A-League’s bottom teams to face FFA Cup playoffs in bid to rev up failing sides
For too long the A-League’s cellar-dwellers have got away with failure without any consequence – but things are about to change, and the FFA Cup is looming as the battle ground.
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It’s not exactly relegation, but the A-League is about to adopt a “reverse finals series” that should provide some meaning to games in the bottom half of the table later in the season.
Under plans given the rubber stamp this week, from next year the bottom four teams in the A-League will face a playoff to earn a place in the FFA Cup for the following season.
The team finishing ninth will play the bottom-placed side, while teams 10 and 11 will also meet. The two winners will advance to the FFA Cup, while the losers twiddle their thumbs for the whole of the world’s longest pre-season.
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It should mean that the way too numerous dead rubbers involving teams slipping away from finals contention should take on a little more meaning, though not as much as they would if the threat of falling out of the A-League was real.
Those who think it’s little more than a gimmick should speak to players who by the FFA Cup’s Round of 32 in August are already heartily sick of pre-season and are hanging out for the cup games.
Missing out on them would hurt.
BLUE SKIES FOR LE FONDRE
Suitors sniffing around Adam Le Fondre – and there’s quite a few of them – might as well put their chequebooks away.
The in-form English marksman has a trigger clause in his contract that means once he hits 15 goals for the season, he will automatically be contracted to Sydney next season.
With 10 goals already, you can expect the 15-goal trigger to be fired imminently, effectively guaranteeing Le Fondre will be in Sky Blue next season.
GREAT NEWS FOR WANDERERS
There were plenty of long faces at the Wanderers training ground this week, but not for Radoslaw Majewski. The Polish playmaker is in high spirits after being told the surgery on his ACL has gone superbly, and his rehab is ahead of schedule.
With an option on another year at Western Sydney, Majewski has plenty of incentive to get fit ASAP.
CURTAIN RAISER
There could be light at the end of the tunnel for the tenants of Allianz Stadium, all terrified of returning to a newly built stadium that is two-thirds empty for almost all their fixtures.
Word has reached Sydney FC, the Roosters and the Waratahs that there will now be discussions with construction giant John Holland – appointed to build the new venue – about adding a curtain or similar to screen off the top section of seats during lower-attended games.
The state government, though, has made clear it won’t pay the necessary millions for its installation.
Could it be that the SCG Trust itself decides to borrow the money?
A Trust spokesperson was unable to provide comment, but it’s worth noting that the curtain would be something of a revenue raiser as effectively a giant billboard.
WANDERERS MAKE IT A HOME
Footballers visiting hospitals is a worthy but regular occurrence during the season – but the Wanderers W-League players decided to go a significant step further this week.
The whole squad went to Thelma Brown Cottage, a women’s domestic violence refuge in Parramatta, on Monday – making beds, assembling furniture, sorting clothing and cleaning up areas of the refuge for the families.
ONE FOR THE OLD GUYS
The renaissance of Tarek Elrich has been a terrific story at the Wanderers – and the veteran fullback has convinced others that he still has fuel in the tank.
Off contract at the end of the season, Tarek is the subject of interest from Perth, we hear, despite turning 33 in January.
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INDEPENDENCE DAY
If you’re expecting the A-League to be split off from FFA’s ultimate control anytime soon, you’re in for a shock – it’s now three-and-a-half years away.
The formal, legal separation has been put off until the end of the current broadcast agreement, to ensure there is no contractual uncertainty that could make deals with broadcasters and sponsors null and void.
There are also tax implications to be worked through as the A-League moves out from under of the skirts of the FFA as a not-for-profit entity.
Instead, an agreement is being finalised whereby the FFA will effectively license a management company to run the league for the next three and a half years, and that will be run by the clubs – who are effectively calling the shots already anyway.
It does mean, though, that any major changes will need approval from FFA – or “ratification” as those designing the model prefer to call it.