A lot of what he says is dubious, massive over simplifications and fairly anecdotal. I think anyone whoās been around the game long enough has heard similar takes out of left field asserted with a level of certainly from the random wog parent who think they have the answers to all the worlds problems.
There was plenty of opportunity for pushback/counter arguments in there if the hosts were journalists..which they repeatedly state theyāre not, they donāt really strike me as deep thinkers themselves tbh, another one type of bloke anyone whoās been around the game would be familiar with, the player who knows what boots Ronaldo wears but doesnāt know which clubs played in the nsl.
Not to say that it was the right thing to do in the first place, but I do think there is some truth though to the idea that when the cup started and with direct competition between old and new soccer, the a league clubs became peers/rivals as opposed to something completely separate. And it also gave traditional clubs hope that they did have a future, the momentum which has built towards a national second division has only compounded that. There was a sense at the time that traditional clubs were done, finished, never to return so forget about them, and so many did. If they wanted to go to the soccer the a league essentially had a contrived monopoly on the market. Now thereās a sense that traditional clubs do have a future alongside the new. Again, just because a league crowds were higher doesnāt make it right.
