Olympiacos were in town and ready to play Victory tonight at Etihad Stadium. This provided me with a conflict of interest. Do I cheer for the red and whites from Greece, or the blue from Melbourne? Greece or Australia. It’s a tough decision to make, but I don’t believe anyone can ever be truly neutral. Not in football. However, over in Sydney, there are major conflicts of interest in play.
After aborted efforts to bring in outside investors the FFA is funding its own club in the A-league, a long overdue compromise to their ownership policy. This week it was announced that Lyall Gorman, the current boss of the A-league, and founder of the Central Coast Mariners will be in charge at the new club. Here comes the conflict of interest…
In July 2011, Tom Smithies, writing in the Daily Telegraph, revealed that Gorman owns 33 per cent of Central Coast Mariners Developments Ltd. That company owns 65 per cent of the Mariners. My maths isn’t great, but I figure that means Gorman owns 21.6 per cent of the Mariners. Based on the Newcastle Jets fracas with Nathan Tinkler, the FFA values established clubs at around $5 million. So by my reckoning Gorman owns $1.66 million worth of the Mariners. Central Coast Mariners Developments Ltd also owns the 22 acre training complex that the Mariners have constructed as a centre of excellence, valued at $7.5 million. So that’s another $2.5 million that Gorman has tied up in the club.
The FFA don’t want to talk about it. Ask them a question and they say they aren’t aware of the details of Mr Gorman’s investments. Strange, because back in 2011 when they put Gorman in charge of the A-League, it was stated that Gorman had fully disclosed his interest in the Mariners to the FFA.
When Gorman was asked on The World Game a few weeks ago if he was still an owner at the Mariners he admitted “my family trust is through my wife”, but saw no conflict because problems have been avoided by keeping him out of any decisions effecting the Mariners. This poses the question “what decisions can the head of the league make which don’t affect one of its members?”
Well, the FFA has removed this problem by moving Gorman from controlling the league, to controlling a single club. One wonders how he’ll handle a direct conflict.