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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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    HungHuynh

    Thanks MS for the above article that well summarizes the current state of play. There was a time not so long ago when Rugby League would skim the best Union players into it's ranks and now it lays prostrate like a carcass that both Rugby Union and the AFL feed off. The Rich Kids War when PayTV took on Free-To-Air via Packer and Murdoch Jnr's did much damage including the destruction of my Steelers. The Manly Mafia that ruled the ARL reflected the village idiot mentality of smug self-satisfaction in the face of codes that became worldly and more professional in a globalized internet era. Fozzie is right in saying the FFA should have countered The Panthers with an offer the Wanderers buy them (in an act of charity) but in the meantime maybe we should be looking for a basketball team to buy so the RBB can go somewhere in the oft-season.  

    West Sydney Razorbacks?

    Link to comment
    Montalbano

    Sports don't want to exist with each other here. That's why there is not and never will be any sporting clubs. They would prefer to kill off other sports rather than co- exist with them. Welcome to Australia! The only place in the world where this bull crap happens. Football has to be it's own independent entity. End of story.

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    stewballs

    Whoever we sell to must treat us as a club and have enough working capital to ensure we are run without stress or cut backs because they have spent all their money up front.

     

    As a Rangers man I can assure all this is a very dangerous period for us if handled poorly.

     

    Another point. How good would it be if as part of the deal for purchase the incoming buyer would be obliged to set aside X amount of dollars to buy or set up a social club / licensed premises as our own home.

     

    That way we future proof ourselves and have a separate home for WSW

    Link to comment
    theguyyouwishyouwere

    Maybe the owner of the Woolpack can buy the team.

     

    would people have as much of any issue with this idea?

     

    many of us are already pumping money into those pokie machines.

    Link to comment
    TonyAnstee

    Let's just set up a supporters trust and buy 51% off the FFA with an interest free payment plan over 5 years. At the moment that would equate to only $7.65 million divided by 15000 which would cost us less than $2 each a week.

    #easy

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    Pablo

    Let's just set up a supporters trust and buy 51% off the FFA with an interest free payment plan over 5 years. At the moment that would equate to only $7.65 million divided by 15000 which would cost us less than $2 each a week.

    #easy

     

    Governance of professional club football is a complex business

     

    There are no simple models that cover everything that is needed

     

    Bottom line is that the business model needs to be sustainable

     

    I support the concept of community ownership, at least partial, however major investors still need to be attracted for the long haul

     

    I'm probably more concerned to make sure that under any ownership arrangement the aspirations and values of the community

    and in particular the membership are met and not compromised by non football people decisions

     

    Perhaps a hybrid structure that combines a number of proven approaches based upon best practice from around the globe would be a good start for development

    Link to comment
    WhoDoWeSingFor

    Whoever we sell to must treat us as a club and have enough working capital to ensure we are run without stress or cut backs because they have spent all their money up front.

     

    As a Rangers man I can assure all this is a very dangerous period for us if handled poorly.

     

    Another point. How good would it be if as part of the deal for purchase the incoming buyer would be obliged to set aside X amount of dollars to buy or set up a social club / licensed premises as our own home.

     

    That way we future proof ourselves and have a separate home for WSW

     

    Yes, this is what worries me too.

     

    The A League is naturally very excited at the possibility of selling us at the figures being thrown about, but as you say invariably that means the buyer wants

    a higher return and quicker. A few ways that can be done of course but some of them may not end well for us fans.

     

    Of course, we're talking bad case scenarios here.

    Remains to be seen if they can balance cashing in while we are all the rage vs doing the right thing by WSW and indeed football in this country.

     

    Yes, I think WSW are THAT important, doubt I'm alone in that view.

    Link to comment
    TonyAnstee

     

    Let's just set up a supporters trust and buy 51% off the FFA with an interest free payment plan over 5 years. At the moment that would equate to only $7.65 million divided by 15000 which would cost us less than $2 each a week.

    #easy

     

     

    Governance of professional club football is a complex business

     

    There are no simple models that cover everything that is needed

     

    Bottom line is that the business model needs to be sustainable

     

    I support the concept of community ownership, at least partial, however major investors still need to be attracted for the long haul

     

    I'm probably more concerned to make sure that under any ownership arrangement the aspirations and values of the community

    and in particular the membership are met and not compromised by non football people decisions

     

    Perhaps a hybrid structure that combines a number of proven approaches based upon best practice from around the globe would be a good start for development

    The FFA have already taken measures to ensure sustainability by moving towards their goal of covering the whole salary cap for our players. The rest of the administration of the club couldn't possibly cost more than the return from ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship - especially with 15000 members. As I have stated elsewhere I would like to see the first opportunity of club ownership to go to our members in the form of priority shares. Release 15000 shares at $520 each with a payment option (not necessarily 5 years but that would make it affordable). Once every member has had the opportunity to buy their share or pass, a second round can be made to other members. After the second round the remaining shares can be taken up by other investors.

    What do we as fans get for our $520? Firstly - life membership that we can sell or transfer in future. We could also perhaps look at distrubuting say 10 to 20% of future profits (for arguments sake) in the form of season ticket and merchandise discounts.

    What do other investors get for buying into the other 49%? They would get the remaining 80% of the profit for only half of the outlay.

    Should the members not buy 51% we would still get some representation and have the right to elect members to the board. At least this way everyone has had he opportunity.

    Link to comment
    Tigers

    well it was in the membership info for last season that there would be 2 member elected directors on the board but has not happened yet. i never heard anything else about it.

     

    at the end of season parade in parramatta i asked Lyall about it, he said they hadn't had time to think about it and he mentioned something about working out how it would go into the constitution but no mention of a time frame. so as we've never heard anything about it then i can only assume it's not a priority which is a pity.

     

    in reality it's a nice idea but could be problematic in practise, i'm not really sure how it would work. i'm not sure if it's common in any other large privately owned (in the future) sporting clubs in australia.

     

    from a fan's point of view it needs to happen.

    Link to comment
    Erebus

    Maybe the owner of the Woolpack can buy the team.

    He should first get some proper beers on tap and then reduce the ***** price. $7 for a beer in Parra ffs  :nono:

    Link to comment
    Pup55

     

    Maybe the owner of the Woolpack can buy the team.

    He should first get some proper beers on tap and then reduce the ***** price. $7 for a beer in Parra ffs  :nono:

     

    don't drink Tooheys New ?

     

    you can tell you work in North Sydney

    Link to comment
    Carns

     

     

    Maybe the owner of the Woolpack can buy the team.

    He should first get some proper beers on tap and then reduce the ***** price. $7 for a beer in Parra ffs  :nono:

     

    don't drink Tooheys New ?

    4454890441_c27b975da5.jpg

     

    I just realised that this cat may look like it is salivating, I can assure you, it wouldn't be if that cat p*ss was the only drink available.

    Edited by Carns
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    WSWFOOTBALL

    Sell the club to the fans. We must have at least a 51% fan ownership model the same as the bundesliga, whatever happens to the minority is also important, why be a feeder club? It shackles our development.

    Link to comment
    Erebus

     

     

    Maybe the owner of the Woolpack can buy the team.

    He should first get some proper beers on tap and then reduce the ***** price. $7 for a beer in Parra ffs  :nono:

     

    don't drink Tooheys New ?

     

    you can tell you work in North Sydney

     

    Aussie beers are $hit.

    End of.

    Link to comment
    AEK

    Yeah stopped reading before the APAI bit.....

     

    Something started to stink before the APAI section

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