Metrics still matter for Nix

The Wellington Phoenix still need to meet their metrics to remain in the A-League, in the eyes of Football Federation Australia.

The FFA announced two new expansion teams yesterday. Western Melbourne Group will join an 11-team league next season, while Macarthur South-West Sydney will join at the start of the 2020-21 season.

That will coincide with when the Phoenix’s conditional 10-year licence comes up for the first of two three-year renewals.

Each renewal was originally based on meeting certain metrics imposed by the FFA, including targets in crowd figures, memberships and television viewership.

The A-League is expected to become independent from FFA in the next season or two after changes to the FFA congress earlier this year shifted the balance of power more toward the A-League clubs.

Many, including Phoenix management, expect an independent A-League to render those metrics irrelevant, but new FFA chair Chris Nikou did not seem to hold the same view when asked about the future of the Phoenix at the expansion announcement on Thursday.

‘‘Wellington are a member of the A-League, so that’s the starting proposition. They’ve got a right to be in the A-League. They know what they need to do to maintain that.

‘‘[FFA] Management works with them to get them as close as possible to the metrics we expect. Ultimately, it’s a contract between the FFA and Wellington and I don’t want to pre-empt any discussion, but they know what they need to do to stay in the game.’’

That sentiment was then echoed by FFA chief executive David Gallop, who famously told the Phoenix they were ‘‘squatting’’ on their licence when first denying them a licence extension in 2015.

‘‘I would add to that, there is a lot of complexity into the negotiation around what a new operating model in the A-League will look like. There is no doubt that one of the factors, perhaps not the biggest factor, but one of the factors will be how that places Wellington in the future of the competition.’’

While it remains likely the Phoenix would have a spot at the table of an independent A-League, owing in no small part to the regard with which chairman Rob Morrison is held in by the other club owners, who will hold all the power in an independent A-League.

The comments from the FFA chiefs might just be words, but it continues a building rhetoric coming out of Australia that the Phoenix’s future is not guaranteed past the 2019-20 season.