SA Footy

Not quite 100% confirmed yet.

Football Federation of Australia (FFA) are pleased to announce their new licence to compete in the Hyundai A-League competition has been awarded to Western Sydney Wanderers FC.

The Wanderers will enter the A-League competition at the beginning of the 2007/08 season and are the first new franchise to gain acceptance into Australia's premier football league since its inception with eight teams in 2005.

"We felt the time was right to appeal to the people of western Sydney, which is in many ways the heartland of football in this city," said FFA Chairman Frank Lowy.

"We are adamant this will not effect Sydney FC in terms of support, rather it will revitalise a neglected area which has produced numerous Socceroos", continued Mr Lowy.

FFA Head of Operations Matt Carroll added, "Western Sydney Wanderers FC will aim to capture the imagination of the western Sydney public and I have no doubt they will become a massive success in the competitive Australian football market."

The Wanderers will announce the make up of the clubs management and staffing structure in the coming days.




New Hyundai A-League franchise West Sydney Wanderers have announced an ownership plan involving one of Australia’s most prominent businessmen, Lachlan Murdoch.

Under the proposed structure, Murdoch will take full ownership of the Wanderers franchise, and has employed former NSL championship winning coach Berti Mariani as inaugural club director and current Toll Holdings boss Paul Little as chief executive officer.

Murdoch has undertaken a number of smaller roles since resigning from his executive role with News Corporation in 2005, but sees the Wanderers as a new and exciting chapter in his life.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, own a sporting organisation,” explained Murdoch. “I can’t think of a better opportunity than the Wanderers and Berti and Paul are ideal candidates to oversee the day to day running of the club.”

Mariani, a west-Sydney resident, is a former championship winning coach with Marconi Stallions and will bring plenty of experience to a role which he says is a great challenge.

“I’m absolutely delighted to undertake this role, but at the same time I know how difficult a job this will be,” explained Mariani. “We have a lot of work to do and we will ensure we strive to achieve the best possible results at all levels.”

Thats exCELLent, that will do wonders for the racial tensions about the place these days... can i actually see myself barracking for sydney...

"COME ON YOU WOLVES!"

McAlmanac wrote:"COME ON YOU WOLVES!"

tis very wolverhampton-ish!!!! at least they came up with a orignal name...wanderers

Not even close to 100% Sam, its a joke started online, you only need to check the spelling before getting excited, Lachlan Murdoch! LMAO! It actually started about 2 or 3 weeks ago when a fan mooted as an idea for a few new tops:



Christ Adelaide fans are so stupid and gullible!
Stop embarassing the real soccer fans in this state Sam. they'll think we'll all as dumb as Centrals supporters if you keep this up!!

i'm not saying i entirely believe it's true either, its just a very strong rumour doing the rounds.

makes sense though, all clubs are allowed new strips next season, so they wouldn't need to have the same design as other clubs, West Sydney has always been a decent football community, also the strip is done in West Tigers colours, which would make sense.

also some of those strips above might not be to far from the truth, clubs will be getting new home shirts next season, the back of Adelaide's ACL on is apparently gold.

Personally I think that a North Queensland and/or Tasmanian team should come in before another NSW team, but this may become more of a reality within the next 3 seasons.

Sam_goUUUdogs wrote:i'm not saying i entirely believe it's true either, its just a very strong rumour doing the rounds.

makes sense though, all clubs are allowed new strips next season, so they wouldn't need to have the same design as other clubs, West Sydney has always been a decent football community, also the strip is done in West Tigers colours, which would make sense.

also some of those strips above might not be to far from the truth, clubs will be getting new home shirts next season, the back of Adelaide's ACL on is apparently gold.

Personally I think that a North Queensland and/or Tasmanian team should come in before another NSW team, but this may become more of a reality within the next 3 seasons.

Oh there's every chance it may happen, Im not saying it wont, Im just saying your quote from FFA is completely bogus.

I agree that a team from NQ would definately be the goer, I don't know about a Tasmanian team, I think they'd do better in Wollongong again.

The next 2 clubs to come in are Wollongong and North Queensland...the FFA have said this

They need to get Sydney FC right before another Sydney team...look at West Sydney Razors in the NBL...an abstract failure