24/05/2026
I'd like to congratulate Auckland FC on winning the Australian A-League for the first time last night .. but .. something is nagging me.
The club is three years old. It's the plaything of Billionaire Bill Foley who also owns AFC Bournemouth, and he has a minority ownership of FC Lorient in France.
His money has effectively brought in players and coaching staff from outside New Zealand to go from zero to hero inside three years (two actual playing seasons).
Auckland FC have a bigger purse than the Melbourne and Sydney clubs right now. And accordingly they won the league. Quickly.
Is that good? Australians will be asking that question today.
It is offering the Auckland public a chance to support a winning football team, and they do need to keep winning because we all know what happened to that fan base when the now defunct Auckland Kingz started to slide.
It is also offering a significant number of younger New Zealand players the change to play "professionally" in the A-League - I use the air quotes because the kiwi salaries for locals are small.
Auckland FC are also running an OFC Pro League side with seven more imports in the squad and according have reached the final against South Melbourne.
I guess the real test of Auckland FC will be if it manages to grow beyond a franchise with mercenary players brought in to win the A-League and actually nurtures new Kiwis into football.
That's the real test of a football "club" and not just a franchise.
And that is something that I'm not sure Bill Foley and his coterie of professional sports franchise advisors have ever done - and it's a huge task.
So I guess that YES - I can say CONGRATULATIONS AUCKLAND FC you were definitely deserved winners of the A-League ...
.. but I expect more work on the ground, in the community, to actually build up a footballing stronghold. U8's U10's U12's boys, girls, an actual CLUB.
Winning the A-League was the easy part with such deep pockets - the work has really just begun.