#WelcomeCahill
It’s fair to say there is no pleasing everyone in this world, even when bringing golden boy Tim Cahill to the A-League. Australia’s most recognisable player will be finally playing in our domestic competition after cashing in his chips in China.
We will never know the exact figure the Football Federation of Australia are contributing to bringing Timmy home so we will pluck the first figure that comes to mind of $1,000,000. This was one of the figures speculated in the press so for arguments sake let’s base our thinking around this figure.
$1,000,000 is a considerable amount of money, a little less so in modern football. Whatever the figure is coming from the FFA, they are sure to get this back in spades. The AFL tried and failed with their $1,000,000 efforts to both code switches Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau when starting up the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney respectively, the difference with Cahill that he is actually a footballer and a very good one.
We all know Cahill is past his prime, that is why he’s not playing in Everton or the MLS anymore but the marketing value alone is worth bringing Cahill to Australia. Let’s not forget Cahill is still performing consistently on the international stage and has the 2018 World Cup square in his sights. Cahill’s football career is far from over and we should be very confident he is capable of playing at a high level over the next few seasons.
Some are saying the money could’ve been better used at grassroots level but these opinions are somewhat closed to the marketing and publicity aspect of the Cahill deal. The A-League and Melbourne City need a person of the calibre of Cahill in the league to help not only the much publicised upcoming television deal but to simply put bums on seats around Australia. Already this morning I have seen dozens of people committing to attend their very first A-League game because of the inclusion of Cahill.
Sure Melbourne City is the leagues richest club and don’t need contracts subsidised but I see the involvement of the FFA one of the main reasons Cahill has returned to Australia. Cahill wouldn’t have come to Australia for the final years of his football career solely for Melbourne City alone, someone as big as Cahill wanted involvement and input from the FFA.
I can understand those arguing against the governing body giving money to the richest club in the league but you must be open minded about the deal and the benefits Cahill will provide to the league. The involvement of Cahill will bring new people to our game at stadiums across the country.
Admittedly Melbourne City will become somewhat of a travelling circus with the hype and buzz that is created by Tim coming to town but at the end of the day you must ask yourself how many back pages and extra publicity does Cahill really bring with him during every round of the Hyundai A-League. A successful second team in Melbourne only opens the door for a third entity to enter when the A-League is considering new clubs.
The many benefits reaped by Tim Cahill coming to the A-League will far outweigh any subsidy provided by the FFA and competing A-League clubs have the ball in their court when Tim Cahill and his Melbourne City teammates are visiting over the next few seasons.
#WelcomeCahill
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