New club in Adelaide?

[Old Gregg]

Take this with a BIG pinch of salt... but apparently there are talks afoot between a local group & the FFA for a 2nd A-League club in Adelaide, aiming for a licence in 2017. All I know is that (a) existing NPL club/s are involved and (b) there is also involvement from an EPL club.
Has anyone else heard anything along these lines? (I do like gossip...)

[shinAUFC]

IMO i think a 2nd club will be a good thing for adelaide.

But the sceptic in me wonders if the motives may be more about keeping adelaide united a smaller club now that we seem to be having great success on and off the pitch.

I for one would love a second team to hate though and i think adelaide is ready for a second team IF and only IF they are realistic about prospective crowd figures for this club

[double07]

How on earth could we possibly sustain a second club in Adelaide?

Clearly the only option would be Adelaide City?

[Stuckey]

Unless an EPL club funds the club almost entirely I can't see where the money is going to come from locally. AU barely keep their head above water financially.
I'm all for competition as a Adelaide Derby would be brilliant but IMO the only way this could survive is by cutting some of AU's lunch which could potentially kill AU and is no where near a decent amount of money for another HAL club to live off.
If we had AU rolling around in cash then I'd say sure go ahead but we're miles away from that being true.

IMO it doesn't make a lot of sense and really why would an EPL club focus on cutting a city like Adelaide in half support-wise when other parts of the country are untapped on the national level.
Or why don't they invest into a pre-existing club and save loads on set up costs.
Thats one reason why I'm still a little sceptical about HAL expansion. I'd love it to happen but I think we need to ensure the stakeholders we have a happy and healthy before involving more.

[ChillyPhilly]

At this rate, it would flop. It's all about proper community engagement.

I also feel that a second club would really destroy the value of the 'United' in AUFC.

[Old Gregg]

I dunno.
When Melbourne Heartcity came about it actually seemed to galvanize Victory support.
If the aim of the league is to reach 16 teams or so, a 2nd club in Brisbane / Adelaide / Perth is probably necessary (especially if a NZ side may not be around forever).
But they would definitely need a point of difference with United.

[ganas]

man city group to make a 2nd adelaide team - adelaide city
next step... perth

[blahblah]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone was testing the waters, however any such proposal would probably have to wait in line behind Wollongong, Canberra & SE Queensland as well as potentially behind Auckland, Brisbane (2), Perth (2) and Far North Queensland. Even a 3rd Victorian side may get legs before a 2nd Adelaide based club.

Now a 2nd Adelaide based NYL side, that would be interesting and could form the foundations for a longer term A-League club.

[Agostinho]

Who is going to support them?

As stated above, surely the only option is Adelaide City but even they would have poor support by A-League standards...

[ChillyPhilly]

The secret is community engagement.

WSW was a success because to-be fans and members were delegated decision-making power at forums, allowed to collectively decide the name, colours, stadium and logo. As a result they formed a uniting identity that kept players accountable to their supporters. In turn this resulted in success on the pitch. It is a legitimate reason and one that makes sense for original Sydney FC fans who headed west when they said 'I never felt connected to Sydney FC'.

Heart/City did not have this when they formed. As a consequence, they have relatively low crowds and lack any distinct identity. The same argument could be made for Gold Coast. Opposite of WSW, they have had no real success on the pitch.

Central Coast's crowds and atmosphere have declined massively not because of team form, fixturing or otherwise. Recently their work in the community was discontinued. Surprise, surprise, with no engagement crowds are on the down and so is form.

There is a clear correlation: good quality engagement = an accountable team = good performances = successful culture.

Despite the above, there is no formula to 'effective' community engagement, but not only is it one hundred percent necessary, it is vital.

So to apply this directly to a new Adelaide side, the community will need to be involved in a way that completely gazumps anything AU -and to compare, even WSW - have done. Schools, universities, local clubs, the old NSL crowd and more will all need to be involved.

[Stuckey]

AU do engage their community I would say though they could do a better job of it but due to the seriously limited resources they do what they can IMO.
I really can't see someone in Adelaide coming up with the money required to start a new club up and do it in a better way then AU do. I'd be very sad to see resources blown on a new club when if those were put into AU the club would be in a healthy state.

[Geogeo]

We have 10,000 regular supporters, and 20,000 part timers who jump on the bandwagon. (they come out for the big matches and the AO events.)

Fans will only come by cutting AU's lunch. It would be the end of football in SA.