“Our view is that we want to see the game grow,” South Chairman Nick Galatas told au.fourfourtwo.com. "It’s always been our view.

"We’ve been in the game for over 50 years so we must be committed [to football]. We want the game to grow because it offers more opportunities for our club.

“And we see ourselves as part of that growth. We think as the football climate matures, our place will ultimately be back in among the elite.

“But we want to do that by way of the sport growing, not contracting. We don’t want to see teams fail our go under.”

South confirmed that Palmer’s rebel organisation Football Australia – a hastily arranged football lobby group devised after the mining billionaire lost his Gold Coast A-League licence – had not contacted them about any of their future plans.

“We’re disappointed to see what’s happened with the A-League recently,” he added.

However the former NSL powerhouse cautioned that clubs – not just those in the A-League – should be able to express opinions without undue pressure applied by the national governing body.

Galatas said that the FFA selected the A-League franchise owners, and he made a parallel with the AFL.

“What if someone like Jeff Kennett had made some comments as Hawthorn president and the AFL reacted that way…?" said Galatas

“From the outside Clive Palmer may have been outspoken but we don’t know if it justifies the axeing of a team from the competition on the basis of some comments from a private owner who’s injected a lot of money into the sport."

South sit outside the A-League landscape and understand their vision is very much a long-term one – particularly with the A-League under such a cloud in recent times over the expansion franchises.

But they believe if they keep ticking boxes their chance one day will come.

The club has a ready-made community programme, a vast junior network of players and plan to combine their women’s WPL team into their club structure.

And with a dynamic digital media team, the club is champing at the bit to show what it can do on the national scene again.

“We know we’re not there now but we’re continuing to build a strong base,” stressed Galatas. "And we don’t have to build links to the community if we’re of the community.

"We don’t have to try build those links, those links already exist. We’re not superimposed onto a community – we’re part of the community.”

A bridge to this long-term strategy is an FFA Cup.

With this in mind, South’s ace up their sleeve is the redeveloped boutique home stadium at Lakeside. It’s a top-class venue holding around 10-13,000 fans offering a stunning view of Melbourne’s cityscape.

Importantly, too, it boasts a top-class surface (evidenced by Frank Rijkaard’s Saudi Arabia playing a friendly at the stadium in the lead-up to their February World Cup qualifier with the Socceroos) while the stadium deal is believed to be extremely competitive in comparison with most A-League clubs.

The club hopes the FFA Cup will kick-off "sooner rather than later". While it’s yet to be officially announced some suggest it could finally be held next year.

“We hope one day to play an A-League team here [at Lakeside]. We hope one day to meet Heart or Victory in a Cup game,” said Galatas.

“Harry Kewell here… It’d be fantastic for everyone.”

On Tuesday night South held a cocktail party for sponsors and corporate investors at Lakeside’s corporate facilities as they look ahead to a new season.

Meanwhile on the pitch club coach Peter Tsolakis told au.fourfourtwo.com that the team had enjoyed an arduous pre-season ahead of the VPL season kick off later this month.

“We’ve got players coming back from injuries and we’re looking okay. You don’t want to peak too early,” he said.

Tsolakis said new signings Luke Byles and Jason and Glen Trifiro had impressed while a former Chelsea man was looking good too.

He added: “Joe Keenan; he’s coming back from injury. He’s like a new recruit for us.”

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