Sydney FC CEO George Perry speaks candidly with FourFourTwo about Terry Butcher, Dwight Yorke, the Asian Champions League and his club’s ambition to re-claim the title of A-League’s benchmark organisation.
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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.
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.
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