Bill Foley’s successful bid last year came in slightly mysterious circumstances from a public perspective. Photo / Photosport
Auckland’s new A-League team attracted moderate fanfare last week as it revealed the club colours and confirmed its nickname – the Black Knights.
Behind the scenes, though, the new club and its wealthy American owner Bill Foley might be wondering exactly what they have got into.
A-League news out of Australia is rarely good, and it’s not getting any better with the next season kicking off in October.
Auckland FC’s quietly conducted dash to get up and running and the powerful Foley’s presence are the positive A-League news items for now.
Auckland FC is a breath of fresh air running into a world of turbulence.
The league has all sorts of financial issues and questions. The Newcastle Herald reported this week that a group wanting to buy the Jets – one of the foundation clubs – was frustrated by the league’s alleged shyness in sharing financial and other information.
“Jets face A-League axe if no deal soon,” said yet another negative A-League headline.
Moreover, there is still no uptake of a licence for a team in Canberra, earmarked to join Auckland in an intended expansion that is starting to look like a possible contraction.
Leading A-League officials are making positive noises, saying a consortium linked with a European club has produced a “solid” Canberra bid document.
But with the next season just seven months away, and the two new licences originally scheduled to be announced last June, this is a very bad look.
Any new Canberra team would be woefully underprepared for the 2024-25 season.
The Canberra shenanigans add to an overall impression of a league scrambling for credibility and stability while also undermining the future of the city’s existing women’s team.
Or to put it another way, the A-League needed Auckland and its licence money every bit as much as Auckland needed the A-League, and maybe more.
Even Foley’s successful bid last year came in slightly mysterious circumstances from a public perspective.
A group led by American attorney and entrepreneur Marc Mitchell, who shifted to Auckland a few years ago and has permanent residency, was reported to have the inside running in September.
Mitchell – a minority owner of the basketball Breakers – assembled a group that included Kiwi football names Ryan Nelsen, Winston Reid, Tim Brown and Ali Riley.
Yet, by November, Foley had emerged almost from nowhere to secure the licence.
It was a high-quality bid, considering Foley’s extreme wealth and ownership of English Premier League and American National Hockey League teams.
It was part of a clearly defined multi-club strategy, rather than a whim, in which Foley wants to underpin his attempt to storm European football with EPL middleweights Bournemouth.
It was also the sort of good news the A-League desperately needed.
Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker did not respond when contacted for comment this week about the continuing bad news coming out of Australia.
It’s fair to surmise, though, that Foley and co might be wondering when their investment will be matched by greater signs of A-League competence.
Australian football certainly has strengths.
These include the very popular Matildas, world star Sam Kerr and Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, who is having a significant impact in the EPL.
But the Socceroos lack the star-quality players of the past, such as Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell.
And Australia’s domestic football is troubled, with associated concerns about how it will be shaped through the influence – or withdrawal – of equity firms.
The A-League was unhooked from Football Australia in 2020 after a fight by the big clubs to control the league.
A year later, the Australian Professional Leagues (which controls the men’s, women’s and youth A-Leagues) sold a third stake to California-based investment firm Silver Lake, which also has a share in New Zealand Rugby’s commercial arm.
The A$140m (NZ$152m) Silver Lake paid to APL is now said to be gone, with claims of extravagant or unwise spending by the A-League.
Because of this, the A$25m licences offered to Auckland and Canberra were seen by some as vital efforts by APL to generate cash, as much as to create a bigger league.
There is no confirmation of what Auckland FC ended up paying. In a further hit to the A-League’s credibility and finances, reports suggest it was closer to A$18m than the full price.
A Sydney Morning Herald investigation published late last year also revealed that the A-Leagues could be forced to buy out Silver Lake by 2029, at market value. In turn, Silver Lake had preferential rights over the clubs if the APL was ever liquidated.
Meanwhile, even big clubs are struggling financially – the Melbourne Victory lost $7m in 2021-22 and sold a 20 per cent stake to American investment firm 777 Partners soon after.
Yet, six months ago, Victory managing director Caroline Carnegie told ESPN the club was “not where we want it to be” financially.
“We’re roughly heading in the direction that we want – we’ve still got a lot to do,” she added.
In July, Perth Glory were placed in receivership. A new owner was confirmed only last month, meaning the A-League finances were further drained to keep the club afloat.
In January, a report on the A-League woes in the Telegraph was headlined: “The money is gone, so are the good people” and “Inside the unravelling of the APL”.
The opening paragraph stated: “Poor governance, crazy spending habits, handouts to clubs and a last-ditch broadcast deal are to blame for the Australian Professional Leagues’ downfall that saw the A-League owners brutally axe half of its workforce this week, as questions mount as to what happened to the $140m cash injection received just two years ago.”
The details included a claim that up to $3m was spent on an “anthem” sung by two aspiring artists and $30m on a digital content platform dumped early this year.
This story referred to a report that the APL had cut 40 jobs, or about half its staff, which, as ESPN put it, “heightens what feels like the constantly simmering concerns about the ongoing viability of top-flight football in Australia”.
Gone too is chief executive Danny Townsend, who initially shepherded Foley and Auckland FC towards the league. Townsend quit in October to head the sports division of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. There has been no direct replacement at A-League HQ.
Not all the A-League’s problems are of its making. The Covid pandemic hurt a fragile competition.
But as the SMH reported: “The men’s A-League, which started in 2005, was an initial success but crowds and interest trailed off before the pandemic.”
New Zealand is a barometer of the A-League’s reduced status.
Veteran observers of Wellington Phoenix will fondly remember 2010 when sports fans were transfixed by the club’s dramatic run in the playoffs. However, their impressive ride at the top of the A-League this season has attracted little reaction around the country, to the point that club general manager David Dome publicly complained about it.
No pressure, but Auckland – a city where two A-League franchises failed long ago – is seen as the partial solution, and not just because of the licence fee it paid.
One report stated: “With the A-League expanding from the 2024-25 season onwards, costs will likely continue to rise for the APL unless the new Auckland market can turn viewership around and spark a change in fortunes.”
(Revenue from TV broadcast rights has been reduced because viewership has not met the full payout threshold).
It is a miracle of sorts that two American financiers with a love of New Zealand wanted to set up an A-League team in a world football outpost, in a league that appears in constant crisis mode.
There might be times when Foley wonders to what extent he won.
Chris Rattue has been a journalist since 1980 and is one of the most respected opinion writers in New Zealand sports journalism.
The amateurs were always rank underdogs, but several factors made their task tougher.