FFA To Axe Gold Coast & Rush in Western Sydney

A lot more clubs deserve to be in this competition instead of **** towns and clubs like gold coast and nqf. Football is not big over there. So **** them.

"We'll never know what that club (Gold Coast) could have amounted to," an FFA spokesman said. "The club was never given a chance because of the way it was run by him (Palmer)."

So how about giving them a chance with this new consortium though? Statements like that make no sense since they aren't even giving someone else a shot at it.

Despite all that, the support is obviously not there on the Gold Coast.

My guess is the consortium don't have enough money, they don't want anything to do with Palmer who could keep the money going, and they don't want another NQF situation where they ended up throwing $10 million down the drain they should have been used for a Western Sydney team.

yeah no suprise in this.

i do feel sorry for the fans that actually did show up, but i guess the interest is just not there.

the FFA do have to take some of the blame for expanding in such areas over western sydney, woollongong, canberra. yes they may have had a billionaire owner but that turned out great.

i guess they will rush a team in now for sure. whether its us or canberra im not sure.

Should never have expanded to GCU and arguably NQ in the first place.

Obviously their reseach was **** to begin with.

They chased the $$$ at both locations and its backfired both times.

NQF was a failure because the FFA let the team launch when either 2 or 3 of the total backers quit and left Matheson kicking the can. He couldn't afford to keep the club going on his own.

I would prefer GCU stay in the league, but how that is to be is another issue on its own. I hope that this consortium manage to trump the FFA's cards and have the funds to keep them in the league.

As much as i'd love a Western Sydney team in the A-League (and I really want us to be in the league) it's got to be in the right conditions, not rushed in and it end up belly up ala North Queensland Fury (who in themselves had great potential).

Even if the team is rushed in, there will be support for the club, unlike those failures where rich randoms made clubs as a hobby in towns with low population and low interest in football. I'm not worried.

There is enough football minded people in western Sydney that it wouldn't matter if its this year or 3 down the track, this is probably one of the few places where the quote "build it and they will come" actually makes sense.

And added to the fact that we've been waiting for a team for 5 years or so. So its not a new concept for the fans who are simply waiting and waiting for a team.

The only problem is the backroom staff which could be **** and **** things up.

I've always said, that you have to actually TRY to **** a WS up because its basically ready to go.

But Rowden and his cronies actually did....

A big part of the failure of GC has to do with the stadium deal they had. Skilled is a great stadium, but IIRC Stadiums QLD set the deal up so that costs increased as attendances fell. Palmer capped the stadium at 5k to decrease this cost, but that's obviously a solution which isn't going to build the profile of the club amongst the community in the long term. Incidentally it's also why the Titans have struggled financially as their crowds fell. The AFL won't have this problem as they own their stadium, and the Suns pay nothing to use it.

It just shows the importance of negotiating a good stadium deal. It's something that will be make or break for our club in its infant years.

Let's hope that the owners of Parra stadium aren't in it to screw the WS team and actually put together a deal that is beneficial to both parties

Parra stadium has been there forever, surely they'd be sports-minded enough to do just that. Well you'd think...

I hated seeing the crowds at Skilled. You could've made it free entry and they wouldn't have reached their cap. Their team was great, but their supporters didn't care. Good riddance, Bring on WS

already said on another topic but Parra stadium owned by a cashed strapped state gov. Dunno even if there are any football (soccer) reps on the board of the Trust so whilst they would be keen to see extra $$ for the stadium through greater use i hope they dont try and screw any new a-league franchise with a shitty deal.

Check out a pic i found on the stadium's website:

(wont let me past it but its on this link) http://www.parramattastadium.com.au/about-us/management

How many a-league matches have been played at the stadium? one? a couple of pre-season matches?

Funny that they are using a pic of what looks like the Cove in action to promote what is essentially an NRL field.

ha and here is Sports Minister indicating gov wont "prop up" poorly performing stadiums.

http://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au/news/story/stadium-trust-axed-for-new-venues-council/

I hope this new Council will be reasonable when negotiating any new a league club's use of the Stadium.

So has this axing occurred yet?

So has this axing occurred yet?

nope. i would guess they are waiting for the finals to end, so they have no negative publicity during this time

Probably the best approach.

I was just waiting for it to happen so that the WSFC team would be more likely, but looks like that hasn't stopped it from going ahead

I'd say the decision was made a while ago, they're just delaying the announcement. They won't have an 11 team comp, so the WS announcement basically doubles as announcing GCs axing.

do u think they will go to a 12 team comp and bring Canberra in as well as GCU stayin afloat???

i dont know what it is, but something tells me this will unfold.

as long as at 2pm today they announce that WSFC will be in the A-League, im a happy man

na i doubt it will be a 12 team comp. i think the reason for rushing western sydney in for next season is to maintain a 10 team comp due to the television contract. A new contract wouldve needed to be drawn if it dropped to a 9 team comp, hence the heavy backing by the FFA for western sydney

I dont see how WS coming in means GCU is axed? In theory if the new consortium looking to back GCU goes to FFA in time and has all the boxes ticked, no reason they shouldnt be allowed in hey?

Maybe this is more an insurance policy from FFA. Whether GCU get themselves sorted in time or not, we'll have at least a ten team league next season. The reason FFA would be announcing WS now is because they'd need to give themselves as much time as possible for start up.?

FFA should announce an 11th and 12th team by the end of the year and then give them 2 or 3 years to prepare to enter the league.

apparently GC will have a NYL team. and the new consortium trying to get GC going again was told to try in 3-5 years time.

so im guessing thats when they will look to have canberra too. which makes sense, as isnt that around when we host the asian cup, and a year after the WC, so football following should be high around then

Interesting.

Seems FFA might have something of a plan for future expansion (surely not?)

And leaving the NYL side in there Is a good move

North Queensland would have been successful but they where rushed into the competion 2 years in advance as they where not ready at the time.