South Melbourne and Team 11 to continue push for A-League licence despite missing expansion nod

South Melbourne and Team 11 may have been overlooked for an A-League licence but while disappointed, officials from the two failed bid teams aren’t losing hope.

The Team 11 board: Tony Selak, Colin Madden, Max Shifman, Ghadir Razuki and Renato Pellicano.

The failed Victorian bids for A-League inclusion are gutted at missing out but haven’t given up hope of one day featuring in Australia’s premier football competition.

Western Melbourne edged former National Soccer League champion South Melbourne and Team 11, the southeast Melbourne contender, for a golden ticket to the A-League when the FFA revealed expansion plans on Thursday.

Macarthur South-west Sydney was the other successful bid.

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South Melbourne declared that they would focus on ‘operation state league’ after missing out on a coveted A-League license.

South pitched a ‘ready-to-go’ model for Football Federation Australia, emanating from its existing player base and Lakeside Stadium home.

Bid chairman Bill Papastergiadis has been the driving force behind the ambitious A-League bid for one of the clubs that was kicked out of the national top tier in 2004, but said the proud club was not going anywhere.

South Melbourne board chairman Bill Papastergiadis, with bid team members Luisa Chen and Gabrielle Giuliano.

“We are naturally disappointed. We are however cognisant of the board’s difficult position in making a decision considering the strengths of the various bids,” Papastergiadis said.

“We are confident South Melbourne will remain a viable option for an A-League license in the future. The preference of the Western Melbourne Group means our main supporter base and catchment area in the south and southeast of Melbourne remains unaffected by the planned expansion. South Melbourne will continue to be an option for further expansion in the future.

“We look forward to engaging with FFA board members and management in the coming weeks and months to better understand any perceived weaknesses which resulted in us not being a preferred licence holder at this time.

“We are a club with a proud 60 year history and we plan to be around beyond another 60 years. We will always embrace an ethos which embraces multicultural diversity, equally embraces women’s, men’s and youth development and encourages an environment where any club in the country can aspire to and reach the highest level in Australia football.

“Our efforts to this point have been building for 14 years and more specifically over the last 12 months. Investment has been made in resources to present our bid and these will not have been wasted as the club is in a stronger position as a result.

“As the only bid with an operating club and football department, we are able to capitalise on these efforts effective immediately.

“We will now turn all our attention to the coming (NPL) season and continuing our success both on and off the pitch.

“Whilst today was not our day, but our time will come. We are here. We are ready. We are South Melbourne.”

FFA CEO David Gallop and FFA Chairman Chris Nikou at Thursday’s announcement. Pic: AAP

Western Melbourne, the winning Victorian bid, will join the A-League in 2019-20 before the southwest Sydney bid enters in 2020-21.

Team 11 officials said they were “bitterly disappointed” to be overlooked by the FFA board but their belief the southeast corridor of Melbourne can one day sustain a top-flight team remains unwavering.

Team 11 interim chairman Ghadir Razuki said his team remained determined to formulate new plans — be it for entry into an expanded A-League or a National Second Division — and had been buoyed by the support received since news of the failed bid.

“We have said all along that this bid is about football and is about community,” Razuki said in a written statement.

“Today’s outcome, while disappointing, does not shake our belief that a football team in the southeast of Victoria will be an immense success.

“We live it every day, we breathe it, we see it, we know it.”

The Team 11 board thanked supporting councils who had helped drive their bid, while also singling out the efforts of local clubs and high-profile stars — which included the likes of former Socceroos captain Paul Wade, as well as more-recent stars Vince Grella, Clint Bolton, Jackson Irvine, Bailey Wright and Scott McDonald — who had thrown their support behind their push.

Team 11’s proposed plans for a new Dandenong Stadium.

Mr Razuki congratulated the successful bid groups and said he hoped Team 11 would cross paths on the pitch before long.

“While we have been ‘rivals’ throughout this process, we are kindred spirits in the sense that only we can know and can appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that has gone into this process,” he said.

“Let’s hope that one day we will be on-field rivals as football continues its upward trajectory.”