So, when we were granted an exclusive one-on-one with the most influential man in football outside of Frank Lowy, we put it out to our readers.

#gallop1on1 was soon buzzing on Twitter while our email was equally busy with readers keen to quiz the former NRL and now FFA CEO on a myriad of topics. So after a lengthy culling process, the FFT team headed to FFA’s Oxford St HQ.

In person, he’s even taller and leaner than he seems on TV. And away from the microphones Gallop, who’s just completed 100 days in the job and riding high in public popularity, exudes the knockabout persona of someone clearly comfortable in a sporting/corporate environment.

Will the FFA continue to fund big overseas club tours? If so, which clubs are on your wish-list?

Nick, via email

Not surprisingly, the response to Manchester United has been enormous. Possibly the most famous sporting organisation in the world. It’s been a great thing as an upcoming event and it’s certainly led other clubs to make contact with us – both English Premier League clubs and other European clubs. (“Spanish”?). Yes. And I’d certainly like to think it’s a regular fixture perhaps annually notwithstanding the difficulties of World Cup years.

Will the FFA be involved in helping finance future A-League marquee signings?

Sarah, via email

No-one could argue what a huge impact marquee players have had on the interest in the A-League this season. It’s certainly been a big contributing factor in taking us from what some people may call a niche sport into the mainstream. We have said that we need to review how the FFA contributes to those arrangements because we want to take into account the need for parity – or as much parity as we can arrange – across playing rosters. But certainly those players have added a real X-factor to the competition this year.  (Is there a fund available to the clubs for this?) It’s been done on a bit of an ad-hoc basis this season and we’ve announced that we want to review that and come up with some more understandable criteria on how we’d contribute to those arrangements.

How do you plan to grow the game and what are your main KPIs? (Oh, and welcome along to football!)

Nick, via email

Thanks for the welcome… As I said on day one the game’s strategic pillars are the right pillars. But we need to implement the strategies around those pillars properly. That means a sustainable A-League competition, success for our national teams, growth across community football and connection with community football and the A-League, and to run a successful Asian Cup which has a legacy for football. If we do those things right, then we’ll grow the game and as we all know, potential for growth is enormous. The game has the strongest base to the pyramid of any of the sports in Australia and that’s why we have an enormous opportunity and why we’ll see blue sky in the years ahead for football.

The next TV deal – how big can it be and ideally would it include FTA stations other than SBS?

Sue, via email

Pay TV has made a huge investment in football over the last eight years but coming on to FTA with the SBS arrangement is a huge boost to the game. It will open up the A-League to almost every household in the country. That will not only help drive Pay TV but it will expose us to a whole new audience of fans. The consequence of that in my view  is that we’ll be in a position to significantly increase our TV rights next time around.

The women’s game is growing. How do you plan to grow the W-League and Matildas’ brand and improve the financial benefits  of elite players?

Angela, via email

We’re doing some work with AFC and UEFA around women’s football. It’s a unique opportunity given 20% of our players at grassroots are female. It’s at the entry point for young players and is the one sport where boys and girls can play together and I think we need to build on that. In terms of the W-League, we’ve expanded the number of rounds this season just completed and we need to look at opportunities to have a full home and away system down the track. In terms of the Matildas, we’re pleased with the new coach Hesterine who’s come on board and we need to be looking for meaningful competition and games for the Matildas as they prepare for the next World Cup and Asian Cup campaigns.