Western United filed an appeal against the decision on Wednesday evening, prior to the August 21 deadline.<\/p>\n
Sadness after Western United licence removal<\/a><\/p>\n Western United fans have expressed their disappointment and sadness after the team was stripped of its A-League licence late last week.<\/p>\n Storied clubs Preston and South Melbourne said if they were given the chance they would breathe new life into Australia’s top-flight competition.<\/p>\n Both have a rich history and were once a part of the defunct National Soccer League (NSL), the predecessor to the A-League.<\/p>\n “This place has a heart, it has history. How many of the A-League clubs can say they’ve got 78 years of history and three generations of grandfather, father, son or daughter coming to the one game?” Preston Lions president David Cvetkovski said.<\/p>\n “We have a heart, we have a soul.”<\/p>\n Preston Lions president David Cvetkovski boasted about Preston’s “three generations” of passionate fans. (ABC News: Richard Sydenham)<\/p>\n Founded in 1947 by Macedonian immigrants as a place to connect, Preston enjoyed success in the 1980s and 1990s but found itself relegated to lower leagues about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n Cvetkovski, whose dad took him to Preston matches as a kid, said the club rebuilt through its people.<\/p>\n “The one thing we knew with this place is we have the supporters,” he said.<\/p>\n Its members stuck by and within a decade Preston climbed back to the top of the National Premier Leagues (NPL) Victoria.<\/p>\n It’s where Preston has re-established a rivalry with South Melbourne, a club that has long dominated the state competition.<\/p>\n ‘Simply electric’ rivalry attracts 9,000<\/p>\n In round five this year, more than 9,000 screaming fans packed Preston’s stands when the two sides clashed in a fixture dubbed The Big Show, according to the clubs.<\/p>\n “In the closeness of a suburban ground the vibe that night was simply electric,” Cvetkovski said.<\/p>\n “I think we sold through 3,500 kebapi (kebab) rolls that night.<\/p>\n Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n “These community clubs are attracting crowds, they’re attracting people to come out. Why? Because they’ve got a good product and they’re a good club.”<\/p>\n The attendance at that game easily eclipsed three of the five A-League men’s fixtures that weekend and matched the remaining two, according to crowd figures published by austadiums.com.<\/p>\n With an impressive record of producing Socceroos, including Ange Postecoglou \u2014 who has gone out to carve an impressive career as a coach \u2014 South Melbourne has long fought to return to the top of Australian football.<\/p>\n South Melbourne’s Nick Maikousis said “there seems to be a systemic failure” in establishing new A-Leagues clubs. (ABC News: Richard Sydenham)<\/p>\n The club said it has been ready for two decades.<\/p>\n “We’d bring success, we’d bring excellence in football and a real passion for it,” South Melbourne president Nick Maikousis said.<\/p>\n The club has made several attempts to enter the A-League \u2014 in its last bid the club lost out to Western United, which entered the competition in 2018 as part of an expansion.<\/p>\n Established to represent growing communities in Melbourne’s western suburbs, the promise of a new stadium was central to United’s successful bid.<\/p>\n But the 15,000-seat stadium in Tarneit \u2014 a joint project with money from private investors and planning approval from the local council \u2014 is yet to be built.<\/p>\n The proposed Wyndham stadium would seat 15,000 spectators. (Supplied: Wyndham City Council)<\/p>\n A-League clubs must have a ‘pulse’<\/p>\n Cvetkovski said any new A-League club can have a stadium or financial backing, but it must also have a pulse.<\/p>\n “For any club just to come about and create a new identity, brand connection and that link to passion is not easy,” he said.<\/p>\n He added there is no club without its supporters and community, and that money alone will not do it.<\/p>\n Maikousis said Western United’s struggles bring into question the method by which new A-League clubs are picked.<\/p>\n “There seems to be a systemic failure,” Maikousis said.<\/p>\n “There have been plenty of clubs that have failed in the A-League in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n “[Football Australia] need to take a breath and make sure that the next club that goes into the A-League adds value to it.”<\/p>\n New championship offers promotion hope David Cvetkovski (centre) and the Preston Lions will be in the national second-tier competition. (Getty Images: Mark Kolbe)<\/p>\n Another pathway to promotion could open up when a national second-tier competition known as the Australian Championship<\/a> starts in October.<\/p>\n South Melbourne and Preston will feature and hope to show they are serious about making the leap to the A-League.<\/p>\n “It’d be such a magnificent story for the A-League expansion to come from the Australian Championship,” Maikousis said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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