With due acknowledgement to The Australian Financial Review and its authors Peter Ker and Michael Bleby:
“The financial future of the group became more clouded in the past week, when wind-up applications were filed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for both the entity that runs the professional soccer team, WMG Football Club, and the related party that is planning the property development, WMG Holdings Co.
The identity of those applying for the wind-up order was not clear on Thursday, but both entities have been issued with notices of default by creditors in the past two months.
According to CreditorWatch, WMG Holdings has had a $50,000 bill outstanding to civil engineering company Lanco Group since September 2022 and Lanco filed a notice of default earlier this month. Commercial cleaning company Gravitas Commercial has been owed $5098 by WMG Football since September and filed a notice of default in February.

Western United entered the A-League in 2019 under a business model that was reliant on a greenfield residential housing development in Tarneit.
WMG Holdings was gifted 62 hectares of former farmland in Tarneit by Wyndham City Council on the basis it would use the site to build a 15,000-seat stadium for the A-League club and subdivide the rest of the property to make 900 homes. The group has taken longer than expected to raise the money needed for the 15,000-seat stadium, and Western United plays home games on the site in a smaller venue that can host 4000 fans.
The property development has also not yet started, but is critical to Western United’s business model, given the football club plays in front of small crowds and has lost money in recent seasons. The entity that runs the soccer team, WMG Football Club, lost $12.4 million in the year to June 2023.
WMG Football Club’s total revenue in that year was $6.9 million; well below its $11.6 million employee benefits expense in the same year.
There is no ownership link between WMG Football Club and WMG Holdings, meaning they are separate entities. However, the two companies have common shareholders, most notably Melbourne businessman Jason Sourasis, who controls about 80 per cent of both companies.
WMG Football Club also stated in its most recent accounts that it owed $44.1 million to “related parties” such as WMG Holdings at June 2023.”

What’s happening at Western United? AFR is reporting:
“Top-ranked A-League club Western United hits financial turbulence
A property development company with close ties to the A-League club has been hit with a winding-up order over unpaid bills.”
https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/australian-soccer-upstart-western-united-hits-financial-turbulence-20250327-p5ln2h
Just as we are looking at some positives, including the depth of the Socceroos….

Yes, I know. Sad isn’t it.

The Roar website is the best sports website in Australia. Don’t let the gambling industry hijack the Roar or our sports. Sport is for everyone, don’t let gambling hijack or sports. Ban gambling advertising!

The Roar website is the best sports website in Australia. Don’t let the gambling industry hijack the Roar or our sports. Sport is for everyone, don’t let gambling hijack or sports. Ban gambling advertising!

The Roar website is the best sports website in Australia. Don’t let the gambling industry hijack the Roar or our sports. Sport is for everyone, don’t let gambling hijack or sports. Ban gambling advertising!

The Roar website is the best sports website in Australia. Don’t let the gambling industry hijack the Roar or our sports. Sport is for everyone, don’t let gambling hijack or sports. Ban gambling advertising!

I wish Roar would disassociate itself from the betting industry. Their adds may put revenue into the Roar’s owner’s pockets, but to be frank they are incredibly annoying to the point where reading the articles on the website is hard work, especially for someone who detests the gambling (theft) industry and its insidious growth into the world of sport and sports enjoyment. I’d happily pay a subscription to be rid of these adds that promote nothing but poor financial outcomes for “punters” and ruin the lives of many.

Come on you Seagulls!

What needs to be more transparent is the annual breakdown of funds paid or allocated to each sport and the basis under which the funds are allocated. Without that, it is not possible to argue anything except from an emotional standpoint. But having said that, emotionally, it feels like soccer gets a bad deal and there is little if any evidence of what FA and the states federations are doing in the way of any coordinated and prioritised effort to ensure soccer gets a fair cut of available funding.

A good starting place would be for government to publish the details of their sports funding so the public can see who gets what. But unfortunately we are talking about politicians here doing the right thing, and well………

PVL shame on you! Trump is busy selling out Ukraine, along with all its other allies around the world, including Australia, to his mate and controller, Putin, you beg for attention for yourself and our game from the big orange surrender monkey. Apologise to Australia!

Golberto, City have moved from LaTrobe University in the north to a facilities at Casey Fields in Cranbourne in the South East. They are looking to develop that region and perhaps a small stadium there around Dandenong. See this link:

City Football Academy Melbourne officially opened at Casey Fields

I tend to think of The Australian Championship (AC) as a stepping stone to the future, rather than a tactic to immediately elevate the game in Australia at a professional level. Moving the dial on support for and growth of professional leagues in Australia has to be seen as at least a 10-20 year strategic plan.

The current A-League clubs have participation contracts that do not expire until 2034, so the new AC has 10 years to consolidate in terms of finances, infrastructure, admin, coaching, talent and on-field performance and to grow supporter bases before promotion and relegation can be thought about. That is the task of the AC foundation and NPL clubs.

The AC clubs have a lot of work to do. By way of example, Melbourne Victory have recently announced an Infrastructure Project plan (https://melbournevictory.com.au/news/melbourne-victory-northern-campus-announced/), and importantly, begun executing that plan with the announcement on Friday of the first of five new academy campuses at Beveridge in Melbourne’s north. This $35m venture is in conjunction with the local council. Victory will soon have additional campuses in Melbourne’s east, south and west and one in the city centre (https://melbournevictory.com.au/news/melbourne-victory-announce-major-infrastructure-strategy/). This type of investment is exactly what Australian soccer needs and sets a benchmark that other A-League clubs should be looking at.

The new AC clubs and existing A-League clubs must strive to match this type of strategic planning and investment over the next 10-20 years if they expect to compete in the future. Otherwise the gap between the NPL, the AC, and less strategic A-League clubs, and the resources of the more strategic A-League clubs like Victory will escalate rapidly.

Personally, I have some doubts that many of the current NPL clubs, including the AC foundation clubs, will have the capacity to compete off-the field and therefore on the field with the the A-League clubs and it will take at least 10 years for some of them to reach that level. Many of the NPL clubs are currently semi-professional clubs with small, often closed community supporter bases without the financial or admin means to immediately compete at an A-League level on an on-going basis.

So lets put aside talk of promotion and relegation at least until 2034 and instead do what we can to support the consolidation and growth of both the Australian Championship and the A-League so that we can maximise in the future the number of clubs capable at performing continuously at A-League level.

A strong plan for continuous improvement and steady growth of finances, administrative skills, supporter bases and player talent is required over the next 10 years. Not a head-long rush into the promotion of clubs that are not ready for it or the relegation of clubs that need more time to improve and consolidate their performance (in all regards).

Strategic planning for the future, like that of Victory, is what will grow soccer in Australia. And we all need to ensure that that is what our A-League and Championship clubs are dedicated to now and in the future.

Simple solution. Make Rugby the game of the regions. Build a regional competition with clubs from small cities such as Newcastle, Wollongong, Orange, Geelong, Albury-Wodonga, Townsville, Bundaberg. Teams that the locals will die for and that can build a real connection to the region. Then add a couple of fabled, well known and well supported clubs from Sydney and Brisbane.

Gridiron team: one guy who can throw a ball, two or three who can catch a ball, the rest are just overweight wrestlers. Got be the most boring game on earth.

The A-League is here and will grow at a rate that it can afford and evolve. Soccer is not the main football code Australia at an elite level, but it is a a junior level, with by far the greatest number of participants. The game will grow with sounder foundations if it builds steadily using the strong participant support as a. base, rather than seeking to “explodes by awakening the sleeping giant” and attracting less rusted on supporters only to loose them again when their attention span wanes.
In saying this, I was very pleased to see Melbourne Victory’s press release yesterday regarding their infrastructure project strategy for four academy campuses across Melbourne. See the attached link https://melbournevictory.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2025/02/MVFC_InfrastructureProject_110225.pdf?lid=luz7w9qil06u
When we have A-League clubs thinking strategically and investing into the future like this, It gives me confidence that these clubs are here to stay and are looking at building a club, league and market that will stand the test of time and growing something special. Perhaps one day in the future Melbourne Victory will take its place as one of Australia’s leading sports clubs, regardless of the the codes.

.

A week or so ago, there was a comment on this site that Victory were in discussions with an EPL club, potentially the owner of Brighton, about taking a stake in the club. Has there been any more news in that regard?

For the sake of football and its fans who pay good money to be entertained, not disappointed or bored or frustrated by late VAR calls for something not clear and obvious, DUMP VAR, please! Sport survived and prospered for 100 years without it!

Seven owns AFL and Nine owns NRL. They‘re not going to support something that might impact their billion dollar investments in those Sports.

I’ve always loved the seagulls at AAMI Park. C’mon the Seagulls!

Grem,
Why do we refer to Sydney as Sydney FC? Surely all clubs have FC after their name. Is Sydney FC‘s correct name then Sydney FC FC? Or should we just call them Sydney?

In further news, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have been awarded exclusive world-wide broadcasting rights of the APL. It is difficult however to reconcile what is actually happening on the field with the pictures and commentary provided from the broadcasters. Referees are now appointed by Trump, and they all seem to be Trump allies who only make on field decisions after consulting the VAR referee, who is…..Trump.

Enjoy the new world, folks.

Elon Musk buys the entire EPL and immediately promotes Donald Trump’s new teams, Greenland United States, Panama USA and Mar-a-Lago Kings. Trump is declared president of the now renamed American Premier League and no non-USA teams are allowed to win the league.

I’m surprised you could read this. Did someone read it to you? NRL is a game for prolific underachievers.

And, when a player is 45 Kilometers offside, is there and chance the linesman might put up his flag so we don’t have to wait for what is obvious to everyone? After the stupid VAR (Very Awful Refereeing), the late calling of offside is the dumbest refereeing practice and is ruining the credibility of referees and the game.