While we've been looking at the myriad of cock-ups and PR gaffs that the FFA are making on a daily basis the biggest one (well apart from the whole Jack Warner thing) keeps simmering in the background and sticking its head back up usually as the FFA offer an ill-informed and innaccurate view on the subject
Since the PR trainwreck that is the FFAs recent treatment of the Wellington Phoenix started the FFA statements and behaviour have been erratic at best with them offering four different reasons or examples of what the Wellington side need to do to appease them all of them more baffling than the next.
This week of course has seen more backpedalling than this:
When this first started the message was that the Phoenix did not 'bring enough' to the league when everyone seemed pretty sure that what it meant is that the Phoenix aren't offering a few million dollars to buy a spot in the league like a South Sydney team are. This was then extended into talk of Metrics, although as we've proven here the Phoenix meet the majority fo those metrics better than a number of the clubs on this side of the Tasman.
Next up was Lowy's bizarre squatting rant which as detailed above was pretty easily dismantled by anyone with access to Google and the catastrophic facts behind the A-League audience this season. Yesterday it was David Gallop demanding that other parties add more to the club (as in pay for it) with a pretty clear indication that he meant New Zealand Football and Sky TV New Zealand.
As we have repeatedly pointed out, the lack of TV money from New Zealand lies squarely at the feet of the FFA after they showed the same business acument they have been displaying daily in selling the rights for a pittance to Sky in New Zealand, although it turns out that the $900k Sky pay may in fact be about what it is actually worth if viewer numbers consider to freefall on this side of the Tasman.
The suggestion that new Zealand football fund it is also laughable. While not in the same league as the FFA for gaffes and blunders they do their own fair share whether it's getting disqualified from the Olympics or wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on appealling that unwinnable situation. The one thing that is clear though is that New Zealand football run on a shoestring budget, their national team plays around 25% of the games the Socceroos play, their national league has less player payments than the state leagues here and most years they barely make a profit.
Again, as we've disucssed NZ football do contribute to the A-League side for a 6 figure amount each season but the assertion that they should somehow pay more for an Australian club side is laughable. The FFA sell the rights to FOX for a ten team league including the Phoenix. Why should New Zealand Football fund more of that than they do now and how would they?
Next up today it's Frank Lowy claiming the Phoenix need to represent all New Zealand displaying a complete lack of knowledge of the market he is trying to sell this league to and football in general. There is long evidence that a first time game in another venue will bring a big crowd but the novelty will wear off and the great idea of a travelling side ends up losing the fans they already have as well as failing due to the lack of Novelty factor when away from home.
As an example take a look at St. Kilda's short lived New Zealand experiment.
David Gallop should well know this. He oversaw the Auckland Warriors become the New Zealand Warriors and attempt to take games away from Auckland and all it managed was to diminish the home support in Auckland and one off successes when they played away followed by quarter full stadiums for the next visit.
Surely it is the FFAs job to raise the funding for football and more importantly isn't that the whole reason Frank Lowy is the leader of our game and why he has annointed his son to replace him. If they can't do that and are now expecting the clubs to do it for them why do they still have jobs? Once again we come back to the need for the A-League to be run by an independent group who actually have the best interests of this game at heart instead of Lowy and his trough feeding friends who have little idea of what the sport actually needs to move forward.
Isn't it about time the FFA just shut up and listened to the owners of the clubs, the stakeholders in the game and the supporters and give the Phoenix a 10 year license. They are better run than at least five, maybe more of the clubs here so let them get on with it and maybe when you can find new owners for the disasters you are overseeing in Brisbane and Newcastle you can get Qantas to fly them to Wellington to see how a committed owner and a committed city can make our league look better.
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