A-League: Gallop slams ‘antagonistic’ clubs

FFA has accused A-League clubs of being antagonistic over claims they have been left out of planning for the expansion of the national competition.

FFA chief executive David Gallop says A-League clubs are being ‘unnecessarily antagonistic’ over expansion plans

Football Federation Australia has accused A-League clubs of being “unnecessarily antagonistic” over claims they have been left out of the process behind the expansion of the national competition.

As revealed in The Australian yesterday, the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association has ignored FFA’s requests for a meeting to discuss the process, which will see two clubs added to the competition for the 2019-20 season.

In a letter to FFA chief executive David Gallop, the clubs claimed the consultation process was “not genuine” and alleged the head body “sneaked out” a press release last Friday regarding the appointment of Deloitte as lead adviser to assist with the expansion.

The clubs made a number of demands of the head body before they would consider a meeting, including a copy of the expression of interest sent out, a list of the bids, a copy of FFA’s strategy and tactical plans as well as the financial modelling on which FFA is basing expansion.

But Gallop has fired back in a letter to APFCA chairman Greg Griffin, suggesting his correspondence was “based on false assumptions about our process and intentions”.

Gallop also took a swipe at Griffin’s reference to comments made by FFA chairman Steven Lowy in which Lowy suggested the foreign owners of the A-League clubs “have little or no connection to Australian community football or our national team”.

“Regrettably your correspondence is unnecessarily antagonistic and based on false assumptions about our process and intentions,” Gallop wrote in the letter. “The use of the quote regarding foreign interest in the A-League is misleading in ignoring the quite different context and considerations that apply when discussing the make-up of the representative Congress of FFA for the whole of the game in Australia and the nature of investment in the professional league.

“As evidenced by its track record, FFA has in the past welcomed and embraced foreign (as well as Australian) investment in the A-League and continues to do so.”

Gallop went on to say that the EOI documentation was publicly available and suggested the clubs were trying to play out the situation in the media.

“Accordingly, the other material which we are able to provide (some is the subject of confidentiality agreements) will be presented at the meeting but will not be distributed beforehand,” he wrote. “This is to preserve the rigour of the process as well as in light of the unfortunate history of most material sent by FFA instantly appearing in the media.

Gallop went on to say that the offer of a meeting still stands.

The latest events continue the long-running ructions between the two parties, which have clashed over many issues, including the make up of the FFA Congress.