Joel Griffith's thoughts on the squad....

Are here.

Really I don't blame him. No matter what he did, Pim was not interested.

The FFA have ridden EVERYTHING on hosting the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. I think the winner will be announced in December 2010. If we don't get a look in, some of the FFA's decisions and approaches are going to come up. But maybe the financial impact will make that irrelevant.

I think Pim is risking going down as the coach that damaged the game in Australia - just as the momentum was going our way. Contrast that to new Zealand.

New Zealand only have 9 players in the A-League. And yet most of them are going to the World Cup and will play in 2 or 3 games. There is some chance the commentators will look back on the 2010 World Cup and say New Zealand did better than Australia.

At the very least, the A-league - plus at least $1 million of FFA and exceptions to the foreign player rule that mean they have 14 foreigners in their (Wellington's) squad - has grown the game in New Zealand.

Pim should be counted among those that have shrunk the game in Australia. And yet for all his comments about players having to play and not playing in the A-League, the World Cup squad includes a number of players who either don't have a team or can't properly train for medical reasons.

I am on record from way back saying Sasa Og should be there - sadly Craig Moore (as much as I think Brisbane Roar's owners treated him and fans badly) is well past it. I hope it doesn't get embarrassing.

A-League must centralise is marketing strategy and resources...

Otherwise this happens:

'Several FFA board members wanted to pull the plug, while Buckley argued that letting the club go to the wall was a terrible signal in a World Cup year. Only when Lowy unilaterally declared to the media that Fury would continue was the debate ended. With Fraser now running the club fulltime, his first priority is to bring in quality staff. Budgeted sponsorships and revenues dried up last season, leading to Matheson's huge outlay, and high-class marketing and commercial staff are urgently required.' Courier Mail

The overall strategy is too fragmented and incoherent. And the poorer clubs tend to try to go without.

Decision making

News is now filtering out that FFA spend $1 million trying to increase Gold Coast United's crowd in the 2nd half of the season. To nil result.

Imagine if they had spent this money on a marquee guest player for Brisbane? Brisbane has never had a guest player.

Two of the 3 games against Gold Coast delivered near mortal blows to the Roar. 20,000 turned up to watch the opening game of the season only to be shown, what some suspected, that their team was not going to be competitive. It was quite amazing to be part of the 7,000 in orange shirts that got the train down to skilled park to join the 4,000 Gold Coast supporters. But 5 Gold Coast goals in 47 minutes of the back half of the game highlighted the extent to which the club had let its fans down by giving away key players mid season.

A guest player of world standard could well brought the crowd back into the club. And more importantly positioned it for next year. As it is, the sponsors have already announced that the Roar is unlikely to ever have a marquee.

Roar sell Oar, Zullo and Sarota to avoid FFA takeover

For the 2nd or 3rd time the Roar owners have rejected FFA offers to takeover the club.

How? By selling the reason fans go to watch games.

I am looking forward to the club's explanation of their purpose as I think it is now very unclear. It seems to be to stop someone else owning the club.

With Gold Coast folding there is a real opportunity to buy quality players. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be in the business model.

Merger of Roar and United now on cards?

Frank Farina applies for Fury Coaching job

This is the best of the likely outcomes to keep the A-League alive in Queensland in 2010-11.

Keep your ear to the ground to hear the next shoe drop in the Roar saga. I feel there is more news to come. The club seems to be focusing on the player trading business.

Roar sell Oar, Zullo and Sarota

OK so the shareholders get their money back. But what will the fans get next year?

Who could the Roar buy if they wanted to? Most major signings for 2010-11 have already occurred and you can only sign 5 foreigners (one of whom is a Wellington outer squad member - but probably for next year's sell off).

Can't see this doing much to grow the A-League in Queensland.

Meanwhile, union, league and AFL is focusing on bringing the world's most exciting players in their code to the state.

Seems the Roar will be a team that gives youth a taste of football for their shareholding agent to sell in Europe. Excuse me but wasn't this why a Senate Enquiry was held? And why the A-League was formed in the first place? Wasn't it found that NSL clubs were treating players like commodities?