Head of the A-League Damien De Bohun has told the Daily Football Show that the fans appeals process is set to be publicly released this month.
Late last year, the league was engulfed with widespread protests from active supporters as a result of over-policing of fans, the naming and shaming of banned supporters, a flawed appeals process and a lack of support from the FFA, leading to crisis talks between the governing body and all active fan groups.
De Bohun said the promised appeals process is on track to be implemented by mid-February.
“It’s coming along on schedule as we’ve articulated publicly and privately to all active fan groups,” he said.
“We have a board meeting in mid-February and we’re currently putting, with a number of stakeholders involved, a final positional report.
“We’re currently putting the finishing touches on reaching that mid-February milestone and then being able to announce something publicly.”
Listen to the FULL chat below:
De Bohun also spoke on a range of other pertinent issues in the A-League, namely transfer fees and combating China in our marquee dealings.
In the wake of the David Carney to Sydney FC mess, when asked whether the league needed to re-visit allowing clubs to receive and pay transfer fees De Bohun said it was “definitely on the agenda.”
“The different movements in the transfer market means its something we need to look at,” he said.
“It’s very high on the agenda and something we will look at the end of season review.”
On China and their rising stock as a football powerhouse, De Bohun said the A-League needs to find ways to “compliment and not combat” player movements to China.
“Some of the transfer fees they’re playing would cover our salary caps twice over,” he said.
“We have to find ways to compliment rather than combat, i.e. increasing the guest period to 14 matches allowing players to come in and compliment Chinese and MLS contracts.”
The Head of the A-League also addressed a number of other pressing issues in the game, namely the Newcastle Jets ownership situation, Wellington Phoenix license renewal and an update on the free-to-air TV deal.
On Newcastle Jets:
- “We’re confident that we’ll work towards the target of having the club sold before the start of the next season.”
- “Some of them [interested buyers] are consortiums, some of them are more concentrated, some of them are major companies looking to expand into football.”
- “They need to want to see the game grow.”
On Wellington Phoenix:
- They’re a vibrant part of the league, we want them to be in the league but they still have work to do
- Four-year deal is still on the table and always has been
On FTA TV Deal:
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“We see this as the single most important commercial deal the game faces.”
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Negotiations are underway
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