Logjam at bottom of A-league makes case for relegation fight

There’s never been a stronger case for promotion and relegation in Australia than the current state of the A-League table.

Perth Glory players look dejected after their 3-1 home defeat to Sydney FC last Saturday. Picture: AAP

There’s never been a stronger case for promotion and relegation in Australia than the current state of the A-League table.

One-third into the season, three points separate the bottom six teams.

The bottom five have one win apiece after seven rounds and three of the four grand finalists from the past two seasons are languishing outside finals reckoning, with Perth Glory (seventh, six points), Newcastle Jets (ninth, five points) and Melbourne Victory (10th, five points) all struggling.

If there was a relegation battle, one of the most brutal dogfights would have already begun.

Dead rubbers are not exciting and playing for pride is never as fulfilling when you’re not staring down the barrel of a season in the second-tier wilderness.

Football Federation Australia chairman Chris Nikou made waves in March when he said promotion-relegation was “unlikely until 2034”, when the licences of every A-League club bar Wellington Phoenix are due to expire.

Players’ union boss John Didulica is on the record arguing “there’s no point discussing pro-rel until you’ve got 14 to 16 teams in the A-League followed by a robust second tier of at least 12 teams”, but does believe a fully professional second tier is achievable by 2021.

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Former Sydney Olympic vice-president Graham Athanaseris believes national teams and player pathways are suffering as a result of a closed-off A-League.

“I think the game needed a reform because the NSL was pretty much broke, but I think they went too far one way and not the other way and discarded the grassroots clubs,” Athanaseris said.

La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, EPL — all the major football countries have promotion and relegation. It’s only Australia that decided to discard the grassroots and just focus on the A-League.

“Look at what the A-League has become today. The purists of the sport, people who have been around since the foundation of all these clubs, are crying out for it,” Athanaseris added.

Meanwhile, Western Sydney coach Markus Babbel says he did the wrong thing by swearing in a post-match media conference and will try to be calmer in the future, but can’t guarantee it will never happen again.

Babbel was cited by the FFA for dropping a couple of F-bombs in answers to questions about a contentious penalty awarded to Melbourne City last Friday.

“I did something wrong, of course, I was emotional, it’s never good if you say something in emotion but this is done,” Babbel said before training on Thursday.

“Swearing in front of the cameras is never good, I’ll try to do it better in the future, but I can’t promise you.

“Normally I have the experience to be a little bit calmer in this moment, this will maybe happen in the future again, I’ll try to do it better.

“For myself, I will try for the future, to calm down and relax and give good answers.”

Defender Daniel Georgievski was also cited and issued a show-cause notice by the FFA for a social media post following last Friday’s game, with both men having the opportunity to provide a submission by next Monday.

Babbel is focused on trying to end a two-match losing streak and a three-game winless run that has resulted in the Wanderers dropping from first to fourth.

“The performance against Melbourne City was much better than against Western United or Brisbane, so many positive things are coming back,” he said.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, AAP