Phoenix banking on independent league

The Wellington Phoenix expect to remain in the A-League longterm, with a split of the league from Football Federation Australia seen as crucial to their future.

Stories out of Australia in recent weeks have speculated the Phoenix were looking to sell their licence to Australian clubs.

Part of that speculation was due to the fact the Phoenix remained behind in the ‘‘metrics’’ they need to meet to have their licence extended past the 2019-20 season by the FFA.

The Phoenix signed a 10-year conditional licence with the FFA in 2016. The first four years, ending in 2020, were guaranteed, while further three-year extensions were contingent on meeting certain targets (metrics), such as attendance figures and television viewership.

But Phoenix general manager

David Dome said an independent league would see the FFA removed from the equation, as well as the conditions it has placed on the Phoenix’s participation in the league.

‘‘If the A-League goes independent, it’s a completely new business model. It would become like the English Premier League. A completely new company would be set up, 70 or 80 per cent is owned by the clubs, small shareholding from the FFA and a small shareholding from someone else, maybe a broadcaster, no-one knows. We’d then have the same licence as the other clubs.

‘‘It’s nonsensical that the Phoenix have a different licence to the other clubs, except that it’s a prejudiced view out of FFA. It’s an agenda being run by the FFA and once that’s changed and we have an independent A-League, then we’ll own one-tenth of the clubs’ shareholding.’’

Dome said he was confident that would happen well before 2020.

It was reported over the weekend the A-League is set to join the World Leagues Forum today, which is an organisation which represents 34 professional football leagues, including the top leagues in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, with the objective of improving the global governance of football.

Given the current 34 member leagues are all independent from their federations, the move was said to be a further indication that the A-League would become independent in the near future. The major road block remains the inability of the FFA and Australian Professional Football Clubs Association, which represents the 10 A-League clubs, to hold meaningful talks.

Part of that is due to the governance issues in football in Australia, which has seen Fifa establish a working group in the country to ensure change to the governance model happens.

Dome said the stories coming out of Australia about the Phoenix were part of an FFA strategy to deflect attention from their own issues.

‘‘There is no doubt there is a ‘don’t look over here guys, let’s look over to Wellington where there is trouble trouble trouble, but, by the way, we can’t even flush our toilet at the moment because there’s so much crap in it’. They are masters at diversion tactics.’’

Dome reiterated chairman Rob Morrison’s point that the Phoenix were not for sale and were committed to keeping professional football afloat in New Zealand.

However, they would welcome outside investment to reduce the financial burden on the current Welnix ownership group, especially under a new A-League ownership model.