Phoenix boss dismisses talk of exclusion from A-League

THE Wellington Phoenix are confident of being granted a 10-year extension to their A-League licence.

The club’s existing licence expires at the conclusion of the 2015/16 season and a Sydney Morning Herald report has suggested Football Federation Australia would not grant a renewal.

Instead a yet-to-launched franchise in Sydney’s Sutherland shire, home of the Cronulla Sharks NRL club, would be granted the licence held by the Phoenix as soon as next season.

The FFA has tabled a five-year licence offer to the Phoenix, which the club has turned down. The nine other A-League clubs have licences that run until 2034, but the Phoenix aren’t after anything like that.

‘‘We want 10 years,’’ Phoenix general manager David Dome said yesterday. ‘‘Given the amount of investment that’s required to run a professional sports club, any less than 10 years [isn’t sufficient]. You need a decent tenure to make that worthwhile.

‘‘We’re looking at some more investment into the club, but you can’t do that with a five-year licence. So the FFA has offered five years and we’ve said that’s not enough to justify the investment a number of partners and the owners are looking to make into the club.’’

Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison is due to present a document to the FFA board, detailing the reasons why the club is seeking a 10-year licence and the benefits it believes would come of it. Dome couldn’t offer a timeframe on when the FFA might make a decision about the licence extension.

In the meantime, Dome and the FFA are suggesting that Sutherland shire mayor Carmelo Peske has jumped the gun in suggesting that area could be home to an A-League franchise by next season.

Dome insists ‘‘the shire’’ is in the A-League mix, but only in the event that expansion occurs. It’s said the FFA would eventually like as many as 14 clubs in the competition, but the failure of the Gold Coast and North Queensland teams means strengthening existing 10 clubs has been stated aim.

‘‘It’s well known the FFA have been investigating potential A-League markets in southern Sydney, in Melbourne and in Brisbane, Canberra and Tasmania and in Perth. There’s no doubt they’ve been talking to people in those additional markets,’’ said Dome.

‘‘They’ve never made that a secret and sometimes you get people in those markets putting two and two together and getting eight and saying ‘we’re going to have an A-League franchise in southern Sydney next year’.’’

Dome said the FFA had assured him the Phoenix were a valued member of the league and would the the remain so. But this isn’t the first time the Phoenix’s participation in the A-League has come up for discussion.

So until a licence extension is granted, those stories won’t go away.

Dome was adamant, though, that the Phoenix’s sponsors were steadfastly behind the club and the players held no fear the deals that extend beyond this season would not be honoured.

‘‘The fans are the big one because often they don’t have the context. They can quite rightly get quite upset about this stuff.’’

The Phoenix circulated a statement to members yesterday, reiterating the club’s stability and belief that they’ll be part of the league for years to come.

‘The FFA has offered five years and we’ve said that’s not enough.’ David Dome, left