Who’s the most important person at any A-League club? Is it the coach, assembling the squad and coming up with the tactics to take his side to the top of the table? Is it the marquee player, attracting the crowds and thrilling them with his on pitch ability? No. It’s the owner. It’s the man who puts up the hard cash to keep the club in action. In the least season, in a very small competition, we’ve seen the FFA find new owners for Adelaide United, Newcastle Jets, Wellington Phoenix, and this week the Brisbane Roar.
But questions must be asked about why so many owners walk away leaving the FFA hunting for fresh money? This week we’ve had a classic example of what can go wrong. An example that sounds like something from the bad old days of the NSL, with self-interest, nepotism and shonky deals all coming together to cost one man his job and one owner over two million dollars. Branko Culina, a long time fixture of football in Australia, appears to have used his position of power at the Newcastle Jets to sign his son, Jason, on a three year marquee deal worth $800,000/year even though Jason was injured at the time.
There have been rumours circulating within the football world for several months that Jason was unlikely to play again and this week it’s been confirmed that he’ll be out for a year – and possibly for longer still. One can see no reason that his former club, Gold Coast United, would have allowed him to leave his marquee deal there a year early, unless they also suspected that he wouldn’t play this season. Just how Jason managed to get through a medical at the Jets without any questions being raised is a mystery.
Come to think of it, how Branko, with a less than spectacular A-League coaching record, managed to secure a four year contract is a bit of a mystery. It would appear that someone had blinded new owner Nathan Tinkler (who knows horses and rugby league, but understands little about football) to the realities of our game.
In short, he has been taken for a bit of a ride. As soon as Tinkler realised what was going on he demonstrated his displeasure by sacking Branko and trying to set-aside Jason’s contract. The FFA have washed their hands of the affair, leaving Tinkler to deal with it. Great way to look after an investor. Meanwhile, rumours are circulating here in Melbourne that another owner, Heart’s Peter Sidwell, is now getting a little twitchy. Having lost a major backer last season, and with Victory’s Harry Kewell hogging all the news, Heart are looking at a long hard and expensive season and it appears Sidwell isn’t keen on putting in his share of the likely losses. This story will no doubt grow in the coming weeks, although we hope it’s not serious.
There’s no doubt that it’s a magnificent effort on the part of Ben Buckley and his team to keep finding new investors -but surely the game would be a healthier if these football loving millionaires were adding new clubs instead of rescuing existing ones. The FFA must take responsibility for the continued failure of clubs and raise their game if the league is to become all that it can be.