A-League promotion and relegation achievable in 10 years: Lederer

Western Sydney Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer has welcomed the introduction of a new A-League team on their turf while also making the bold prediction that promotion and relegation will be possible within 10 years.

Lederer, who last month became chairman of the A-League club owners' representative body, is eager for further expansion of the competition following the awarding of licences to the Western Melbourne Group and Macarthur-South West Sydney.

Chairman of the chairmen: Wanderers owner Paul Lederer believes A-League promotion and relegation can happen within the decade.Credit: Wolter Peeters

But he believes a degree of caution is required to grow the league to 14 teams and beyond – and an entirely different process to the one undertaken by Football Federation Australia.

Instead of calling for bids from around the country and picking the best ones, Lederer believes the A-League must first identify the markets it wishes to expand into.

FFA is understood to be very keen on a second team in Brisbane, while unsuccessful consortiums in Canberra and south-east Melbourne have been encouraged to keep their bids alive by the governing body.

But with the A-League to be spun off and run independently by March, any decisions around expansion are likely to be driven by the clubs themselves.

We're not here to talk about the never-never land. Within the next 10 years it's possible. It's quite feasible, absolutely.

Paul Lederer on A-League promotion and relegation

"We've got to pick the right areas because the last thing we want is half-empty stadiums," Lederer told the Herald. "Hopefully it'll happen, but hopefully it won't happen too quickly either.

"I'd like to see 16 teams sooner rather than later. But I'd like to see 16 successful teams. I don't want to see 16 teams and half of them struggle to survive."

FFA chairman Chris Nikou also foreshadowed on Thursday that a working group would be put together to investigate the possibility of a national second division. Further details will be announced next week.

A second tier is a necessary step if the holy grail of A-League promotion and relegation is to be achieved.

Lederer said the owners were fully on board with the concept despite the potential threat it would pose to their investments.

"We're not here to talk about the never-never land. Within the next 10 years it's possible. It's quite feasible, absolutely. And it should be. If we do this right," he said.

"I'm sure there will be promotion and relegation, but you've got to give it time and we've got to get our product better and better.

"We're facing a challenge because you've got two new teams. That's an additional 50, 60 players we've got to produce or bring in. We've got to be very careful that we don't dilute our product.

"[The owners] are very ambitious and very committed. We shouldn't underestimate some of the people that are involved in the A-League. They want to see this game grow and the only way it's going to grow, and I can't emphasise this enough, is if all the teams grow."

Lederer did not confirm or deny that the Wanderers had asked FFA to hold off Macarthur-South West's entry until the 2020-21 season in order to allow them a full season at the new Bankwest Stadium. But he said giving them more time to prepare themselves was the right decision and was confident they can be a success.

"We found that when we established the Wanderers, if you rush it, it's not that easy," Lederer said. "It takes a good 12-18 months to really put a team and management together and facilities, stadiums and all the infrastructure that goes with it."

FFA has pocketed around $30 million from the licence fees that will be paid by Western Melbourne and Macarthur-South West, and the existing A-League clubs are likely to ask for a portion of it for themselves. When FFA sold the Wanderers to Lederer, each club received around $500,000 from the windfall.

"Hopefully the FFA will see it wise to distribute some to the clubs, but that's purely an FFA decision. Obviously we would always like some money," Lederer said.