LIKE Mulder in The X-Files, I want to believe the FFA know what they're doing. But sometimes, it's hard to keep the faith.
On the crowds issue, I think they're spot on. Look at the scheduling - it's a work of rare genius...no, really. I am actually being sincere.
The first third of the season has always been generally poor football - new teams finding a way they work best together while sizing up the opposition.
If we're lucky, we get one decent round out of seven - and THEN the competition proper starts. Ideally, we we'd want to keep that out of the public eye - so the FFA made sure they did and scheduled them for the finals run-in of the AFL and NRL.
And what happens on the first weekend free from the rival codes? We have a Titanic battle between first and second in Melbourne on Friday night - with both Victory and Sydney playing possibly their best football ever.
That's backed up the following night with the showpiece Socceroo friendly against the Dutch, followed by the Asian Cup qualifier. We'll dominate the back pages for a few days. What a blockbuster way to make the most of the sporting vacuum created by the end of the NRL and AFL seasons.
Generally, the crowds have held up pretty well, considering. Last season's average was mostly achieved WITHOUT the competition from the rival codes - so to compare the two directly is little unfair.
That said, Roar's crowds are abysmal. The FFA need to do something there and the answer is CHEAPER TICKETS.
It is utter nonsense what has been allowed to happen at Suncorp - when you have a new rival opening up just down the road, the last thing you should be doing is send ticket prices soaring - surely that would be in a Marketing 101 handbook somewhere??
Likewise at Gold Coast - United's fanbase strategy has been undone by the collapse of the "unbeaten all season" boast. Oops. Did they REALLY think they could fill the stadium with away fans every week?
Now they must build up a fanbase the old fashioned way - through hard work, community outreach, and maybe, just maybe, Clive Palmer's vast wealth could be invested in cutting their ticket prices too now the season's started? Or is that wealth reserved solely for gold-plated toilet paper in the dressing rooms?
The Jets collapse in crowds has been a long-time coming - when your team has sold off or released its greatest players, won the wooden spoon just a year after being Champions and the chairman has threatened to throw fans to their death, crowds tend to steer clear.
Branko needs to make his side be essential viewing with pretty football and good results to lure Jets fans back now, you would think.
Elsewhere the crowds are doing pretty much okay - you'd hope for a lift now the NRL and AFL have gone, but given the GFC and that, crowds have held up okay, with particularly good results in Adelaide and Perth.
And then there's expansion. I thought the FFA were about to stuff up when the rumours went round the second Sydney side was about to be scrapped...but no, they turned that around too.
A 12-month delay only made sense, no matter who won - with the transfer window opening last week, no club would have been able to put the infrastructure in place and sign the best possible team in that timeframe.
They would have been playing catch-up all pre-season and ended up with a ragtag squad they were probably tied to for two years.
As for the furore over Ian Rowden getting the nod - well, I can understand the disappointment of the rival bids. They put in a lot of time and effort - but do they reckon the FFA purely made the decision on the basis of who is mates with who?
Rowden is a slick operator, cut from the very same stuff as Ben Buckley. Rowden's bid may have been hastily compiled - but he was in on the Meissner bid so had been in the process for much longer than the month his bid was put together.
The FFA clearly think he and his bid are the best chance for a successful West Sydney club, just like they did with all the other clubs, including the decision to axe Galaxy in favour of Clive Palmer's United.
And while those screaming for transparency kick and shout, can I just ask one question: When do they think the FFA became a democracy?
What Frank Lowy or Ben Buckley want, they get. They don't take a public vote on it unless it would be good PR. Their decisions are final. So far they've made a pretty good job of it too...
Except for one thing. And this is where I struggle to keep faith with the FFA.
Why Melbourne Heart?
On what planet was a second Melbourne side more important than a second Sydney side?
Apart from the FFA and Peter Sidwell, who actually cares?
Can they find me one fan in Melbourne who doesn't support Victory but thinks Heart is the team they've been waiting for? Really?
Heart is an exercise in sports marketing strategy and Victory fans are the sacrificial guinea pigs.
It has two purposes and two purposes only:
1) To squeeze the last dying breath out of South Melbourne's hope of a place in the A-League
2) To gain a stranglehold on sport in Melbourne by ensuring football maintains a high media profile with an A-League match on every weekend.
3) No, that's it. Anything else is smoke and mirrors to disguise these two reasons.
The FFA are prepared to cannibalise Victory's loyal and impressive fanbase for strategic reasons, splitting their crowd in two and hoping it equals more than the sum of its parts.
This is where my faith falters. I do realise this move is for the long-term benefit of football and is necessary in the 21st Century sporting environment.
But it is so cynical, so corporate, so boardroom - and so little to do with the love of the actual game.
In chess terms, it's like sacrificing your queen in the hope of getting a checkmate the next move.
The FFA have already made enemies of former NSL fans - but making enemies of A-League fans is a dangerous road to travel down.
As well as wanting to believe, Mulder had other advice in The X-Files that also applies to the FFA...
Trust no-one.
On the crowds issue, I think they're spot on. Look at the scheduling - it's a work of rare genius...no, really. I am actually being sincere.
The first third of the season has always been generally poor football - new teams finding a way they work best together while sizing up the opposition.
If we're lucky, we get one decent round out of seven - and THEN the competition proper starts. Ideally, we we'd want to keep that out of the public eye - so the FFA made sure they did and scheduled them for the finals run-in of the AFL and NRL.
And what happens on the first weekend free from the rival codes? We have a Titanic battle between first and second in Melbourne on Friday night - with both Victory and Sydney playing possibly their best football ever.
That's backed up the following night with the showpiece Socceroo friendly against the Dutch, followed by the Asian Cup qualifier. We'll dominate the back pages for a few days. What a blockbuster way to make the most of the sporting vacuum created by the end of the NRL and AFL seasons.
Generally, the crowds have held up pretty well, considering. Last season's average was mostly achieved WITHOUT the competition from the rival codes - so to compare the two directly is little unfair.
That said, Roar's crowds are abysmal. The FFA need to do something there and the answer is CHEAPER TICKETS.
It is utter nonsense what has been allowed to happen at Suncorp - when you have a new rival opening up just down the road, the last thing you should be doing is send ticket prices soaring - surely that would be in a Marketing 101 handbook somewhere??
Likewise at Gold Coast - United's fanbase strategy has been undone by the collapse of the "unbeaten all season" boast. Oops. Did they REALLY think they could fill the stadium with away fans every week?
Now they must build up a fanbase the old fashioned way - through hard work, community outreach, and maybe, just maybe, Clive Palmer's vast wealth could be invested in cutting their ticket prices too now the season's started? Or is that wealth reserved solely for gold-plated toilet paper in the dressing rooms?
The Jets collapse in crowds has been a long-time coming - when your team has sold off or released its greatest players, won the wooden spoon just a year after being Champions and the chairman has threatened to throw fans to their death, crowds tend to steer clear.
Branko needs to make his side be essential viewing with pretty football and good results to lure Jets fans back now, you would think.
Elsewhere the crowds are doing pretty much okay - you'd hope for a lift now the NRL and AFL have gone, but given the GFC and that, crowds have held up okay, with particularly good results in Adelaide and Perth.
And then there's expansion. I thought the FFA were about to stuff up when the rumours went round the second Sydney side was about to be scrapped...but no, they turned that around too.
A 12-month delay only made sense, no matter who won - with the transfer window opening last week, no club would have been able to put the infrastructure in place and sign the best possible team in that timeframe.
They would have been playing catch-up all pre-season and ended up with a ragtag squad they were probably tied to for two years.
As for the furore over Ian Rowden getting the nod - well, I can understand the disappointment of the rival bids. They put in a lot of time and effort - but do they reckon the FFA purely made the decision on the basis of who is mates with who?
Rowden is a slick operator, cut from the very same stuff as Ben Buckley. Rowden's bid may have been hastily compiled - but he was in on the Meissner bid so had been in the process for much longer than the month his bid was put together.
The FFA clearly think he and his bid are the best chance for a successful West Sydney club, just like they did with all the other clubs, including the decision to axe Galaxy in favour of Clive Palmer's United.
And while those screaming for transparency kick and shout, can I just ask one question: When do they think the FFA became a democracy?
What Frank Lowy or Ben Buckley want, they get. They don't take a public vote on it unless it would be good PR. Their decisions are final. So far they've made a pretty good job of it too...
Except for one thing. And this is where I struggle to keep faith with the FFA.
Why Melbourne Heart?
On what planet was a second Melbourne side more important than a second Sydney side?
Apart from the FFA and Peter Sidwell, who actually cares?
Can they find me one fan in Melbourne who doesn't support Victory but thinks Heart is the team they've been waiting for? Really?
Heart is an exercise in sports marketing strategy and Victory fans are the sacrificial guinea pigs.
It has two purposes and two purposes only:
1) To squeeze the last dying breath out of South Melbourne's hope of a place in the A-League
2) To gain a stranglehold on sport in Melbourne by ensuring football maintains a high media profile with an A-League match on every weekend.
3) No, that's it. Anything else is smoke and mirrors to disguise these two reasons.
The FFA are prepared to cannibalise Victory's loyal and impressive fanbase for strategic reasons, splitting their crowd in two and hoping it equals more than the sum of its parts.
This is where my faith falters. I do realise this move is for the long-term benefit of football and is necessary in the 21st Century sporting environment.
But it is so cynical, so corporate, so boardroom - and so little to do with the love of the actual game.
In chess terms, it's like sacrificing your queen in the hope of getting a checkmate the next move.
The FFA have already made enemies of former NSL fans - but making enemies of A-League fans is a dangerous road to travel down.
As well as wanting to believe, Mulder had other advice in The X-Files that also applies to the FFA...
Trust no-one.
