After a tumultuous second season, Sydney FC has had little time to re-group in their preparations for their upcoming Champions League campaign. Having recently unveiled Branko Culina as the man to lead the team into Asia, the club has also secured the signatures of key players and has been rightfully pleased in uncovering a handful of young talents.

With fans now hopeful of a fresh start, they also remain a little perplexed as to what actually went wrong. George Perry impressed upon FourFourTwo his focus and desire to move the club forward, and his belief that the pathway set through Asia will play one of the defining roles in its future.

The club has a new head coach in Branko Culina. Can you reveal what the criteria was during recruitment? How much did the “local vs international” issue come into play?
I think the first thing that we wanted to do was find a coach that was going to give the club some stability and Branko fills that mould very much to the extent that he has worked with the support staff before, he’s worked with some of the players before, he was well-known to the Australian game and well-known to the Australian way of football. He’s very technical and obviously knew how Sydney was playing so to an extent, Branko was at an advantage because he was already here and could bring that stability to the club. My personal preference is that the A-League is able to help the development of the Australian game and that means Australian players and Australian coaches. It [the issue of nationality] was a component but it wasn’t everything. He has a very short period to do something with the club and so far so good.

With the short-term stint, you have given him a six-match agreement but are there performance stipulations within that? For instance, is Sydney FC expected to top their group in the Asian Champions League?
Sydney FC showed in Japan in 2005 that it was capable of competing with the best in the world and being on the world stage. We haven’t set ourselves any expectations. We want to be very competitive and we want to have a good showing but we haven’t said that success is being at the top of the table and failure is being at the bottom of the table. As I said, Branko has only had the team for a very short period of time, we want to be competitive and build a very good, solid team and we want to have a good showing but there have been no benchmarks set for Branko.

Hypothetically, if the team does reasonably well - however the club defines that – but there are signs that things will improve for the next A-League season, can Branko look confident in staying on?
Well Branko is in the unique position of being able to audition for the job. If he does a good job and he’s good for the club then he’s got the inside running sure, but we’ve got to go through the proper process for a coach and we’ll get the best coach at the time for where we are as a club. Look, Branko has got an opportunity and he is backing himself and he’s enjoying himself but it remains to be seen how we’ll go from there on. If he performs well and he’s a good cultural fit for the club then he’ll be the one to look at for sure.

Is the “cultural fit” even more important now, as Terry Butcher was widely criticised for being a mismatch in that area?
I think it’s just a part of being a good mix for a coach, player or in the administrative side of a club. Being able to fit into the structures is always important and that is just one of the things that we are looking at.

It was reported that there was a meeting of the senior players in regards to Terry Butcher. How much of that played a part in his removal in the end?
Terry and the club agreed to go our separate ways. Terry had his reasons, we had our reasons. I met with our players often as I do as CEO of a club and we chatted about a number of things but rarely was it about Terry. We agreed to go our separate ways and we wish Terry well. It’s about pushing forward now. Terry has left the club and we’ve got the Champions League to look forward to and we’ve got a whole lot of new signings to announce shortly and it’s going to be exciting for the club.Just in regards to Dwight Yorke’s alleged unpaid agent’s fees… has that issue been resolved? And will FIFA come in to arbitrate that process?
They will do so. That’s largely out of our hands now, we’ve made a submission and it will be arbitrated on and we’ll get on with it. It’s not something that is holding us back and it’s certainly not making us gun-shy about getting a marquee player. A marquee player is definitely on the agenda for Version 3, and the process for recruitment is well under way.

What’s the philosophy for the hunt for your next marquee player?
My personal preference is to bring in a striker. I think if we want to spend that sort of money then we want to see some results and the most tangible results are goals. But again, it will come down to being the right fit for the club and it will be great to do it. Now, a marquee player doesn’t necessarily have to be a Dwight Yorke, it can be someone like Milton Rodriguez who has shown himself to be a drawcard in his own right. It doesn’t mean we have to go out and spend money on an established marquee player it might be someone who is exciting to watch. Fred and Alessandro have done well for Melbourne and by no means were considered marquees at the beginning of the season.

Was Dwight’s value a lot simply in his drawing power?
Dwight was not just good for Sydney FC, but also for the league. He was exactly the right person for exactly the right time. He gave the A-League credibility and he gave it appeal. If people were 50/50 about going to a game, you’d probably lean toward going to see Dwight Yorke play. That being said Sydney FC this year have created record crowds in Melbourne, on the Central Coast, in Queensland and I think also in Adelaide. Certainly these places are important to the competition and have had great crowds based on Sydney FC being there.

Every club has managed to in increase their crowds this year except Sydney FC, Perth Glory and the New Zealand Knights. Why, in your opinion, were Sydney’s crowds down?
It was marginally to do with not having a marquee player… we’re also competing with things like beaches during the summer and holidays and things like that. It was no secret that there were big crowds in Newcastle and the Central Coast during the holidays, because that’s where people go during the holidays. I think a marquee player would bring more people to the venue but I think people should also be looking to come and watch guys like Mark Milligan and Terry McFlynn and Robbie Middleby and Alex Brosque and these sorts of guys as poster boys as they’re exciting players in their own right. That’s what I think that the A-League has proven – there is a real platform for quality players and for them to show their wares. We’re still averaging 15,000 people and that’s not bad for a club that’s competing in not just one of the most competitive sports markets in the country, but the world. There’d be a few rugby league clubs that would love to boast that as a crowd average and we’re still in our second season so we think that the future is very bright.

Some sections of the Cove have said that there was not enough spent in the way of marketing and advertising in support of Sydney’s home matches during 06/07. Are there plans to increase this for next season?
There are three things we can look at from the club’s perspective to boost our crowd numbers. First is the marquee player, second is to increase our marketing and advertising spend and the third is to start engaging properly with the associations and the football community. There are some 180,000 players in the Sydney metropolitan area and we really need to tap into that market. If we can touch some of those it will give us a pretty good boost. We need to embrace the football community more I think and that’s what we’re going to do through our marketing.

What sort of things can you do? Is it simply things like accessing the member databases of the associations?
I think we can get to a stage where we will have association days. We can say, have one a Sutherland Shire day where we can dedicate one of our A-League games is dedicated to the Sutherland Shire or Distriction Association or Gladesville or what have you. Ideally we’d have the Chairman or the General Manager come to the Chairman’s Club and have the kids playing on the ground before the game and we put special offers out to the associations… they’re the things we’ll be looking at. Make them feel that is their Sydney FC as well, because it is. It’s taking it to the next level and talking to the clubs and the associations to make sure that those offers are there and make sure they feel part of it. Sydney FC is for all of Sydney. There is a market of four million people that we can tap into and it’s obviously difficult to tap into that when the media buy-in is so great but we should be starting by touching the grassroots of the game.

Do you think some of the public outbursts that hit the media during the last season, turned off those people who were teetering on the edge to come along to games?
I think more importantly for us is that we have some clear space ahead of us now. We’ve had a couple of speed bumps during the season but there have been a whole lot that has been positive for the club as well. We’ve had re-signings of key sponsors, memberships have gone up by 250%, we’ve finished in the Finals Series for the second year, we’ve qualified for the Champions League… there are so many things that we can proud about from this season. The salary cap hit us, and we had some controversies this season but the reality is that it’s behind us and we’ve got plenty of stuff to look forward to in 2007/2008. More importantly, the Champions League gives us a unique opportunity for an Australian football club to play on the world stage. Apart from the Club World Championship I don’t think that’s been done before except for in friendlies. This is a real chance for us to play with the big boys and that’s why we’re there.What sort of crowds are you expecting for the Champions League?It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that we do educate the public because it’s a big opportunity for us. I’m not sure people realise how big this stage is that we’ll be playing on. You look at the TV figures for the Champions League last year and 137 million people watched. We’re up there, and we earned our right to be up there so it’s all about educating the public to let them know who these teams are and show them how important and big a deal this is.

So there are plans in place to support these fixtures in terms of marketing them?
Yes we do. Our marketing campaign is about to get underway and our membership renewal process is about to get underway, which includes a special offer to existing members to go to those matches so there are a few things on the go. We’re about to start our media campaign as well.

How many do you think we’ll see in the crowd against the Red Diamonds?
The Red Diamonds are talking about bringing 2,000 Japanese fans out to the game in the first place so it could be anything! That’s one that we think will be very exciting and it’s not far away. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us. Wouldn’t it be great to get 20,000, 25,000 people out to see Sydney FC play the Red Diamonds?! It would be fantastic and really puts it in perspective to show how far the game has come in such a short time in Australia.

It’s confirmed you will be playing Persik Khediri at Parramatta Stadium. Will you have an ongoing arrangement with the stadium?
Well Parramatta has been really good to us as a training venue for this season and when we talk about the grassroots of football, we can never discount the number of players that are in western Sydney because there are tens of thousands of them out there and we need to give them an opportunity to come to a game as well. Wednesday night on Anzac Day to watch Sydney FC at Parramatta Stadium is a fantastic opportunity. At this stage there’s just one game at Parramatta but if it goes well then… we’ll see how it goes.
It’s more about sharing the love really. Aussie Stadium has been very good to us and it’s a great ground to watch football on. There’s also a rugby league game on which made us think about moving the game anyway but it was just an opportunity to go to Parramatta and showcase Sydney FC there.

Is there any truth to the rumour that there is a Sydney FC vs LA Galaxy match in the pipeline?
Oh it’s possible! Anthony LaPaglia one of our directors is very close to the guys at LA Galaxy but we haven’t had long discussions about it. It’s been raised in conversation but that’s as far as it’s gone. But wouldn’t it be fantastic to have them here. That again, just shows how far the game has come. We are a viable option for a game like that.

Has much happened in the way of logistics for the Champions League? How will things like accommodation work for the team?
We’re working with the FFA as well as the Asian Football Confederation. There is a workshop there for all the competing sides next week and we’ll be there to get a brief on what’s to be expected and what will be expected of us. We’ve already got some processes underway to get some scouting done on the three teams. It’s just homework really, to see how they play and who they play and educate ourselves and what to expect. These clubs are massive… the Urawa Red Diamonds have a playing roster of $25 million.What is the mid to long-term strategy for the club in regards to youth development?
We’d like to get to a stage where we can build the Sydney FC academy. That’s a long-term goal but ultimately one that will be a nursery into the A-League. It’s still a fair way off and for us to do it properly we’ll have to put together a youth team and give them some competition and an education at Sydney FC before moving forward into an academy structure. We’ve certainly got plans to put together an academy as well as coaching clinics under the Sydney FC brand to identify some talent and then bring that talent through.

We’ve got an agreement with Liverpool Football Club for a young ‘keeper Dean Bouzanis who’s rated as the best ‘keeper of his age in the world. And we’re really excited to do that sort of stuff. That was a deal that was done through our football department. Who would have thought two or three years ago that we would have a player agreement with the likes of Liverpool Football Club. There are a few great young guys around. Adam Casey is another we’ve got. Tetalios? Has been with us in the pre-season and they’re good young kids. We’re starting to get that mix of experience with the young guys.

Day one of season three… how many players will be on the roster?
Day one for season three for us has already come. If we’ve lost that title being the benchmark in the A-League we need to re-claim it and we need to re-claim it fast. We’ll do that through some proper structures and getting everything in place so we leave nothing to chance. We hope to finalise a 20-man squad and that will be a competitive and strong squad. We’ve got a couple of places still to fill but we’ll have a full compliment of a 20-man squad for season three.

You’ve worked at the ARU and for SOCOG. How does Sydney FC compare?
One thing I’ve really enjoyed about it is that you really feel part of a club at Sydney FC. You have a real pride and an affinity with the players. That’s what I’ve really enjoyed about it. The one thing that has struck me is the passion for football and how strong it is. You can’t pigeonhole a passionate footballer. Our Chairman is the Director of the Art Gallery and is passionate about his football. You talk to people from all walks of life and they are mad keen for it. You look at our board, and they’re all huge football fans but from all walks of life.

Some fans say they are perplexed hearing about so-called issues in the club as it is still so young. How would you respond to that?
I think it’s fair to say that there are going to be issues they’re going to be early on because this is new to all of us. There will always be teething issues in a club, whether that is a football club, a company or a league. To say that other clubs haven’t had their share of teething issues I don’t think would be right but I think those issues have come and gone for us which is great by and large. As they say, ‘it’s better to make a decision and got it wrong than not to have made one at all’ and we’ve done that to a degree. That’s not to say that everything we have done has been wrong because you look at the success under the chairmanship of Walter who has established a fantastic brand in a very difficult market. Sydney FC wouldn’t be where it is today without Walter Bugno in the early stages.

When you came into the role you did a three-year business plan. How are you tracking so far in the first year?
So far so good. But it’s a three-year rolling business plan and we just have to continue to work at it. We’ve set ourselves some ambitious but achievable targets in terms of sponsorship, and gate revenue and keeping costs low but more importantly we’re just trying to change the way we do things rather than any major changes. We’re continuing to evolve the club. We’ve got a good portfolio for sponsors, we have a very strong membership base and we’ll continue to work on the crowds.Season two… can you give me a score rating for the on-field performances?!
I wouldn’t profess to be a footballer good enough to make that call. I think it was pretty difficult and people forget where we were at the beginning of the season and where we finished. We had a number of injuries and we went to Newcastle with only 13 players! Poor old Justin Pasfield was in outfield gear. You don’t have to go back that long to think about guys like Steve Corica and Terry McFlynn, Jacon Timpano and David Carney who were all out through the year. That impacts on the team’s form. It was a difficult year but a lot of it wasn’t our doing as well.

Favourite Sydney haunts?
I’d have to say that one of my favourite places is the Astral Bar at Star City!

Personal sporting highlight?
I got a hat-trick in cricket back in 1977. I even got the ball and it wasn put on a nice trophy. No idea where it is now though! Thirty years ago… wow!

First job?
David Jones toy department.

In a penalty shootout, would you prefer to be taking them or stopping them?
I’d prefer to be taking them. Give me the ball.

Beer man or wine man?
I’m a beer man.