Slavich poised to refund bid cash

Slavich poised to refund bid cash

Canberra A-League bid leader Ivan Slavich will consider refunding foundation members cash after a meeting with Football Federation Australia officials yesterday failed to give him clear answers on expansion.
The FFA announced that a western Sydney consortium had been awarded the 12th A-League licence in September, ending Canberra's immediate hopes of having a men's team in the national soccer league.

In the same announcement chief executive Ben Buckley also said that Canberra would be the next cab off the rank, but there was just no timeline for when.

At the A-League game at Canberra Stadium between the Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United on October 30, Slavich said he needed a concrete answer from the FFA as to what its expansion plans were or he would give up.

Slavich said yesterday's meeting didn't shed any more light.

Almost 2000 football fans in Canberra paid out $200 each to be foundation members of Slavich's A-League bid, with the cash set to be refunded at the end of 2012 or whenever Slavich determined there would not be an A-League team in Canberra.

Slavich will now wait for a formal letter from the FFA responding to yesterday's meeting.

Depending on what that says, he will meet with Service One Members Banking, which holds the trust, to see if he can release the cash.

He said the discussion around a Canberra team in the A-League reserves, the National Youth League, was positive and it looked like there would be a team from next year.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/slavich-poised-to-refund-bid-cash/1705043.aspx

disappointing if only the FFA opens it's eyes and sees that they will lose a great candidate for a team when all it takes is a few words like 2013 is your year.

Just goes to show that Canberra isn't anywhere near the radar

Thanks for your efforts anyway Ivan. Cheers

Member no. 105