KEY POINTS:
A-League bosses admitted yesterday they need the New Zealand Knights to ensure the survival of the competition.
Football Federation Australia operations manager Matt Carroll said his association was in no position to play fairy godmother and bail out the ailing franchise and its players, but it was in
their interests to see the Hyundai A-League continue as a minimum eight-team competition.
"We owe it to the league, the other seven clubs and the FFA's partners to ensure we continue," said Carroll.
"There are millions of dollars worth of contracts that would be in jeopardy if we didn't have eight teams."
In Auckland for discussions this morning with New Zealand Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter and the Knights' players, Carroll spoke frankly about the FFA's role in trying to find a solution.
At the forefront of those discussions will be talks with the players who fear for their future.
The issue has come to a head after the club's owners, Octagon Sports, through chairman Anthony Lee and his lawyers, approached the FFA to hand back their licence at the end of the season. Three seasons of the initial five-season licence remain.
Carroll, determined the Knights, and whoever takes control, would not be disadvantaged by such a delay in preparing for the third season, told Octagon they could retain the licence only until last Sunday night. In the end Sunday became last Thursday when the FFA learned just how bad the situation was.
"At the same time we said that if they handed the licence back we would forgive the debt [estimated at around A$800,000 ($905,000)] but he [Lee] did not respond to our offer," said Carroll.
"If he had come back, the licence would have been transferred and forgiven but we were not prepared to wait until the end of January."
That offer has now lapsed and one must presume the FFA will be joining the queue of creditors looking for their money.
Of suggestions the licence could now be handed to a franchise across the Tasman, Carroll said that while there was some interest, none was ready to step in.
"We are aware of interest in North Queensland and Woollongong but they would be regionally based and not have the same support base as you have here in New Zealand. In any case they are not ready and at least a year away."
Carroll also said that under the agreement there could be no additional Sydney or Melbourne franchises in the league's first five years.
"As yet we haven't tried to sit down and go through things with Anthony Lee but at some stage we will serve notice on Octagon Sports for monies owed."
The sorting out of player concerns promises to be just as messy.
In acknowledging the Australian-based Professional Footballers Association (of which most Knights players are members) have the right to fight for their players, Carroll says they will need to tread warily.
"Brendan Schwab [executive chairman of the PFA] is entitled to fight for them but I sure hope it will not end up in court," said Carroll.
"We have, I feel, been very generous in our offer to them. He keeps insisting he wants the players to be paid until the end of their contracts - which obviously we are not going to do - but in fact only five have contracts beyond this season.
"We have also offered to pay their air fares home."
