When Tim Cahill came out earlier this week saying it’s “highly unlikely” he will play for an A-League club because of a lack of interest, it once again highlighted the divide that seems to be forming between the clubs and the fans.
The opening round of the A-League this season saw the second lowest attendance average (12,916) in the league’s history for opening rounds. Despite a decent overall attendance (64,580), the first round crowds were well down on the last few seasons. Whether this poor effort was a result of no major derby taking place is a whole other issue of itself, but it still stands to show that in this growing market there is a desire to see a marketable player to draw the fans in.
Not a great start to the season attendance wise…
Cr: @ultimatealeague pic.twitter.com/7cdMvnxgJa
— Outside90 (@Outside90) October 11, 2015
The past offseason saw no real big names come to Australia while other leagues that most would call our competitors drew in several big names. The MLS pulled in players such as Andrea Pirlo, Didier Drogba and Giovanni Dos Santos to their league, who join the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard whereas the A-League only managed to pull in players who – while still being great for raising the standard and competitiveness of the league – won’t be players that the everyday fan will go and see. Unless you were a diehard fan to begin with, you more likely than not do not know who Federico Piovaccari is, nor would you go and see him play for the Wanderers because of his ‘drawing power’.
There is obviously always going to be issues in drawing big players, namely the issue of finance. Over in the MLS, players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are on salaries in the range of $6-6.2 million per season, while Andrea Pirlo is on $2 million per season. Compare this to the biggest signing made by an A-League side, Alessandro Del Piero in 2012, where he was reportedly being paid $3.5 million per season during his stint at Sydney FC . The gulf is evident between the MLS and the A-League in terms of money going to players but it is still arguable that the league can afford players of Pirlo’s calibre.
But while the fans may want players like Pirlo and Gerrard to come over, there has been a clear push by the league to stray away from older players and the image of the A-League as something of a ‘retirement league’ and this is evident in the signings made this past season. While players like Piovaccari, Diego Castro and Filip Hološko aren’t exactly the youngest players (31, 33 and 31 respectively) there is still some value in them at those ages, especially when they can play for several seasons and provide experience in the dressing rooms that may be needed by clubs. While players like Gerrard and Pirlo may be great for getting fans in, there is some credit to the argument that there may be a lower quality of play due to their age, rather only being there for their name and drawing power.
However, one must still look at the old adage of risk vs reward for things like marquees. When Del Piero played for Sydney, there was a sense of excitement amongst Australian fans, as a legend of the sport was coming to ply his trade on our grounds. This was reflected in Sydney’s average home attendance spiking to over 18,500 fans per game, a level not seen since the initial season of the A-League where Sydney pulled in 19,648 fans per game. Last season saw a drop of over 500 people to an average of just above 18,000 fans per game and the jury is still out on this season as to whether it will drop further.
Yet the big risk with bringing Del Piero in was his price tag. Based on the current TV deal that is in place with the league, each club is drawing in approximately four million dollars a season, which is just more than the standard price of a Del Piero type player. With a projected $80 million deal coming in 2017, as well as an expansion to 12 teams, this would mean each club would be drawing in just over $6.5 million per season, which would afford them one Gerrard in a perfect world. However, things like the TV deal cannot go solely to the payment of one player’s salary, and naturally this restricts just how much a club can spend on a player, even if they will draw fans in.
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Naturally, this brings us back to Tim Cahill. If the league was to bring him in as a marquee player, they would first need to match his asking price. Reports suggest that his current contract with Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua equates to roughly $6.5 Million dollars per season, a far cry from the $3.5 million afforded to Del Piero. At 35, age is also a major factor. Cahill has arguably been on his way out in a club level sense since leaving Everton back in 2012 but his consistent record at international level shows that he can still provide it when he needs to. With his contract with Shanghai running out this season. though there is a possibility of extension, Cahill would be heading towards 37 and some will argue that he is simply too old to keep up.
However it is clear that the big positive would be the drawing power his name carries in Australia. Ask any random person on the street to name an Australian footballer, there is a good chance the name they say would be Tim Cahill. He is a player who is everywhere in the Australian footballing market, from our copies of FIFA to our boxes of cereal, so naturally getting him into the shirt of an A-League club would be huge for all parties involved. However, it is still arguable that the many risks outweigh the massive positives it would have. Unless Cahill was willing to take a big paycut to join an A-League club then it may be unlikely that this Australian legend will play in Australia.
Marquees, as much as they should not be needed to market the A-League, are still a necessary part of the league and something that we need to continue to carry the league forward. It is clear that the league is starting to float away from the idea of the big name marquees and this is a good thing in terms of making the league more competitive rather than being a mere ‘retirement league’ but it should not happen all at once. The league needs to ensure profitability and by bringing in marketable names such as Tim Cahill and the like, the league will pick up more steam and slowly over time become more competitive as a result. And besides, who wouldn’t want to see players like Tim Cahill taking on your local A-League side?
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