FFA still waiting to see if ‘Cahill rule’ has worked

Are Football Federation Australia’s two major concessions to Melbourne City enough to get Tim Cahill to sign?

Tim Cahill is within the grasp of Melbourne City, if he wants to come.

Are Football Federation Australia’s two major concessions to Melbourne City enough to get out the mega-rich A-League club’s chequebook to sign Tim Cahill?

The introduction of a new guest player role has been tailor made for the veteran Socceroo, and FFA chief executive David Gallop admitted as much yesterday.

“I’m not calling it the Tim Cahill rule but I can understand if others might,” he said.

Cahill, 36, has been the most marketable Socceroo — and perhaps Australian sportsman full stop — for the best part of a decade. Since he left English Premier League club Everton four years ago, it has been a bone of contention that he chose to continue his career in the US and China over the A-League.

Recognising this transfer window may be their last shot to see Cahill play in the league, FFA is pulling out all the stops.

“We all know there are discussions going on with Tim Cahill,” he said. “We’re looking at a range of measures to make it attractive to him. The rules are now in place to accommodate that and it’s something we’re very keen to see.

“People love seeing big stars and certainly Tim would be a huge star in the A-League.”

Gallop praised the other nine A-League clubs for allowing the rule change, saying it showed maturity and an understanding “everyone would benefit” from the move.

City, who began pre-season training this week, have declined to comment on their interest in Cahill.

Gallop announced Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium will host Australia’s crunch World Cup qualifier with arch-rivals Japan in October, beating bids from other states and preferred to the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The potential to sell out the Docklands venue was cited as the reason to send the biggest match of Australia’s road to Russia 2018 to the smaller stadium.

AAP