A-League expansion bidders in left in dark over selection, danger of delay
THE six remaining A-League bidders are still in the dark over expansion selection, having expected to learn their fate by the end of October until FFA’s outgoing board deferred the decision.
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FOOTBALL Federation Australia’s new board will have until the end of January to announce two new A-League teams or expansion will almost certainly be delayed until 2020-21.
The six remaining bidders are still in the dark, having expected to learn their fate by the end of October until FFA’s outgoing board deferred the decision until a new board is elected this month.
It’s not clear how long the new directors will take to make a decision, and the hold-up has fanned uncertainty over initial plans to expand the competition by 2019-20.
A-League boss Greg O’Rourke said that time frame remained possible, but only if the successful bids are announced within the next three months.
“A number of bidders have said if they were to know in December or January that would still be viable for them to come in to the 2019-20 season,” O’Rourke said on Monday at the launch of the A-League’s remembrance round.
“But any later than that would probably be too short a run-up.
“Their view is the longer they have the higher-quality team they can prepare (as opposed) to having too little time to build a team.
“As a result, we would hope that by the end of December we’ll be in a better position to make a call. If not, the end of January at the latest.
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“(After that) the decision itself could still be made but the timing of their entry could be delayed to give them an 18-month run-up instead of a six-month run-up.”
The extra time might suit some bids, particularly those seeking to build new stadiums.
Same goes for Victorian frontrunner Team 11, which is relying on state government support and must now wait until this month’s election plays out.
FFA is in the midst of formal meetings with all bidders to address concerns in their submissions.
Macarthur South West Sydney and Southern Expansion are the NSW hopefuls competing for a licence.
O’Rourke was already more confident in the strengths of each and reiterated he’d have all the information required to present at the new board’s first meeting.
“It’s interesting what putting a hard deadline in front of people has resulted in,” O’Rourke said.
The news follows a weekend free of VAR drama, a relief given the controversies of the opening two rounds.
O’Rourke said the improvements could be attributed to the high-threshold approach he implored referees to take, executed by VAR Chris Griffiths-Jones and various on-field referees.
This weekend the VAR bunker will be shared between Griffiths-Jones, Chris Beath and Craig Zetta.
“That collaboration took a couple of weeks to get right,” he said.
“Really the decision of the VAR controversy came in the Sydney derby and then the discussions the following week collaborated everybody and you saw the results of that this weekend.”
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