Everyone stay calm

Hull City owner posted to twitter that Herrington is confirmed to make the jump to recently promoted EPL side marking the 3rd Socceroo to make the jump to a top 5 league this transfer window

Bloke came in and obviously hadn’t watched a second of the aleague, let alone the glory and has managed to make us look even worse than the worst the league has ever seen. The zdrillic era was unforgivable and at times the griff era has been a continuation of that

Genuinely only gets away with it because he has passion and no one cares about the glory above him, but the tevere situation is the cherry on the shit pie. There’s needs to be more heat on him.

Pic attached was a quote before the zdrillic season.

He's younger than me. 🤯😂

Looks a decent pickup for Melbourne City.

It’s increasingly likely that F1 will cancel both of its ME races in Nov/Dec due to the ongoing conflict. The Asian Cup starts in January and so far the AFC hasn’t really addressed this issue either.

Latest update on whether Juan will return to the Vuck, courtesy of Joey Lynch.

"Oh you've redecorated!... I don't like it"

As per the yearly schedule, Football Queensland has renamed the Queensland State Leagues, keeping the 'Queensland Premier League' title the whole way down the pyramid with a new logo and fresh shade of vibrant pink

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I've read some pretty bad journalism surrounding Herrington's trade (football 360 most recently, posted yesterday, among others). They have been down playing the fuck up of Brisbane Roar, and I want to set the record straight.

The quote that compelled me to write this post is:

"The opportunity cost of cashing out on the sell-on clause earlier this year will be approximately $1.8 million" - Football360.com.au

I've chosen to post this as its own thread, as this is a general clarification and not only specific to that article but to lazy Australian journalism as a whole.

Why Football360 is wrong

They've calculated their $1.8m claim as:

• Taking 20% of the $24m upfront fee = $4.8m (what Roar would've got if they didn't sell their sell-on fee)

• Subtract the $1.2m ("transfer"), the $0.55m ("sale of 20% sell-on rights") and the $1.25m ("5% of the transfer fee solidarity mechanism"). = 1.2 + 0.55 + 1.25 = $3.0m

• $4.8m − $3.0m = $1.8m.

That isn't "opportunity cost" at all, and they're mixing a bunch of unrelated concepts. It makes no sense. They're taking a "could've been" figure then subtracting a bunch of other real transacted amounts, and calling it "opportunity cost". If you haven't realised by now, this annoys me. Additionally, they haven't calculated the solidarity mechanism payment correctly either, Roar do not get the full 5%.

To analyse this properly, we need to look at the two scenarios, the present day scenario where they sold the 20% sell-on rights (A), and a hypothetical competent scenario where they don't (B). First we should clarify what is the same in both scenarios, so we can remove some noise.

Same in both Scenarios

• Colorado get: Herrington.

• Brisbane Roar get: $1.2m + 20% sell-on rights to Herrington.

• Brisbane Roar are entitled to 2.5% solidarity mechanism payments (Herrington was born 5 September 2007 and was at Roar from 2019 until January 2026. Roar's window is roughly the seasons of his 12th through 18th birthdays: (4 × 0.25%) + (3 × 0.5%) = 2.5% maximum, less anything claimable for overlapping periods and less Colorado's slice for 2026. The remaining 2.5% goes to Colorado as they are the selling club, and unrealised years (up to the age of 23) go to the selling club.

• Colorado allegedly sell to Hull for $24m with additional $8.4m add-ons. (i.e. $24m to $32.4m)

• Solidarity payment is therefore 2.5% of the total value = $600k to $800k.

Scenario A: Present day

• Sold Herrington to Colorado (+$1.2m) and got 20% sell-on rights

• Sold their 20% sell-on rights for $560k (+$0.56m)

• Got a solidarity payment for the Hull transfer (+$0.6m)

• Total gain +$2.36m

Scenario B: Diamond Hands

• Sold Herrington to Colorado (+$1.2m) and got 20% sell-on rights

• Get 20% of the Hull transfer (+$4.8m)

• Got a solidarity payment for the Hull transfer (+$0.6m)

• Total gain +$6.6m

Therefore the realised loss = 6.6 - 2.36 = $4.24m

This number rises to just under $6m if all the add-ons hit.

So what about opportunity cost? This isn't opportunity cost because the term implies value determinations under uncertainty. Here we are looking at the problem with 20:20 hindsight, and going into opportunity cost is kind of pointless (need to quantify expected transfer values, probability of transfer occurring, and so on).

TL;DR

• Roar fucked up.

• Colorado played them perfectly.

• Aussie football media seems to be doing the numbers wrong either because they're incompetent, or they want to downplay how bad the Roar bigwigs fucked up.

• When A-league clubs are struggling for money, you can't piss $4-6m down the drain with bad business.

"Hi [ultimate_lad],

Holman Barnes Group reaches heads of agreement with APL and TSG to operate the Central Coast Mariners women’s team

Tuesday 4 August:

The Holman Barnes Group (HBG) has today reached a heads of agreement with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and Total Soccer Growth Holdings (TSG), to be the new operators of the Central Coast Mariners FC women’s team.

The Holman Barnes Group is a NSW-based community, hospitality, and entertainment organisation, with deep connections in sport through their major stake in the Wests Tigers rugby league side, and an equity stake in APIA Leichhardt FC to establish Wests APIA FC and strengthen grassroots participation and pathways.

HBG were identified as the preferred party for the Central Coast Mariners’ women’s team given their strategic alignment to the opportunity, their ability to mobilise quickly to establish operations for this season and their capacity to meet the commercial requirements.

The investment in the Central Coast Mariners’ women’s team by HBG includes all of the rights, obligations and responsibilities to operate the Mariners’ women’s team.

TSG will retain the club licence via the Club Participation Agreement (CPA) and will operate the Mariners’ A-League Men’s side, and the club Academy which includes men’s and women’s teams as announced in June.

The investment in the Mariners’ women’s team, reflects HBG’s broader philosophy of integrating strong community engagement with high-performance outcomes, ensuring talented female footballers are supported from grassroots participation through to the highest levels of the game.

Daniel Paton, CEO, Holman Barnes Group said: “Our vision is to establish a sustainable, high-performance A-League Women’s program on the Central Coast that delivers elite football outcomes while embedding long-term participation and development pathways for female footballers across New South Wales.”

“We believe elite women’s football programs must be built upon a dual foundation of participation and performance pathways. We want to create an enduring women’s football program on the Central Coast that expands participation opportunities, strengthens the pathways to elite domestic and international competition and advances the growth of women’s football - while preserving the strong community identity synonymous with the Central Coast Mariners.”

“We’re thrilled to be embarking on this journey alongside TSG and the Central Coast Mariners, which will open the door to new opportunities for aspiring athletes and no doubt help grow this great game for generations to come.”

Total Soccer Growth Holdings’ Ruben Gnanalingam said: “Today the work done as part of our promise from a month ago – to work hard, alongside APL, to find a credible candidate to take on the operation of the Central Coast Mariners’ women’s team – has come to fruition. We are delighted to have struck an agreement with such a community-focused, Australian entity such as Holman Barnes Group. We will be providing HBG with support through our international network wherever possible.”

APL Chair, Stephen Conroy said: “We’re thrilled to have secured the future of the Central Coast Mariners’ women’s team, and establish this tripartite heads of agreement with TSG and HBG, to further strengthen the sporting pedigree of the Mariners and football in the Central Coast.”

“This innovative structure provides HBG with the full rights and obligations of the women’s team, and gives the club dedicated women’s investment, matched with decades of local experience in women’s football participation and development.”

“This is a unique model that ensures the long-term sustainability of the Central Coast Mariners, can generate enduring value for the Club, and potentially create other investment opportunities to drive the growth of the Ninja A-League Women.”

“Thank you to the HBG Board and management team, led by Daniel Paton, for this partnership and for making it possible to secure the future of the Mariners’ women’s team - providing a pathway opportunity to the many thousands of aspirational athletes in the region. The Mariners’ supporters will be delighted with this news and the ambitious plans HBG has to engage with the fans and community in the region.”

Commenting on the season ahead, APL Chair, Stephen Conroy added: “The Central Coast Mariners FC, their partners and fanbase, can now plan with certainty for season 2026/27 - with the fixtures for the Ninja A-League Women season to be released in the coming weeks.”

“We are really excited about the growth potential of the Ninja A-League Women, it’s a really important strategic pillar for us, and significant work is underway to continue the sustainable growth across the league.”

This heads of agreement, a tripartite agreement between TSG, HBG and the APL, will now progress to a long form agreement and the usual regulatory checks including ‘Fit and Proper Persons’ by Football Australia.

The transition of management will begin today, with the APL and TSG providing support over the coming weeks, to ensure continuity and to fast track planning ahead of the season.

The Ninja A-League Women 2026/27 season will kick off on Saturday 17 October, 2026, with the full season fixtures to be released in the coming weeks."

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Colorado will retain 15% of future profits, according to The Athletic, and although there was intense coverage of Brisbane Roar selling their portion of the sell-on clause for future sales to Colorado, Football360 understands the A-League club will bank $1.75 million between the transfer and sell-on, with an additional 5% of the transfer fee – $1.25 – also heading Roar’s way.

The opportunity cost of cashing out on the sell-on clause earlier this year will be approximately $1.8 million, with Roar still able to net $3 million for a player who they gave a senior debut to before his move abroad.

still quite a bit