On this matter, I want to add a few more maybe's to what some folks more recently have been discussing.
Please note that this is all purely speculative, and no more than me trying to understand why the Mariners would even entertain such a silly notion.
The last page or two of comments have been about infrastructure upgrades on the Central Coast, and expansion.
But what if the 'expansion' was to occur elsewhere and the Central Coast became a training facility and academy only, while main football operations and administration moved to
*another* regional area of NSW, like
west of Penrith? The Mariners have only proposed the academy and upgraded training facilities here. Everything else "Mariners" is leased.
To me, I can only see the Mariners wanting to get involved in the promotion of the game in western Sydney, if there was something in it for them.
Also, let's look at the HAL overall. We have 3 NSW teams. 2 teams from Qld have tried to get up but couldn't get in. In time, I suspect that at least one of these Qld syndicates will get qualified to enter HAL.
It is also crazy that there's only one HAL team in the whole of Victoria. In time, there should be another Victorian team too.
The push recently for a western Sydney team would have the other HAL teams yelling "NSW bias" pretty quickly, something that has been a major bugbear for Football in Australia, historically, for years.
And remember, the other franchises will have some sort of say up to HALv5 as to who gets in or not, but more importantly, the FFA would want the existing clubs to be happy with expansion plans, not ready to rebel.
It is now reported that Harry Kewell is wanting to throw some dollars into a western Sydney bid, and become a face for the syndicate. He is reportedly dead keen to have the western Sydney players given good opportunities to learn more.
Instead of having a new club based in western Sydney (and requiring the consent of Sydney FC up to HAL v5), why not relocate the NSW regional team franchise on the outskirts of Penrith -
outside of Sydney metro area geographically - and tap into the western Sydney area from the west (instead of locating in Sydney and heading out).
There is reportedly a massive club in Penrith Panthers ready to get involved, the star value of H. Kewell, possibly support from clubs like Blacktown (who the Mariners already have some sort of association with) and maybe Marconi through Harry's allegiances there, and let's face it -Peter Turnbull himself has had an interest in the area too.
Not to mention the large industrial base out west, the larger junior population of players, the potential to turn 2 million people into football fans etc.
When you look at how the Mariners struggled initially to get the sponsors up here, and how they seem to be tapped into a smaller finite amount of fans and corporate base up here too, you can see that one way to vastly improve their corporate strength is to relocate to
west of Sydney, have an association up here instead - with training facilities and an academy (and Lightning), utilise the business partnership with Panthers by use of Penrith Stadium, have offices out of the Sydney metro area. Would also get the club away from the 'squeeze' they face each time, with Newcastle to the north and Sydney to the south, presently. No need to pressure a State Govt about expanding Bluetongue in the future if demand gets strong, just relocate to Homebush if you are based out west of Sydney.
The FFA would then not have to look at yet another NSW team, which will placate the other HAL teams. Sydney FC will be grinding their teeth, but so long as the
'west of Sydney' regional status is maintained, I'd doubt there'd be little they could do, if a move was approved by the other HAL teams and the FFA.
Don't go ringing the club or having heart attacks over all this, as I said, I'm just trying to reason why a club based on the Central Coast would want to be kind hearted to the folks of western Sydney and move one of their home games to them.
With all my heart, I hope this is all so way off the mark that it is deemed ludicrous. But then again, so did the notion of playing a home game at Homebush up until the last week or so..
