A-League expansion: How the western Sydney bid was won

It was a nervous night for investors when the FFA board sat down to hand out new A-League

South West Sydney FC bid chairman Gino Marra, left, and Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic speak to the media this week. Picture: AAP

It’s 7.34pm Wednesday night and the ding, ding, ding of text messages being exchanged sounds like the end of a boxing round.

“Is there any news yet?”

The reply comes back in an instant: “No mate, sorry”, followed almost instantly by another text: “Drinking red wine and stressing!” Then: “I can’t stand this any more”.

It has been eight hours since a half-dozen members of the Macarthur South West Sydney bid gathered in the Sydney offices of billionaire property developer Lang Walker waiting nervously for news as to whether they will be included in an expanded A-League competition next season.

About 3km up the road in their offices in Whitlam Square, the board of directors of Football Federation Australia are in discussions over which franchises to admit into the league. It’s been almost a year-long process and now we are finally in the home straight.

The bidders have invested millions of dollars and a lot of time and energy. Defeat will mean huge disappointment and shattered dreams. The winners will join the big boys at the A-League table.

FFA’s meeting had started at 3pm. There have been robust discussions as day turns into night and now consultants Deloitte are making last-minute calls to some of the six franchises in contention.

More information is being sought, though there are suggestions FFA is pushing for some of the bids to up their original financial offers for the licence.

Among the MSWS gathering, representatives of co-bid chairman Lang Walker, who will own 50 per cent of the franchise, co-bid chairman Gino Marra and football director Sam Krslovic are “eating peanuts and having a couple of drinks”. Marra and Walker, who is at home, are texting each other constantly.

They all act like expectant fathers. It’s an emotional roller coaster as the minutes tick by. Every phone call, every text message ups the anxiety levels. The mood isn’t helped when Marra gets a text saying Fox Sports is reporting via Twitter that Western Melbourne Group and Canberra are the two successful bidders.

“My heart sunk and I just broke down,” Marra tells The Weekend Australian. “Sam thinks it is weird. He searches Twitter and finds the account and quickly realises it’s a fake.” The energy levels soar again.

Still, their thoughts vacillate between positivity and negativity. They go through all the good points of their bid, reassuring themselves and drawing strength from the fact they believe it is the best of all the candidates.

Having not eaten a decent meal all day, Marra and Krslovic are ravenous and head to Kings Cross and Cafe Roma — “the only place open at the time”. It’s now around 11pm. They haven’t even had time to order when the phone call comes through from A-League boss Greg O’Rourke.

“Congratulations, you are in,” he says. The words don’t register for a moment. Then the enormity of it sinks in. OK, the bid won’t be included until the 2020-21 season, but that’s not an issue. It’s probably a blessing in disguise as it will give them more breathing space. They are in and that is all that matters.

Marra immediately calls Walker. Typically all business, the simple reaction is: “Let’s make sure it’s heads down and bums up and we do this for the community.”

Still, there’s no time to think about anything else. Marra and Krslovic are summoned to FFA headquarters to sign some documents. They make the short trip up the road, O’Rourke congratulates them, the papers are signed, there’s some idle chatter about football then the pair walk into the elevator.

Once the doors are closed, they start jumping up and down, yahooing, hugging each other and acting like five-year-olds given the keys to the lolly shop.

They then head closer to home for a couple of celebratory drinks.

By the time the taxi drops off Krslovic and Marra gets into bed, its 3am but Marra knows he isn’t going to sleep. Apart from the fellow bid people, no one knows they have been given the licence.

“Can I tell you, it’s the best non-sleep I’ve ever had,” he says. “The phone starts going off at around 6.30am with you guys (journos) asking me if there is any news.” The bid has done well to keep the news out of the media for so long.

A report comes out around 7.30am that MSWS and Western Melbourne Group have been given the licence and that news is confirmed four-and-a-half hours later at a press conference at the FFA offices.

Marra, Krslovic, Chad Walker (Lang’s son) and Macarthur Council mayor George Brticevic face the media in the same office 40 minutes later. They look calm but inside they are doing cartwheels.

It’s been a long 24 hours for them, but now the real work begins.