Macarthur FC almost certain to become a reality

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]es, yes, our bid for an A-League licence is not over the line yet.

But so many factors point to only one result: Macarthur and outer South West Sydney having their very own professional football team in the national soccer competition.

Listening closely to the utterances of Football Federation Australia [FFA] chief executive officer David Gallop, four key prerequisites emerge:

One is that the FFA’s preference is for expansion to take place in the metropolitan areas of Melbourne and Sydney.

So that’s in our favour.

Second is that the FFA would like expansion to go to places that currently do not have any professional club representation in a major league of any kind.

That’s another box ticked by Macarthur and outer South West Sydney.

Thirdly, with expansion set to start in just 12 months, having a stadium ready to host big games is very, very important.

Again, we tick this box.

And finally, what is always the bottom line, expansion clubs must be financially viable from day one.

It’s not clear whether new clubs will need to start with $10 million or $100 million, so whether Macarthur outer South West Sydney confidently tick that box at this stage is uncertain.

But three out of four ain’t bad, and while it’s not time to pop the bubbly, we can confidently start the conversation about club names and so on.

These are our Top 5 conversation starters for our prospective professional football team:

Number 1: Name should be along traditional lines and mine would be Macarthur FC.

Number 2. As Usain Bolt showed, a big name increases interest, so Tim Cahill would be my choice as first player coach.

Number 3. We should have as many local people involved, so as first club CEO there’s an obvious name, Steve Noyce. A Ruse resident, Noyce has been CEO of three NRL clubs, Wests Tigers, Sharks and Roosters, so he has the runs on the board.

Number 4. If Campbelltown Sports Stadium is redeveloped down the track, the colour scheme of the seating should reflect the club colours.

Number 5. It would be wonderful if our very first starting XI included a local player – awesome.