Sherman sees youth development and the pathways for that to happen as vital for the future of Australian football - and a key income source for every club’s future.

“Professional football clubs generally have two primary income streams, one is the stadium, and one is the players,” he told the FTBL podcast.

“If you own your stadium, then obviously you recoup some outlay every week from fans, obviously, you could maybe rent it out for events. And then obviously, you have your players who are assets.

“In Australia, the only one we generally have is your player assets. And this is where the future of the game certainly goes.

“There's a global market, which is phenomenally big.– and Australia’s proportion of that is phenomenally small.

“By investing in players and developing them, the potential to transition some of those players into top football and get a share of the international market… you know, it's a good business model.

“That's something the game and a number of the clubs are keen to embrace. And they are. But it doesn't happen overnight.”

He added: “Youth developments are a long term thing.

“You can implement something and this is one of the problems, it might take 10 years to come to fruition.

“But two years down the line, everyone's bemoaning the fact that it hasn't worked.”

Key to that plan though is not only the survival of the A-League but also a place for A-League clubs to have reserve teams playing in the NPL, says Sherman.

“If you look at the 17 to 23 year olds, there's a whole raft of issues,” he said.

“Generally mastery happens around 23 so you transition into a regular first team player by that age - some sooner obviously, some later.

“But under the current rules of three 20 year olds (now 21 in the coming season) then, in essence, if I'm not quite ready at 21, I'll get released because there's a salary cap.

“Now in my opinion, that rule should be 23. And under 23 players should fall outside of the salary cap so you could retain those players and bring them through because it's a delicate transition.

“The game historically has been rubbish at it.”

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He added: “That's one factor then there's also game time so this is a big challenge – gametime in a relatively quality environment.

“So why can't the elite teams be in the top tier of NPL, allowed to play some over age players so it is like a reserve team. They couldn't win the competition, but they can be competitive.

“It's unique to the Australian circumstances because of national travel that reserve league football is impossible financially.

“I just find it mind boggling that that isn't the case and teams end up with restrictions on the age group of the players end up playing in NPL3.

“Is that really protecting the both the fiscal and long term national interests? No, it’s not.”

Sherman adds though that for all the challenges ahead, it is absolutely vital to find a way for a full-time top tier to continue to exist in Australia…even if it means a shake up in the clubs involved at the highest level.

He added: “Ultimately, I think having a professional league is a must.

“And the game needs to unilaterally galvanise behind that and support those who want to make that happen from a club point of view.

“Now, whether that means that other clubs emerge, existing clubs, etc, and it looks slightly different, I don't know.

“But I do think that professional football for me is a must.”

PLUS...

Sherman: I did nothing at the FFA...

Former Football Federation Australia technical director Rob Sherman admits the role was so compromised by competing factions he could do nothing during his 10 months in the job.