Author: Grantley Bernard
From: Herald Sun
Date: October 3rd 2008

MELBOURNE Victory's objection to a second A-League team has not wavered but there is a sense of its inevitability and the need to play a little hard ball.

The FFA's granting of preferred bidding status to the Melbourne Heart consortium last week has brought into sharp focus the fact that, after a five-year exclusivity deal, Victory will have a rival on its doorstep for the 2010-11 A-League season.
Certainly, the prospect of the competition's expansion into Melbourne does not mean Victory will warmly embrace the new boys, who plan to be based in the growing south-east of the city while sharing the new stadium under construction in Swan St.
In the true spirit of the American west pioneers, which Melbourne chairman Geoff Lord likes to use as an analogy, Victory is circling the wagons to make sure its property remains its own.

To do that, Victory will increase its workrate in areas such as sponsorship, marketing, promotion and partnerships, lock up key players to long-term deals and push the FFA to make sure the five-year exclusivity deal means hands-off until the end of the 2010 season.

Victory has also asked FFA to prevent the new team from using Melbourne in its name.
"Our view, initially, is that we didn't want to have second team here," Lord said.
"We wanted to represent the whole of Melbourne. We didn't want to be representative of a certain section. But our (overriding) keenness would be to make sure that any new entrant into the game works well.

"Hopefully we will have some recognition as the trailblazers. But in the end, nobody else is going to help us except ourselves. We have to win the battle and make sure we're winning the hearts and minds of Melbourne people."
There is no question that after taking the risk of buying into the new competition, Victory has done much in its first three seasons, winning the A-League championship, leading the way in attendances and membership and turning a profit when many of the clubs would be happy to break even.

But Victory does not want the new kid in the neighbourhood trampling over its rose garden, hence the desire to see the five-year moratorium as Melbourne's exclusive A-League club upheld to the last day of the agreement as well as in spirit.
"We have asked the FFA that if there is to be a second team in Melbourne, that club should not be able to approach players or sponsors in that five-year period, otherwise it makes a mockery of exclusive," Lord said.
"Exclusive is a right to play, but it's also to not have to share fans or sponsors or players.

"We started from scratch and worked exceptionally hard to build a presence. We took a big risk. Five years later another club can be put into Melbourne and ... they are being allowed to come in, in a sense, and benefit from the hard work we've done as a club."

With Gold Coast and Townsville entering the A-League next season, Lord has no issue with new teams in new markets, providing they are viable, sustainable and progress the competition and the game.
But with the new team in Melbourne, Victory is not certain of the sustainability of the current market and, for the sake of both franchises, Lord believes a second team might be about five years too soon.

"As a businessman, I was prepared to start Melbourne," Lord said. "Today, as a businessman, I wouldn't be prepared to start up a second team in Melbourne. But that's only my personal judgment. They'll have love of the game and passion, but whether their business model will work, I'm a bit skeptical.

"I don't think Melbourne is ready or big enough for a second side. I would say they need 10 years. It's going to be hard work (but) we've got our own issue and that's to keep building the club and making sure it represents the whole of Melbourne.
"If there is a second side coming in from Melbourne, then the best thing for us to do is continue to build our progress as much as we can and drive to a new level of support. We'll have to work harder."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/victory-still-against-a-second-team/story-e6frf9if-1111117650761