Faltering FFA have lost the dressing room

The public relations disaster surrounding the prospect of Wellington Phoenix getting booted out of the A-League and a third Sydney team taking their place has emphasised the need for the clubs to run their own competition.

David Gallop and Frank Lowy have alienated many stakeholders Source: AAP

There is now too much dissatisfaction with and mistrust of Football Federation Australia's modus operandi for the 10 league clubs to keep expecting strong leadership from the governing body.

It is clear that FFA have lost the dressing room and something has to give if Australian club football is to negotiate the forthcoming years with a degree of confidence, assurance and positivity.

There is huge and widespread discontent at A-League level with the draconian way FFA deal with their clubs, whose owners have invested millions of dollars and would be perfectly entitled to walk away if they find they cannot even safeguard their own investments.

If a well-run club like Phoenix can be treated so shabbily by the FFA, every other club in the league would have every reason to feel nervous about its place at the table.

FFA will claim they always hear what the clubs have to say ... but do they actually listen? Many people do not think so.

The cringeworthy spectacle of FFA chairman Frank Lowy issuing a strong statement berating Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow and coach Graham Arnold for voicing their legitimate concerns about a third Sydney team left a bad taste.

Using the sort of language one would expect to hear at a pub, Lowy did not mince his words and made it very clear who is running the game.

Even if he was right, Lowy did not have to go public with his vitriolic attack on two men who have made a telling contribution to the A-League over the years.

The best coaches will never criticise their players in public. Those who do are usually seen as having lost the plot.

Lowy's startling tirade came a few weeks after chief executive David Gallop forced Australia coach Ange Postecoglou to publicly back down from his well-intentioned position of neutrality regarding FFA's dispute with Professional Footballers Australia over the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

These two unfortunate episodes illustrated once again the FFA's infamous "my way or the highway" approach that has alienated many of the game's stakeholders and broken the bond of goodwill that had existed between the governing body and the clubs.

Which is why the A-League is suffering collateral damage and which is why the 10 league entities should be allowed to determine their own fortunes by setting up an executive body that is independent of FFA, something they have been working at for at least four years.

The clubs should control the A-League same as English teams run the Premier League. FFA should look after everything else, from the Socceroos to the W-League and so on.

We should not hold our collective breath about this happening any time soon, though.

A prominent FFA official once told me that the governing body had little faith in most clubs' ability to properly run their own business, hence Oxford Street's reluctance to give them the reins.

Recent events would suggest that FFA's maestros are not exactly covering themselves in a blaze of glory by the way they are conducting the game.

They are very much out of tune with the game's needs.

A-League crowds are down, television ratings are depressing, there are very few genuine crowd-pulling stars and several clubs are in dire financial straits.

More importantly, the natives across the country are getting restless.

In other words, dark clouds are gathering over the league and this makes you wonder who in fact is squatting over a licence ... the clubs or the FFA.

These are very serious concerns as the A-League enters a second decade.

They certainly are hurdles that need to be overcome if club football is to continue to flourish in a tough and unforgiving sporting market.

But history teaches us that they are not insurmountable barriers and if everybody works together for a common cause the game will be much better for it.

The problem is the clubs do not trust the FFA any more.

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