"We haven't lost faith. We haven't lost the the willingness and the energy for us to be an environment that I think we can help change. 

"I really believe we can help change."

But he added: "As you all know, and let's be very honest about it, there's clearly this disconnect between the owners and and the FFA.

"And until that gets resolved and for the good of the game, we're not going to be able to move on."

Marwood admitted the stalemate needed to be resolved quickly before the A-League was fatally wounded by the damage currently being caused.

"It kind of feels that there's just a lot of negativity around and that can't be good for the kind of the environment that we're all working in," he said.

"So for us, we can change some things, we can't change everything."

City are confident that thay have moved the club on dramatically from its days as Melbourne Heart – but while there is still plenty of work to be done, the current behind the scenes rows are making life even more difficult for them.

"I just have to look back at where we were when we first took over and where we are now and it is light years of difference," he added.

"But these things take time and we are actually doing it in an environment that is really struggling at the moment.

"It's incumbent upon all of us to try and make it better. It's unfair to say that it's up to the City Football Group to develop Australian football.

"I think we're one component of that. I think there are other clubs that can also play their part and develop that. 

"And that's the whole agenda of what's happening at the moment."