Gone West: A challenging season ahead for the A-League
The 21st A-League Men season kicks off this weekend - a season that starts with one team fewer than last season. Our man in New South Wales, Gary Andrews , gives his expert opinion on what lies ahead. Never again was the refrain from the Australian authorities when Gold Coast United had their licence revoked in 2012. Soccer down under had a hard enough time battling for attention against the country’s numerous sporting codes and European leagues, and with the collapse of the old National Soccer League still fresh in the minds of many supporters, the last thing the A-League needed was another collapse. And yet, it’s happened again. And yet, it was very predictable. Give a licence to a club in a nondescript suburb of Melbourne that’s hard to get to and doesn’t have a stadium, and it should come as no surprise that said club becomes financially unviable. The headlines going into the season should have been about the Socceroos qualifying for the World Cup with a squ...