Responding to yesterday's report on this website that South Melbourne FC was planning to launch an A-League bid by 2011, Miles hit back telling au.fourfourtwo.com that such a plan goes against the A-League's vision of city versus city rivalries.

“What has been successful for the A-League has been the one city one team model brought in by FFA," he said.

"It's a very competitive sports market in Melbourne and there's no doubt that the single club – where everyone can get behind the one team with united support – has been a key part of the league's growth.”

South Melbourne's vision is for their club to derive support from fans not currently supporting Melbourne Victory. They also want to tap into their vast network of juniors as well as use their current home stadium as a training, administration and social base for their potential A-League arm.

South Melbourne claims there is corporate support for a second team in Melbourne. What's more, bids from Melbourne's Casey and Geelong are also on the radar.

The FFA is committed to expansion of the league with a second team in Sydney almost a certainty.

However Miles says the current model is working in Melbourne: “We'd be unsure how a second team [in Melbourne] could establish itself.

“And what we have now is a very powerful city versus city, state versus state rivalry which is working.

He added: “It's proved very popular to have a united Melbourne/Victorian team.”