Next season

[Looney]

It's not starting 'til September or October right? Still let's start discussing. Who's gonna beat Perth in the grand final this year? Who's gonna stay up til the wee hours to watch the highlights? How many dozen goals will Mori score this year? Who should I support this time, Parra, Spirit or some other crappy Sydney team?

[King Italy]

Well there's a new format this year, as some of you might not know. For the playoffs the top six teams will contest a mini end of season league playing each other twice both ome and away with the top two teams of that going into the Grand Final. The team that finishes first in the regular season will start with 6 points in the playoff league and the team that finishes second will start with 3 points.

First day of the season is September 20 I think, provisional fixtures have already been released. I also heard that Channel 7 are thinking of dropping their coverage of the NSL :evil:

Also been quite a bit of action in the transfer market to date and we will see more after the Oceania Nations Cup.

[psh03]

The Wolves will be back again this year! Players like Sekulovski and Wells will lead the young team bak to glory. We still have Young too who while producing less and less each year he's played will bounce back this year. I don't think Reid has gone either. It is impossible to get any good information on squads for next season as most clubs are unsure if they'll be solvent.

That new format should be interesting. More games this year too isn't there? The extra 3000 through the turnstile each game should boost income a bit. I hope Channel Seven renounce their rights and SBS do it properly.

Isn't there some Asian Champions League? Why aren't we pushing to get in that? There might even be some decent cash involved with Korea and Japans sucess at the World Cup.

[Looney]

I think the Aussie Champs has to play in the Oceania club championships. Australia isn't in the Asian confederation so they can't play there, otherwise it'd be cool and lucrative!

I hope Newcastle and Perth continue to pull in big crowds, when I watch matches on TV it often lacks atmosphere except for when Glory and United plays.

[FANTA]

we have a national league ??? SINCE WHEN ???!!!???

go the cosmos ! :cool:

[psh03]

I think Australia could still compete even though they are not strictly a part of asia if it is believed it would boost competition. I think some sort of club tornament for those clubs not in Europe or South America would be excellent for the development of the local club competitions. Remember how the World Club Championship increased interest in the NSL? Perhaps MLS and Mexican clubs could also compete?

The crowd situation is a shame. When the Wolves won the League only 5000 showed up to watch their first game next season and that was the Grand Final Replay against Perth. Hopefully other teams like Northern Spirit can re find those fans who used to show up.

[Looney]

It's all bureacracy and stuff, it's against FIFA regulations to have Oceania clubs in an Asia competition so I doubt we can send a team to play. Our best hope is to have a better Oceania competition, ie the Kiwis have to get a better league!

A Power match is so much different from an Eels match it's disturbing, the crowd is nearly non-existant.