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The A-League has reached a fork in the road and a looming choice will decide whether it proves a success or failure, says Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow.
Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow warns the A-League has reached a critical position and an imminent choice will determine the future success or failure of the competition.
Barlow was speaking at the Sydney FC in Business Lunch attended by FFA chairman Chris Nikou, who remained confident a decision on the new model for the A-League would be made by June 30.
Barlow said he'd been encouraged by the recommendations of the New Leagues Working Group and the role the FFA was playing in the process.
But he warned there was still a long away to go and a lot of work to be done in very little time.
"There is no question that we are right now at a critical point in the history of the A-League, we are at a fork in the road and there is a choice to be made," Barlow said.
"A choice that will determine the future success or failure of this competition.
"The A-League has enormous potential for growth, but that potential will only be realised and unleashed if we introduce the right governance model, the right ownership model, the right proper earning model."
Barlow said the new model had to motivate owners to invest in their clubs through youth academies, centres of excellence and marquee players.
"A model that creates a financially sustainable environment for clubs where, if need be, clubs can actually break even," Barlow said.
"The current model does, I'm afraid, do none of those things.
"In fact the current model in many ways does the opposite and year after year it's holding this competition back."
Nikou stressed the introduction of a new model for the A-League was the FFA's most pressing issue.
"We want to get the right model that incentivises and encourages all the clubs to take it to the next level, but also bring along the whole sport," Nikou said.
Also attending the lunch was former Socceroo Robbie Slater, who argued current Australian players were overpaid and money should be diverted to improve the status of national junior teams in Asian competitions.
"We are not in the top pod in junior competition, we are not seeded, we are not in the next best, we're in the third pod," Slater said.
"We are average in Asia, our national youth teams, our Olympic team.
"That's why we can get caught with a Japan and a South Korea in the same group ... that has to change.
"In a national team sense we are one of the most overpaid countries in the world and we haven't won a game at the last two World Cups."
