Western Sydney Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer talks relocation, APL’s next move, football in Australia

He discusses the Wanderers’ difficult years, the APL’s split from Football Australia, the contentious grand final decision and the A League season ahead.

Robbie Slater: The early success of the Wanderers was indisputable. But then we get to 2017 and then end of the old Parramatta Stadium, the club had a nomadic experience while the new stadium was being built and they were difficult years.

PL: Four years in the wilderness. Very difficult. The fanbase didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. No one liked it. We were playing in all kinds of venues. We had no home or identity and we suffered badly. Football is interesting. When you’re going up the hill everyone’s happy, but when you’re going down they’re jumping off the bandwagon. And you try to stop the trainwreck, but the more you try, the more the train is wrecked.

RS: You also went through a number of managers at that time.

PL: Let’s be honest about it. Without naming names, we bought managers who were world class players and world class this-and-that … but couldn’t adjust to Australia’s scene. We learned that the hard way. Guys come over here and they expect it to be exactly like it is there – and it isn’t. Australia is very different. The more you (tried to) explain it, the more they didn’t understand why it’s different.

RS: You can’t change that past, but you can change the future. And more than in recent years, there is optimism for the club and the competition.

PL: Enormous optimism. I’m a huge believer that we have to produce our own players. Let’s start there.

RS: If I may interrupt, that’s what we used to do. All of our greatest players were born in the NSL.

PL: We talk about it all the time – the Mark Vidukas, the Harry Kewells – and I think we lost our way there. Not as the Western Sydney Wanderers, but as a league. We brought all these players in and it didn’t work out. And the fans … there was no identity. The fans want somebody from your local area, a local player, they can cheer on. I’m a huge believer that we have to produce our own players. We have to have better coaching at academies. We will do everything in our power to get the right coaching for the kids.

RS: Jason Culina, who is the head of coaching now, I believe is one of our greatest ever Socceroos midfielders. Our best ever midfield partnership was him and Vince Grella. Nothing comes close to that and what he did at PSV Eindhoven, no one has done. To have him and Eddie (Bosnar), that kind of influence on younger players cannot be underestimated.

PL: We’ve got Rudes (Mark Rudan) involved as well. There is a vision about what we want to achieve. There is a clearly defined vision. If you can’t achieve that, we haven’t got a future. We need to produce players, local players, to play here.

RS: Mark Rudan has come in, made the finals and had a massive impact straight away. A western Sydney boy.

PL: You know Rudes. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Like all of us, he’ll get better and better. I’m sure about that. I’m talking on his behalf, but I’m sure if you asked him that’s what he would say. He’s looking forward to the season. Football is in his blood. He thinks he has got the squad to have a good season.

RS: Making the finals last year was a big step. Maybe in some ways that gives you more to strive for this season. You’ve had a taste again.

PL: We’re never satisfied with what we’ve achieved. That’s not my nature. Rudes isn’t satisfied, I’m not satisfied. We’re very ambitious people. We’re ambitious for the league, too. I really am. It’s my club and I want my club to succeed – and I do – but at the same time, I couldn’t have been more proud of the Central Coast Mariners and what they did. It was fantastic and credit to them. Other clubs should step up, all of them. The stronger we all are, the better the league is.

RS: Talk about the period in which the APL pulled away from the FA.

PL: That was a massive move. That was the first time in 50 years there was separation.

RS: Was that a good thing? Was it the right thing?

PL: It was. Self-determination is always good. APL? That’s the clubs. Self-determination. The relationship between FA and us is good, very good. James Johnson, fine, we’ve got a good relationship. But they’re the regulators. They regulate the game, they look after the national teams. We’re on our own. It is good. I’m not going to tell you we didn’t go through hurdles. Of course we did. Any massive move like that and a change of direction, change of personnel, will create issues. But is it working? Absolutely.

RS: The decision to award NSW the next three grand finals caused a lot of angst around the country. What do you think of the decision to change that to ‘Unite Round’.

PL: It was a commercial decision, let’s be honest. The APL needed it. We wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t need it. But then we realised there was going to be a backlash and the backlash was quite significant. So we thought about, ‘How do we satisfy everybody?’ There was an alternative, the (NSW government) said OK. Everyone wins.

RS: There is genuine optimism after the Matildas’ and Socceroos’ successful World Cups.

PL: Remarkable. Honestly, remarkable.

RS: Can we get the men’s World Cup?

PL: That’s possible. Honestly, it’s possible. Why not? You’ve got to dream big or you’re never going to achieve anything. I believe in the game.

RS: OK.

PL: Fifty years we have been talking about the potential of football. Fifty years. But we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘We didn’t do it.’ So why and how? You could spend weeks on studying it. I say draw a line under it. This is what we’ve got. Now let’s get there. We have more kids playing football than rugby league, rugby union, cricket and Aussie Rules. Significantly more. As a common sense man, a business man, I say ‘the product is sold, how can we not capture this is (beyond juniors)?’ Let me tell you, it frustrates me. Drives me pretty crazy. This doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a business guy. This doesn’t make sense.

RS: We seem to be having the same discussions today that we had when we first met a long time ago. But we are where we are.

PL: We need strong leadership at all levels of the game. If you said to me, ‘Have we had it?’ Not really. First of all, the clubs should be owned by the right people. I’m a strong believer in that. You have to have the right structure of the APL, which we have hopefully. It’s people. It’s everybody involved in the game, the right people, and if you have intent and vision and you want to get somewhere, you can get there.

RS: If it all stopped today, the training centre you’ve built would be one of your legacies.

PL: I think so and I’ll tell you why. It gives it opportunity. If we give people an opportunity, that’s important for me. Give them a reason. If your academy produces two or three players you’re doing well, but that’s not it. You’re producing people and you look after people, you help people, you make somebody happy. It’s a club. A true club. A community club. We have achieved an enormous amount, but there is an enormous amount to do.

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RS: What has been your highlight?

PL: I worked in western Sydney for the better part of 50 years. I got very passionate about western Sydney. I’ve done well in western Sydney financially … and I thought it was time to put something back. I’m a big believer that if you are earning a dollar, you should put something back. Western Sydney needs a lot of help, I believe, and I’m passionate about the youth, people and football. That’s what it’s about.

The community is massive and we’ve tried to really represent western Sydney. That’s the real aim of this whole exercise. We have put $50-odd million into this club. I think it’s the most amount of money anyone has put into a club, but honestly, the plan is to put in significantly more. We are talking about further expansion and doing different things … and I can show you plans we’ve got that are really remarkable, building a hotel, more commercial precinct, beautiful fields, building all kinds of stuff just to look after the community.