After a tortuous bidding process, the A-League must create a proper pathway to an expanded competition

The A-League loves to do things the hard way and although we can now look forward to a growing competition, the tortuous process of expansion must be handled better in future, writes TOM SMITHIES.

David Gallop kept some perspective on the process. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

• South-West United target Ante Milicic
• Sydney the big expansion winner
• Bigger A-League could get AFL-style draw

No doubt the losing four bids are feeling differently, but the overwhelming feeling now is relief.

Relief simply that a tortured and tortuous process is over, and that we have the prospect of a new team to look forward to next season.

But the truth is it has been an unedifying spectacle, the prospect of growing the league atrophied by the civil war of governance that has played out for the past three years.

Only the A-League could get to a point of making such momentous decisions 10 months from the introduction of its first new team since 2012; the equivalent of doing your homework the night before it is due.

David Gallop kept some perspective on the process. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

The fact that negotiations went late into the night of the board meeting to make the final decision on expansion was described by FFA CEO David Gallop as “the nature of these things”, but it is also symbolic of a process where many of the bidders have complained that criteria for success along the way were blurred and movable.

Gallop hardly denied that bidders had been asked at the 11th hour for more money; in the end, the cash on offer wasn’t the defining factor, but it was mightily close.

The proposed new Western Melbourne stadium will be privately funded.

But that cannot be the way forward, as the prospect of further expansion gets fed into the new model being developed to make the A-League independent by next season.

It can’t just be the brashest or richest, but bids encouraged from an audit of where the A-League needs to grow its footprint.

The Sydney and Melbourne bias of this round of expansion is an interesting debate, with only one of the six short-listed bidders coming from outside those markets.

It’s a populist pitch by FFA, aiming for a quick boost in numbers and keeping the broadcaster happy. But it doesn’t smack of a coherent geographic strategy, where fertile ground for growth has been identified and tilled. It means the choice of the next round of teams cannot be more of the same.

There will be some excitement around having new teams, but a pathway to a league of 14 or even 16 teams would really warm the hearts of those who have waited patiently for the A-League to start growing.

Get every match of the 2018/19 Hyundai A-League LIVE. SIGN UP NOW!