Matchday 8 - The Simpsons vs The Smurfs

[Corsair]

Did you not read the email from Richard?

“It was also made abundantly clear that exiting the deal would result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in essential funding to the Mariners from the League being drastically reduced.” “As one of the smallest clubs in the league, and one that currently loses millions of dollars every year, we rely on funding from the League, and we rely on being able to have positive relationships with government moving forward. Frankly, both are essential to our long term viability.”

That’s coming from the man bankrolling the club, we need league funding to stay alive. To pull out of this deal now would have major major damaging financial ramifications for the league. It wouldn’t just be losing the $10 million or whatever it was that it could have had, it would be massive compensation the league would have to pay out, probably court cases etc. There’s a reason the APL doubled down on this the other day, and it’s not because they want to piss off the fans, as much as everyone likes to make that out to be the case. They simply cannot afford to pull out now, it’s a long term existential threat to pull out. It’s not about the $10 million it won’t receive, it’s about it’s own money it’ll have to actually lose to pull out.

As for what are the devastating consequences? No more Mariners? Dunno about you but that’s pretty devastating to my life.

Not sure how I have a penchant for drama and the extreme when everyone else is literally advocating turning up to a game, sitting there for 20 minutes and then walking out, over a few neutral Grand Finals? Sounds pretty dramatic to me. ?

Said Hanrahan.

If the league really needed the money that badly the APL would have run a proper tender and given other venues/states (who have confirmed they were not offered an opportunity to bid despite the usual lying from Townsend) an opportunity to bid rather than doing a sneaky behind the scenes deal so the Grand Final is in Sydney where he and his mates live and where the team he used to be involved with and everyone knows he is biased towards is based.

The point the fans want to make is for the APL to stop mugging us off and lying to us and feathering their own nest and agenda.

You can't just bend over and take it for years and years ad infinitum, there has to be a line and this is it. Everyone here has heard your opinion and you're entitled to it but you've said it already many times so give it a rest.

 

[adz]

And the club won’t die if this deal doesn’t go through

I think this is a good point to expand on in a new thread. This and the whole "for the long term viability" of the league.

Happy to start one but won't be until a bit later.

 

[bikinigirl]

How can it possibly be different though? How can people be so willing to kill the club that we all supposedly support and log into this forum for? For the sake of not having Grand Finals in Sydney? Really??

I could say the same about everyone else. Your views are loud and clear. It’s not likely to change what’s happened, and if it does then it’ll have devastating consequences, so why do it then?

We cannot go back to the way it was. The past is the past, it cannot go back to that way now. There is a fork in the road. One leads to Grand Finals in Sydney, one leads to a probably defunct Mariners. That’s the reality that no one seems to be living in, they just want to go back to the way it was, which is impossible.

Protesting to keep my football club alive is absolutely something I’ll fight for.

. okay i'll take one more bite ...

. you seem to be the only one talking about killing or crippling the club*. most people are not even contemplating that scenario. the deal does not seem to substantially effect the league and that is the point many are trying to make

• would i advocate a lengthy and expensive legal challenge to have a contract ruled invalid? no
• would i have preferred this didn't happen? yes
• would i prefer that Rich voted 'no' or abstained to at least make a principled statement? yes (but he was blindsided with no chance to seek counsel)
• do i think the conversation should be had regardless of the possibility of change? absolutely yes ... at the very least it lets people know what would be preferred when the deal ends in three years

. who knows, maybe the government will decide it is not worth fighting a public spat where nobody wins and the entire football community (with a few exceptions) are put offside (pun partially intended) - but i s'pose they'd never renege on a promise would they ... surely not the government

* well except maybe Fulham, but i'm not sure exactly what that agenda is all about at the moment

 

[Jimmy]

i guarantee the fans of other codes in Australia aren’t laughing at the A-League for deciding to host GFs in Sydney. They are laughing at the fans for their ridiculous overreaction. No other sport in the world would react like this and do walk outs like it’s the end of the world. The APL hasn’t stuffed up the momentum from the World Cup, the fans have. From having AFL, NRL, cricket, Rugby Union, basketball fans rallying around Australian soccer, they’ve copped a poorly timed reminder of how bizarre and precious soccer fans in this country are. As a fan of soccer in this country but also other sports, soccer fans really do bring it all on themselves.

If there was ever an example of a brick wall having lobotomy this would be it.
As I've said, you do you.
I'm done.

 

[marinermick]

Did you not read the email from Richard?

“It was also made abundantly clear that exiting the deal would result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in essential funding to the Mariners from the League being drastically reduced.” “As one of the smallest clubs in the league, and one that currently loses millions of dollars every year, we rely on funding from the League, and we rely on being able to have positive relationships with government moving forward. Frankly, both are essential to our long term viability.”

That’s coming from the man bankrolling the club, we need league funding to stay alive. To pull out of this deal now would have major major damaging financial ramifications for the league. It wouldn’t just be losing the $10 million or whatever it was that it could have had, it would be massive compensation the league would have to pay out, probably court cases etc. There’s a reason the APL doubled down on this the other day, and it’s not because they want to piss off the fans, as much as everyone likes to make that out to be the case. They simply cannot afford to pull out now, it’s a long term existential threat to pull out. It’s not about the $10 million it won’t receive, it’s about it’s own money it’ll have to actually lose to pull out.

As for what are the devastating consequences? No more Mariners? Dunno about you but that’s pretty devastating to my life.

Not sure how I have a penchant for drama and the extreme when everyone else is literally advocating turning up to a game, sitting there for 20 minutes and then walking out, over a few neutral Grand Finals? Sounds pretty dramatic to me. ?

Again grandiose claims (major damaging financial ramifications) without any evidence whatsoever, while evading the original questions.

It’s five million a year buddy with only a few hundred thousand going to the clubs if that. That equates to less than ten percent of the operating budget for the Mariners and less than five percent for other clubs. This is also less than twenty percent of what the Mariners have received this year , as a bonus outside their budget, from transfers and the World Cup.

Would also equate to less than five percent of the operating budget for the APL.

So, do you see how dramatic and grandiose your claims of killing the clubs and the league are?

 

[StensnessGOAT]

If there was ever an example of a brick wall having lobotomy this would be it.
As I've said, you do you.
I'm done.

Mate I was there as a neutral fan when Buddy kicked his 1000th goal and we all ran onto the field and it was the most unbelievable fan thing to live through. Meanwhile in that same year in the A-League, the fans are walking out over a Grand Final venue. ?

This overreaction from the fans has been highly highly embarrassing and has made it very difficult for me to defend and advocate being an A-League fan to people in other sporting circles, which I was so passionately doing during the World Cup run. Even just to Eurosnobs, of which I know a few. The whole drawcard to try attract Eurosnobs is to come be a part of match day support, and this is not a good look from A-League fans to try and get them to be part of it.

 

[StensnessGOAT]

Again grandiose claims (major damaging financial ramifications) without any evidence whatsoever, while evading the original questions.

It’s five million a year buddy with only a few hundred thousand going to the clubs if that. That equates to less than ten percent of the operating budget for the Mariners and less than five percent for other clubs. This is also less than twenty percent of what the Mariners have received this year , as a bonus outside their budget, from transfers and the World Cup.

Would also equate to less than five percent of the operating budget for the APL.

So, do you see how dramatic and grandiose your claims of killing the clubs and the league are?

Um, as I said several times mate, it’s not about the 10 million they won’t get, it’s about all the compensation and legal fees the league will have to pay.

You can tell yourself all you want that the APL doubling down on it was just because they enjoy pissing people off. In reality it’s clearly because it is untenable for the league to back out now.

 

[turbo]

The APL hasn’t stuffed up the momentum from the World Cup, the fans have.

You've made a number of reasonable points but this is a bridge too far for me. The APL have made a very controversial decision, apparently without consultation of all stake holders and then absolutely bottled the delivery and messaging around said decision. They have stomped on whatever momentum was there. The question of timing comes up as well, why announce it now?

 

[turbo]

do i think the conversation should be had regardless of the possibility of change? absolutely yes ... at the very least it lets people know what would be preferred when the deal ends in three years

This is where I'm at. Make sure the fans are heard and treated better going forward, hopefully stop the renewal of the concept after the 3 years and have some governance changes around how the big ticket items are decided. DT's resignation probably a mandatory part of fan reconciliation.

 

[marinermick]

Um, as I said several times mate, it’s not about the 10 million they won’t get, it’s about all the compensation and legal fees the league will have to pay.

You can tell yourself all you want that the APL doubling down on it was just because they enjoy pissing people off. In reality it’s clearly because it is untenable for the league to back out now.

And tell me how much these legal and compensation fees will be?

 

[Corsair]

Don't feed the troll.

 

[StensnessGOAT]

And tell me how much these legal and compensation fees will be?

Clearly too much to go back on, hence everything that's been said by all the chair people including our very own Richard Peil. We are the first club to fall by the financial wayside, not sure how much more clear that can be.

Don't feed the troll.

Not sure how I'm a troll for having a different opinion and a more level headed one than the typical Australian soccer fan, but you know, I guess that's the forum I choose to be on. I am an Australian sports fan that has embraced the A-League and tried to contribute to growing it, not just a delusional and insecure Australian soccer fan with an inferiority complex to the other sports, that must be my problem.

I mean the anti-sokkah articles in Australian media basically write themselves with the reaction of the fanbase. They really do bring it upon themselves.

 

[marinermick]

Clearly too much to go back on, hence everything that's been said by all the chair people including our very own Richard Peil. We are the first club to fall by the financial wayside, not sure how much more clear that can be.

Not sure how I'm a troll for having a different opinion and a more level headed one than the typical Australian soccer fan, but you know, I guess that's the forum I choose to be on. I am an Australian sports fan that has embraced the A-League and tried to contribute to growing it, not just a delusional and insecure Australian soccer fan with an inferiority complex to the other sports, that must be my problem.

I mean the anti-sokkah articles in Australian media basically write themselves with the reaction of the fanbase. They really do bring it upon themselves.

So you can’t tell me if there would be legal ramifications, can’t tell me if there would be compensation, can’t give me any details of any compensation figure, but you are absolutely certain that this will kill the Mariners and be an absolute financial disaster for the league if it didn’t go ahead.

Riiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhttttttt.

 

[Jimmy]

 

[LFCMariners]

How is wanting the Mariners to exist over allowing Perth Glory to host a Grand Final at HBF Park a lonely hill? You’d rather kill our club for the sake of the other clubs getting to host a Grand Final? Yes it’s a lonely hill for us Mariners fans to go against, but we should be advocating for killing our club to be on the same hill as f**king Melbourne City or Melbourne Victory fans?

There’s a hell of a lot of sheep syndrome going on here. When I first saw it I was like “haha, lol. How stupid, A-League doesn’t have the drawing ability to pull off a neutral GF”. Did not expect it to blow up to European Super League proportions. Yes it’s dumb as f**k, but reversing it cripples our club. So we have no choice but to go through with it or probably kill the Mariners. I’m not sure it’s a big enough deal to kill my club over... I couldn’t follow the A-League anymore if my beloved Mariners ceased to exist. Massive sheep syndrome. Everyone else is outraged so we will be too. Even just comments about me “reading the room wrong”, that in itself lends to sheep syndrome. Everyone else is outraged so I’ve read the room wrong and need to follow the leader?

I absolutely agree the decision was stupid and should never have happened. It’s virtually impossible to overturn now without f**king the league up even worse and killing our own club. Are you a Mariners fan or a greater good fan?

You make a valid point about securing the future of CCM as a club, and if it really is a dichotomy between:

a) Allowing the rightful team to host the GF on their home turf for the next 3 seasons OR

b) CCM surviving

Then I completely understand those with the power at our club deciding in favour of b). At the same time, I'm not going to accuse those who boycott this weekends' match- or the next 3 GF's- of not being a true fan. People are entitled to make their own decision about their attendance/ financial support of the league in the short-term and shouldn't be told they're a sellout/ not a true fan for that decision.

FWIW I won't be at the game this weekend, but the boycott is coincidental.

 

[marinermick]

So you can’t tell me if there would be legal ramifications, can’t tell me if there would be compensation, can’t give me any details of any compensation figure, but you are absolutely certain that this will kill the Mariners and be an absolute financial disaster for the league if it didn’t go ahead.

Riiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhttttttt.

And here’s the absolute kicker - your one source of information for these extreme and grandiose claims is an email sent by Dick trying to justify his decision to vote yes and to placate an angry fan group.

 

[shipwreck]

\

 

[Ads]

If they just would tell us where the money is going, they could avoid this carrying on.

On the other topic, we would have sold Rowles, Birraz and now Kuol for a decent dollar.
If we play our cards right we should have deals lined up in next 2 years for:
Balard, Niz, Farrell, Hall, Triantis, Silvera and maybe more.

These deals should get enough dollars for the cap minimum and we shouldn’t be loosing millions a year if we manage game days correctly with the current production line.
(Fingers crossed)

 

[FFC Mariner]

Cove are boycotting the game

 

[sydmariner]

Cove are boycotting the game

Good.