KEY POINTS:
The fate of the New Zealand Knights or whatever name they might play under in the third A-League season will be clearer after a meeting in Auckland on Wednesday.
Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley and operations manager Matt Carroll arrive on Tuesday night for discussions with
New Zealand Soccer and prospective franchisees the next day.
"The signs are encouraging," said Carroll from Sydney yesterday.
"I know of groups from Palmerston North, Auckland and Wellington who have expressed an interest. There could be others as well. We are coming with an open mind. I have already spoken with a couple of groups but the bottom line is ensuring the necessary funding is in place.
"There must be a cornerstone investment of around A$2 million. The backers have to be very aware that they are not going to generate any income from gate-money until August.
"It is no good planning on what money might come in. The funding has to be in place. From the time a player is contracted, he has to be paid," said Carroll.
"All up, you are looking at a capitalised investment of around A$5 million which includes a A$1.2 million grant from the FFA."
Because of the uncertainty over the involvement, the name and base of the New Zealand franchise, the draw for the third Hyundai A-League season had been put on hold, Carroll said.
But the FFA wants to be able to get back to the draw by the end of the month.
Carroll is not averse to the franchise being based outside Auckland but says that would need careful consideration.
"It might be that one or two pre-season games could be played elsewhere," said Carroll.
"The stadium in Wellington, as an example, is a great venue."
But that decision will come only after the FFA is convinced the necessary funding is in place.
Carroll said A-League clubs were "expensive toys".
"Of the eight franchises, only Melbourne Victory are likely to break even or even make a small profit this season. It could be four or five years before clubs start making a profit."
Carroll said he would be taking an interest in tomorrow night's game between the Knights and Perth Glory at North Harbour Stadium.
"One FFA club playing another," he said, referring to the FFA's investment in keeping the two far-flung clubs on the field after their much-publicised financial woes.
It used to be regarded as the longest road trip in domestic football worldwide. But the 5345km journey between Auckland and Perth has been upstaged by Russian clubs St Petersburg and Vladivostok, which travel 6536km to play each other.
Those numbers are of no concern to Knights coach Ricki Herbert before the season finale.
"I'm sure they have players who will want to secure their futures," he said. "They won't want to lose to us."
The game has added significance for New Zealand players in both teams.
Herbert has delayed until next week the naming of the New Zealand A team to play two matches against Tahiti next month.
He watched last night's Oceania under-20 match between New Zealand and the Solomon Islands and will be at today's NZFC clash between Waitakere United and Otago United.
He acknowledges that the uncertainty over the Knights' future makes life a little difficult.
"Who knows, it could be the last game for some or all the players," he said.
Recent results mean Herbert is unlikely to make many changes, although speedy striker Alen Marcina has returned to international duty in Canada.
From the thinning ranks of Knights players, he could start with Mark Paston, Darren Bazeley, Che Bunce, Steven O'Dor, Dean Gordon, Noah Hickey, Richard Johnston, Jonas Salley, Leilei Gao and Neil Emblen with Jonti Richter, Malik Buari or Li Yan making up the starting XI.
Perth are without now-retired legend Bobby Despotovski and suspended All White Adrian Webster but are otherwise at full strength for the only game of the final round which has no bearing on the make-up of the top four for the play-offs.
New Zealand Knights v Perth Glory
North Harbour Stadium, 7pm tomorrow
