and rebuilding!

 

[giggler99]

Has been mooted for a while but it's official now - we're under new ownership! Huzzah!

Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today announced that Hyundai A-League club the Newcastle Jets has been purchased by the Ledman Group, a leading high-tech LED signage manufacturer, operator and integrated sports business headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au...ts-by-ledman-group/1s2yla5bazbxs19c1vbhev9kev

Got an email from the club this morning as well - apparently Lawrie McKinna will be our new CEO as well (played a part in brokering the deal apparently). Hopefully the start of a new period or progress and rebuilding!

any chance of going back to the gold strip??

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

The Mariners owner must have really burned their bridges with Lawrie for him to go down the road to the Jets.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

any chance of going back to the gold strip??

Haven't heard any mention of it - would be nice though! MicKinna has said he wants to get the locals excited about the club again so a return of the gold might be a good step.

Seems Lee (new owner) want to market the club quite a bit in China too which is exciting - apparently he's making a Chinese version of the Jets website and apparently we'll be going on tour there in August. Supposedly the press conference announcing the takeover was streamed to over 100,000 people in China too.

The Mariners owner must have really burned their bridges with Lawrie for him to go down the road to the Jets.

Interestingly, he was actually the mayor of Gosford for a while after he left the Mariners.

I'm guessing he must be keen to get back to football instead of discussing council rates.

 

[giggler99]

Guest player spot approved for 2016/17 A-League season

Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today formally approved the introduction of “Full Season Guest Players” for the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season.
The Full Season Guest Player proposal was approved by the FFA Board today after discussion between FFA Management, Club Chairmen, broadcasters and major stakeholders as part of the evolution of the Hyundai A-League leading into the 2016/17 season.

The Full Season Guest Player spot will be available for all 10 clubs over and above the current two marquee spots on the Player Roster and is part of FFA’s earlier decision to set aside significant financial investment to assist with bringing big-name marquee players to the competition.

“The Full Season Guest Player opens the door for clubs to attract high profile players that not only bring talent and exposure to their market but the entire competition,” said FFA CEO David Gallop.

“This is a sign that we are serious about making the Hyundai A-League an exciting competition for our fans and an attractive proposition for high profile players to play their club football.

“As the Hyundai A-League has grown, the standard of play has dramatically improved and we believe the creation of this extra marquee position will allow for continued growth in performance but also marketability and visibility.

“We have taken input from all stakeholders across the Hyundai A-League landscape and we were unanimous in our belief that this will help grow the competition.”

Hyundai A-League clubs will receive financial assistance as part of a marketing agreement if they attract players who satisfy strict FFA criteria built around broad appeal of the entire competition. The Full Season Guest Player must fit within the maximum Player Roster of 23.

“To satisfy the Full Season Guest Player criteria players must pass stringent marketability tests to ensure the club is not only signing a quality player who can add to on field performance but they will become pivotal to the marketing of the Hyundai A-League,” Gallop said.

“It is no secret that clubs and FFA have been in discussions around this concept and players who may fit the criteria but this change to the competition regulations opens the door for all clubs to have equal opportunity to take advantage of the Full Season Guest Player spot.”

The FFA Board also approved a proposal from Melbourne City Football Club to refresh its brand and primary colours for the 2017/18 season to align with its global strategy under the City Football Group.

The decision was taken as part of the FFA’s united brand refresh for the Hyundai A-League and all 10 clubs, that will see the Hyundai A-League and the clubs start the 2017/18 season with a new look to signify the evolution and strength of the competition.

“The Hyundai A-League will undergo a brand refresh process as part of the 2016/19 strategy and FFA is encouraging clubs to collaborate with that process and consider their own brands,” Gallop said. “As a result, a number of clubs have indicated they will undergo some changes.

“FFA received a submission from Melbourne City and after two seasons of operating with a hybrid brand the change has been approved. The City Football Group has shown they are serious about their long term commitment to the Hyundai A-League and this will allow Melbourne City to grow in line with the global brand strategy of the City Football Group.

“The Board noted previous concerns raised by Sydney FC but felt that things have evolved since that time and with the increasing maturity of the Hyundai A-League, the strength of Sydney FC’s ‘Sky Blue’ brand and the many uses of light blue throughout previous and current Hyundai A-League playing strips it is now appropriate to allow for the full integration of the City Football Group’s playing strip colours. As part of the decision, Sydney FC will retain exclusivity of its ‘Sky Blue’ brand as Melbourne City adopts the ‘City Blue’ colours.”

http://www.a-league.com.au/article/...h4ejtsc6l7b1usdffahhs5j8#sthash.vdI9OeCR.dpuf

City get their way, not a surprise there the FFA pretty much forced it on them and they got what they wanted in return, although I think its a bit of a cop out considering the only club that will use this guest player marquee whatever its called will only be City to bring in Cahill.

 

[FAITH]

dont think i can handle hearing cahill refer to himself everyweek as the a leagues saviour.

 

[nobbyiscool]

That bit about City's "brand refreshment" is probably the most interesting part of that.

I thought it was kind of stupid to begin with that they weren't allowed to go with the light blue (how many EPL clubs where royal blue or red?)

But as a Victory fan, I guess it's comforting to know that as a big club you can hold a gun to the A-League's head and eventually get what you want. (I dare say they've made that a condition of agreeing to pay Cahill $4m - being able to use the global CFG branding/colours)

 

[giggler99]

That bit about City's "brand refreshment" is probably the most interesting part of that.

I thought it was kind of stupid to begin with that they weren't allowed to go with the light blue (how many EPL clubs where royal blue or red?)

But as a Victory fan, I guess it's comforting to know that as a big club you can hold a gun to the A-League's head and eventually get what you want. (I dare say they've made that a condition of agreeing to pay Cahill $4m - being able to use the global CFG branding/colours)

except the CFG won't be able to use sky blue until the 17/18 season can't see Cahill hang around more then one season tbh.

CFG was always going to be dangling that Sky blue kit to the FFA in order to deal break knowing the FFA will came crawling with favors and true to form the FFA sucked itself right in to City's hands.

I think we will see a different Melbourne City come season 17/18 (almost a new club) one totally removed from the stench of Heart.

 

[nobbyiscool]

except the CFG won't be able to use sky blue until the 17/18 season can't see Cahill hang around more then one season tbh.

CFG was always going to be dangling that Sky blue kit to the FFA in order to deal break knowing the FFA will came crawling with favors and true to form the FFA sucked itself right in to City's hands.

I think we will see a different Melbourne City come season 17/18 (almost a new club) one totally removed from the stench of Heart.

It'll be interesting to see the long term impact that has. I've always thought that, in a "colonial" country so in tune with the EPL, obvious City badging is holding them back, cos fans of other EPL teams are unlikely to ever follow them.

So if you're right (and I think you are) it'll be interesting to see whether their existing fans drop off. You can't help but notice that most of the die-hards wear the red and white. At the first AAMI derby last season, the (half arsed) tifo was all red and white.

On Cahill - I take the opposite view. I would imagine the primary reason he's considering coming home isn't money, or "legacy", or vi$ion. I think it's the 2018 World Cup. So I don't reckon he's coming back for 1 season, only to end up going overseas again the season before the WC.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

So shouldn't this new rule just be called 'The Cahill rule'?

 

[nobbyiscool]

So shouldn't this new rule just be called 'The Cahill rule'?

The risk they run is a whole series of rules named after City players - we will end up with the "Caceras rule", which will include a loophole known as the "Brattan clause", then we will also have the "Cahill rule".

If they do this people might start to notice that the FFA is being willingly bent over by the CFG.

 

[FAITH]

cahill is all about cahill guys, ask anyone who's met him, he has a huge PR machine telling him what to do.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

Some talk Miller has somewhere in the vicinity of 400k to play with for our salary cap and he's been busy scouting Europe with an eye on adding 4-5 more players.

I wonder if the new owner might be interested in making a bit of a statement with a marquee addition?

 

[nobbyiscool]

Some talk Miller has somewhere in the vicinity of 400k to play with for our salary cap and he's been busy scouting Europe with an eye on adding 4-5 more players.

I wonder if the new owner might be interested in making a bit of a statement with a marquee addition?

I doubt they're going to pry 4-5 players over here at 80k each...

You'd certainly hope they make a splash with a marquee. Ideally, given what the new ownership is wanting to achieve through the Jets purchase, they'd bring a top Asian player over. Unfortunately though, I doubt you're going to get a Chinese player out of the Super League - even marquee money is unlikely to turn their head.

 

[NUFC Tiger]

I doubt they're going to pry 4-5 players over here at 80k each...

You'd certainly hope they make a splash with a marquee. Ideally, given what the new ownership is wanting to achieve through the Jets purchase, they'd bring a top Asian player over. Unfortunately though, I doubt you're going to get a Chinese player out of the Super League - even marquee money is unlikely to turn their head.

I reckon maybe 1 or 2 might be foreign players but the others might be Aussies playing in lower tier leagues across Europe like Wayne Brown who we signed from some Finnish club.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath on a marquee just yet but maybe with the changes to the guest player rules, maybe a short term guest stint could be on the cards - or at least an option. Would certainly help both get the local Newcastle folk excited but also help generate interest in the team and league in China if they could get an exciting name in.

 

[MrPremiership]

I hope all Football and A-League followers in this country can look at these recent developments from an overall perspective and not just think about their own clubs they follow.

I want Football in the country to survive and blossom. This is so largely dependent on the next TV deal. A Cahill type signing will do wonders for this. If it means City get a "third" marquee, then big deal. Cahill won't win them the league anyway.

But this could be big for the interest in the A-League. Cahill might just be the catalyst for converting casual fans into members. If he fails, then oh well who cares, its CFG's money to lose.

 

[chazwazza]

I'm all for Cahill playing in the A-League but changing the rules to allow this to happen is bull$hit. City could've dropped a marquee to make way for him. Classic case of having your cake and eating it. Unfortunately it's to the detriment of the other clubs

 

[nobbyiscool]

I hope all Football and A-League followers in this country can look at these recent developments from an overall perspective and not just think about their own clubs they follow.

I want Football in the country to survive and blossom. This is so largely dependent on the next TV deal. A Cahill type signing will do wonders for this. If it means City get a "third" marquee, then big deal. Cahill won't win them the league anyway.

But this could be big for the interest in the A-League. Cahill might just be the catalyst for converting casual fans into members. If he fails, then oh well who cares, its CFG's money to lose.

I'll say this... I'd be more upset if Cahill were going to Brisbane, WSW or Adelaide.

Let's be honest, City could sign Messi and they still wouldn't win s**t