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  • FFA Efforts To Sell Wanderers Miss The Mark

    mack

    By mack

    The FFA has sounded out various clubs in Western Sydney in an effort to offload the Wanderers as soon as possible.

     

    Numerous media reports over the past several days have outlined several bids to purchase the Western Sydney Wanderers, and current FFA strategy in attempting to offload the club.

     

    The Penrith Panthers made an ill-conceived attempt to purchase the club to move the club to Penrith and were rejected by the FFA, Marconi have confirmed they are going to bid for a stake in the Wanderers, and the FFA had approached the Mounties Group before the launch of the inaugural season.

     

    In my opinion, these two bids and the FFA approach to Mounties miss a point that I believe is vital for the long-term success of the Western Sydney Wanderers:

     

    The Western Sydney Wanderers must not be sold to a group who will use the club as a pawn to improve the bottom line of elements outside the Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club.

     

    The Penrith Panthers unconcealed goal was to rip away the main tenants from Parramatta Stadium and move the Wanderers to Penrith, which would give the Panthers far greater leverage in their currently fruitless efforts to lobby various levels of Government to improve the Stadium for their Rugby League team. As it stands, the Panthers have a 10 year average of 12,800 per home match, for a stadium with a capacity of 22,500. Without the Wanderers, their chances of attracting Government funding over Parramatta Stadium is close to zero. The Wanderers being moved to Penrith would also assist the club by adding tens of thousands more patrons to their entertainment complex that is currently being prepared for an $850 million redevelopment.

     

    The Mounties bid died before the club lived, but it also fails my proposed test. When I walk into Mounties I don't feel like I'm walking into a sporting club. I feel like I'm walking into a casino who sponsor local sports teams to improve their public image. I see a massive betting lounge, an endless forest of poker machines, facilities geared almost exclusively around keeping people in those poker machine forests, and a club who likely have more staff involved in gaming than they do in sports, food service and member facilities. I don't see what benefit the Wanderers as a club would gain with an affiliation with Mounties.

     

    Marconi suffer these same issues in an almost carbon copy of the Panthers bid. Marconi would eventually push the club out of Parramatta Stadium so that the social club would benefit from the addition of thousands of spectators on match day. The only difference is location, and that Marconi might have to wait before they could move the club from Parramatta to Marconi Stadium for match days due to the poor quality and capcity of their existing stadium.

     

    If you are a member of those clubs, or enjoy spending your time and money on poker machines, then fair play to you. I have no problem with people doing whatever they want with their own money and time, so don't think this is an attack on any of the clubs mentioned above on the basis of my dislike of poker machine gambling. But it is clear that these clubs make huge profits from poker machines and that they would be taking money from the supporters of a transferred Wanderers football team through their machines.

     

    I also don't have a problem with Penrith having an A-League team. I personally advocate the introduction of a team in Penrith in the medium to long term. I believe that the Penrith area is a region which is large enough to be able to support a club and doing so would also improve the TV rights deal for the A-League, not to mention the addition of another set of intra-city and intra-state matches with the existing NSW teams. I don't even have an issue with the Wanderers in South-Western Sydney, and firmly believe that in the long term, the Wanderers will have a Marconi or Mounties or Penrith style social club, training facility and stadium at Fairfield Showground.

     

    I do have a problem with these clubs trying to buy the Wanderers.

     

    Lyall Gorman has spoke at length about his desire to push this club to become one of the biggest in the country. This cannot happen if our club is absorbed into another to help prop up the parent company. There would be no chance of having a Wanderers social club at Fairfield if we were sold to Marconi. We wouldn't be able to own our own stadium one day (regardless of location) if we had been sold to Penrith. There would be inevitable conflicts of interest that the larger, historic parent club will win that would hurt the Wanderers.

     

    My biggest concern with the sale process is that the FFA appear to be taking the stance that the Wanderers aren't a club, they are just a football team. I feel that the FFA would be happy selling the Wanderers to an existing club, happy to see the new owners turn the Wanderers from a self-governed entity into being one part of whatever larger club bought the team. This goes against everything that was said in the building of this club.

     

    The Western Sydney Wanderers are not a football team to be sold and re-badged like a shipping a Holden car over to England and calling it a Vauxhall or over to the US and calling it a Pontiac. The Wanderers are a club. Lyall Gorman has told me specifically that he calls the Wanderers a club and not a team because the Wanderers aren't just one football team. Instead of trying to sell the Wanderers off to Mounties, and Marconi, and Liverpool Catholic Club, and Fairfield RSL, and the Revesby Workers club, and any other potential club they could find who might have $15 million that they could consider an investment in more pokie players and bigger stadiums for their existing teams, David Gallop and the FFA should start by trying to sell the club, or a stake of the club, to the supporters.

     

    The supporters are the people turning up in freezing conditions in pre-season. They are the ones who bought so many club shirts that Nike couldn't keep up with demand. They are the people who turned Surry Hills into a sea of Red & Black before the Grand Final last season. They are the ones spending hours talking about the club on his forum, on social media and to each other at work and school. They are the ones who have bought 15,000 full season memberships already this season.

     

    If David Gallop and the FFA are looking for a group of people who will have the best interest of the club in mind then he need look no further than the Wanderers supporters.

     

    If not the Wanderers supporters as a collective, then David Gallop must sell this club to a person or persons who have the sole interest of making the Western Sydney Wanderers the biggest sporting club in Australia.

     

    To do otherwise would betray the ideals this fledgling club was built upon.

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    Gavo

    Agreed... Love your work, Mack.

     

    Disagree about the A-League team in Penrith though. Panthers Fans are the most "fair-weather" fans in league, apart from the Roosters of course. This town has all the football teams it needs. East v West....

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    Montalbano

    Spot on Mack. Leave the pokies to NRL clubs. It should never be a part of football culture. All these bids are extremely dodgy and have nothing but their own self interest at heart. I trust in Gallop and Gorman to do the right thing. They won't sell to these pokie palaces.

    Link to comment
    teddies

    Spot on Mack. Leave the pokies to NRL clubs. It should never be a part of football culture. All these bids are extremely dodgy and have nothing but their own self interest at heart. I trust in Gallop and Gorman to do the right thing. They won't sell to these pokie palaces.

     

    Agreed.

     

    Would this be an oppourtunity to voice our opinion to the people above?  I'm assuming they may already have an idea of how we think it should be owned and managed?

    Link to comment
    AEK

    Pathetic, everyone wants a piece of wanderers now that they know how much money they can make out of us....

     

    If wanderers get sold to such group like panthers, I'll be the first to hand in my membership, jersey and any merchandise I have into the club and tell them to shove it!

    Link to comment
    dmixtaaa

    I'm thinking about heading down to Tommies Kebabs, Fooly Tabouli, Balkan Restaurant, El Jannah's and any other favoured haunt of ours to chip in for a share, who's with me?

    Link to comment
    Guest Southy

    Guest Southy

    Posted

    Pathetic, everyone wants a piece of wanderers now that they know how much money they can make out of us....

     

    If wanderers get sold to such group like panthers, I'll be the first to hand in my membership, jersey and any merchandise I have into the club and tell them to shove it!

     I don't :P

     

    In regards to selling the team off, I would see it like a marriage you don't just marry any old floozy you go through a few years of dating then engagement to weed out the crazy ones.

     

    I would feel that duel bids should get approved with the FFA holding 51% of the team the other parties getting 24.5%.

    allowing FFA/members time to see which floozy you get in bed with.

    Link to comment
    Robvad10

    I would support the Marconi bid if they had a strong short and long term plans. The club has a strong culture in football and in a football area, its a multicultural club for all people. Go there on WSW away game and its like a game day atmosphere. My only concern would be if they had to re develop marconi stadium. I dont believe having the team based at fairfield show ground will work. Thats my opinion anyway, i would be happy to stay at parra stadium.

    Link to comment
    Stokz

    Fan ownership is a nice idea but I don't think it will work just yet, sure memberships are at 15k now but i'll like to see this after a bad season or two, also we aren't the most affluent in Australia, I personally couldn't afford to buy a stake in the club with my current mortgage and living requirements.

     

    Also when you look at A-league clubs holistically apart from MV most are running at losses, so if the clubs needs more money the shareholders will be asked to pay again.

     

    That saying, if in the future A-League clubs do be come financially viable then this could really work esp for Wanderers.

     

    For me personally I don't think the Marconi bid is really that bad, if a club has pokies and makes profit from this I don't see what the big deal is - it means they will have more money to spend on Wanderers. Ultimately it is up to you if you want to put your money through the pokie machines. Also what Marconi does benefit from it is that is a football club  and has juniors from ages 5 and up, this could be set up as an wanderers academy and boost the youth teams and develop local talent.

     

    For me it is not all doom and gloom particularly with the Marconi bid (and I'm a Sydney United supporter), but the Panthers can stay away...

     

    If they were eventually going to move Wanderers to the Bossely Park area, this would take quite a long time to develop, minimum 5-10 years, people complain about public transport - you could easily have free shuttle buses from Fairfield Station to the Stadium on Match Days and would be a quite nice experience as well.

    Link to comment
    Erebus

    Actually, Penrith have stated they only submitted a half expression of interest. They never made a bid because they never got the paperwork from WSW.

     

    WSW/FFA knocked their expression of interest back before they even could start working on a bid.

    Link to comment
    xposedPatricK

    from 442

     

     

    http://www.bild.de/sport/startseite/sport/sport-home-15479124.bild.html
     

    Quote:


    BVB is rolling in cash.

    Eight years ago, Borussia was still close to bankruptcy - now the vice-champion is the second richest club in the Bundesliga! And comes to over-Bavaria not only sporty closer.

    For the 12 month period up until July, 2013, Dortmund recorded a record turnover of €305million, breaking the elusive €250m barrier, which is a 61.3 per cent increase on the previous year (€189m) and almost a 200 per cent rise from their Bundesliga-winning season in 2009/10.

    The Champions League success increased their TV revenue to €88m, up from €60m in the previous year, while commercial income counted for €121m of the total and matchday revenue at €44m, taking combined “football†revenue to €253m.

    Furthermore, the club generated €52m from the sales of Mario Gotze and Ivan Perisic to Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg respectively in the summer.

    The playing budget (wages) increased 34 per cent from €75m to €100m for the 2013-14 campaign, in part due to the arrival of big-name summer signings Henrikh Mikhtaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and the improved deal given to star man Robert Lewandowski for his final 12 months at the club.

    Overall, Dortmund walked away from the financial year with a profit of €53.5m, recording a group profit of €51m – an 86 per cent increase on 11/12.

    CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said: "We are growing very fast and have been very dynamic for years, and it is a great challenge to cope with inevitable organizational and structural adjustments. 

    "In these figures, we can be proud of! We are now the second force in German football and very well positioned for the future. We want to keep the balance between economic and sporting success, "says the Dortmund boss.

    “Above all, what is important here is the sustainability of sports development.â€

    “We will continue to invest in young players and their development and we are examining the possibility to purchase existing feeder clubs in South America and Asia.â€

    “We have already been in talks with the Australian Football Federation about various club ownership scenarios and will meet with the Japanese Football Association next month.â€

    Managing Director of Finance Thomas Tress added: "Of course, the result is extremely good transfer driven.

    "The money that we have earned in this area, we have immediately reinvested in sporting quality."
     
    Link to comment
    Stokz

    Actually, Penrith have stated they only submitted a half expression of interest. They never made a bid because they never got the paperwork from WSW.

     

    WSW/FFA knocked their expression of interest back before they even could start working on a bid.

     

    I have faith in FFA and DG on this sale, they haven't really done anything wrong, they said the club is for sale and people are invited to express interest.

     

    By another person expressing interest how is that the fault of the FFA, they havent accepted any of these bids.

    Link to comment
    WSW2150

     

    from 442

     

     

    http://www.bild.de/sport/startseite/sport/sport-home-15479124.bild.html

     

    Quote:

     

    BVB is rolling in cash.

     

    Eight years ago, Borussia was still close to bankruptcy - now the vice-champion is the second richest club in the Bundesliga! And comes to over-Bavaria not only sporty closer.

     

    For the 12 month period up until July, 2013, Dortmund recorded a record turnover of €305million, breaking the elusive €250m barrier, which is a 61.3 per cent increase on the previous year (€189m) and almost a 200 per cent rise from their Bundesliga-winning season in 2009/10.

     

    The Champions League success increased their TV revenue to €88m, up from €60m in the previous year, while commercial income counted for €121m of the total and matchday revenue at €44m, taking combined “football†revenue to €253m.

     

    Furthermore, the club generated €52m from the sales of Mario Gotze and Ivan Perisic to Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg respectively in the summer.

     

    The playing budget (wages) increased 34 per cent from €75m to €100m for the 2013-14 campaign, in part due to the arrival of big-name summer signings Henrikh Mikhtaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and the improved deal given to star man Robert Lewandowski for his final 12 months at the club.

     

    Overall, Dortmund walked away from the financial year with a profit of €53.5m, recording a group profit of €51m – an 86 per cent increase on 11/12.

     

    CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said: "We are growing very fast and have been very dynamic for years, and it is a great challenge to cope with inevitable organizational and structural adjustments. 

     

    "In these figures, we can be proud of! We are now the second force in German football and very well positioned for the future. We want to keep the balance between economic and sporting success, "says the Dortmund boss.

     

    “Above all, what is important here is the sustainability of sports development.â€

     

    “We will continue to invest in young players and their development and we are examining the possibility to purchase existing feeder clubs in South America and Asia.â€

     

    “We have already been in talks with the Australian Football Federation about various club ownership scenarios and will meet with the Japanese Football Association next month.â€

     

    Managing Director of Finance Thomas Tress added: "Of course, the result is extremely good transfer driven.

     

    "The money that we have earned in this area, we have immediately reinvested in sporting quality."

     

     

     

    Good read.

     

    Bring on their style of active terraces and ownership model

     

    We already have the passion and community engegement with our club.

    Link to comment
    Montalbano

    Fan ownership is a nice idea but I don't think it will work just yet, sure memberships are at 15k now but i'll like to see this after a bad season or two, also we aren't the most affluent in Australia, I personally couldn't afford to buy a stake in the club with my current mortgage and living requirements. Also when you look at A-league clubs holistically apart from MV most are running at losses, so if the clubs needs more money the shareholders will be asked to pay again. That saying, if in the future A-League clubs do be come financially viable then this could really work esp for Wanderers. For me personally I don't think the Marconi bid is really that bad, if a club has pokies and makes profit from this I don't see what the big deal is - it means they will have more money to spend on Wanderers. Ultimately it is up to you if you want to put your money through the pokie machines. Also what Marconi does benefit from it is that is a football club  and has juniors from ages 5 and up, this could be set up as an wanderers academy and boost the youth teams and develop local talent. For me it is not all doom and gloom particularly with the Marconi bid (and I'm a Sydney United supporter), but the Panthers can stay away... If they were eventually going to move Wanderers to the Bossely Park area, this would take quite a long time to develop, minimum 5-10 years, people complain about public transport - you could easily have free shuttle buses from Fairfield Station to the Stadium on Match Days and would be a quite nice experience as well.

    The problem I have with the Marconi bid is the hint that they plan to redevelop Marconi Stadium so Wanderers can play there. Hasn't the guy been seeing what has been happening. The central location of Parramatta is the preferred option and there are already plans to upgrade Parramatta Stadium. Why would he want to disrupt this? Does he really think people from Penrith, The Hills, Parramatta etc want to hang out at Marconi. He clearly wants to have people on game day at Marconi so after the game they can come in and spend money at his club. That's self interest. Because ultimately playing out of Marconi we are really no longer WSW. And our crowds won't be as good either when people leave in droves because the location doesn't suit them.

     

    I have no problem with Marconi having a stake in Wanderers. They can also build a Wanderers type supporters club in there where all WSW supporters hang out on away games to watch on a large screen and spend money at their club. They can play the pokies for all I care. But if they think we are going to play out of their stadium then they can piss off. And this is from someone who it takes 10 mins to get to the club. I would rather have atmosphere and a large supporter base in a central location than an easy drive to games.

    Link to comment
    marron

    Just for conversations sake, what would people think about a european club buying in?


     

    Fan ownership is a nice idea but I don't think it will work just yet, sure memberships are at 15k now but i'll like to see this after a bad season or two, also we aren't the most affluent in Australia, I personally couldn't afford to buy a stake in the club with my current mortgage and living requirements. Also when you look at A-league clubs holistically apart from MV most are running at losses, so if the clubs needs more money the shareholders will be asked to pay again. That saying, if in the future A-League clubs do be come financially viable then this could really work esp for Wanderers. For me personally I don't think the Marconi bid is really that bad, if a club has pokies and makes profit from this I don't see what the big deal is - it means they will have more money to spend on Wanderers. Ultimately it is up to you if you want to put your money through the pokie machines. Also what Marconi does benefit from it is that is a football club  and has juniors from ages 5 and up, this could be set up as an wanderers academy and boost the youth teams and develop local talent. For me it is not all doom and gloom particularly with the Marconi bid (and I'm a Sydney United supporter), but the Panthers can stay away... If they were eventually going to move Wanderers to the Bossely Park area, this would take quite a long time to develop, minimum 5-10 years, people complain about public transport - you could easily have free shuttle buses from Fairfield Station to the Stadium on Match Days and would be a quite nice experience as well.


    The problem I have with the Marconi bid is the hint that they plan to redevelop Marconi Stadium so Wanderers can play there. Hasn't the guy been seeing what has been happening. The central location of Parramatta is the preferred option and there are already plans to upgrade Parramatta Stadium. Why would he want to disrupt this? Does he really think people from Penrith, The Hills, Parramatta etc want to hang out at Marconi. He clearly wants to have people on game day at Marconi so after the game they can come in and spend money at his club. That's self interest. Because ultimately playing out of Marconi we are really no longer WSW. And our crowds won't be as good either when people leave in droves because the location doesn't suit them.

    I have no problem with Marconi having a stake in Wanderers. They can also build a Wanderers type supporters club in there where all WSW supporters hang out on away games to watch on a large screen and spend money at their club. They can play the pokies for all I care. But if they think we are going to play out of their stadium then they can piss off. And this is from someone who it takes 10 mins to get to the club. I would rather have atmosphere and a large supporter base in a central location than an easy drive to games.

     

     

    Word from someone ITK at marconi is that we probably shouldn't take their efforts to seriously anyway.

    Link to comment
    Montalbano

    Just for conversations sake, what would people think about a european club buying in?

    I am open to it. But all the details will need to be looked at. I like the idea of Borussia Dortmund because Germans understand fan and supporter culture. But everything will need to be looked at thoroughly.

    Link to comment
    Stokz

     

    Fan ownership is a nice idea but I don't think it will work just yet, sure memberships are at 15k now but i'll like to see this after a bad season or two, also we aren't the most affluent in Australia, I personally couldn't afford to buy a stake in the club with my current mortgage and living requirements. Also when you look at A-league clubs holistically apart from MV most are running at losses, so if the clubs needs more money the shareholders will be asked to pay again. That saying, if in the future A-League clubs do be come financially viable then this could really work esp for Wanderers. For me personally I don't think the Marconi bid is really that bad, if a club has pokies and makes profit from this I don't see what the big deal is - it means they will have more money to spend on Wanderers. Ultimately it is up to you if you want to put your money through the pokie machines. Also what Marconi does benefit from it is that is a football club  and has juniors from ages 5 and up, this could be set up as an wanderers academy and boost the youth teams and develop local talent. For me it is not all doom and gloom particularly with the Marconi bid (and I'm a Sydney United supporter), but the Panthers can stay away... If they were eventually going to move Wanderers to the Bossely Park area, this would take quite a long time to develop, minimum 5-10 years, people complain about public transport - you could easily have free shuttle buses from Fairfield Station to the Stadium on Match Days and would be a quite nice experience as well.

    The problem I have with the Marconi bid is the hint that they plan to redevelop Marconi Stadium so Wanderers can play there. Hasn't the guy been seeing what has been happening. The central location of Parramatta is the preferred option and there are already plans to upgrade Parramatta Stadium. Why would he want to disrupt this? Does he really think people from Penrith, The Hills, Parramatta etc want to hang out at Marconi. He clearly wants to have people on game day at Marconi so after the game they can come in and spend money at his club. That's self interest. Because ultimately playing out of Marconi we are really no longer WSW. And our crowds won't be as good either when people leave in droves because the location doesn't suit them.

     

    I have no problem with Marconi having a stake in Wanderers. They can also build a Wanderers type supporters club in there where all WSW supporters hang out on away games to watch on a large screen and spend money at their club. They can play the pokies for all I care. But if they think we are going to play out of their stadium then they can piss off. And this is from someone who it takes 10 mins to get to the club. I would rather have atmosphere and a large supporter base in a central location than an easy drive to games.

     

     

    Yes agree Parra is the ideal location, we all agreed to that.

     

    I think Marconi in all honestly couldnt afford to buy Wanderers, but I don't think it would be that detrimental if they did buy Wanderers.

     

    FFA could stipulate that they need to play at Parramatta for minimum 10 years or something, if you agree to that than you can buy the club.

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