Steve Horvat says embracing the community will play a vital role in ensuring Geelong secures its own A-League side in the latest round of expansion.
The former Socceroo has emerged as the front man for the city’s bid, under the working title Victoria Patriots and is adamant they will not be taking fans from the other Melbourne clubs.
“It’s really that community engagement, I sense that is a really key area that we are going to focus on, especially throughout this process,” Horvat told SEN Afternoons.
“We’ve seen the Western Sydney Wanderers do an amazing job…I’d say they are the most successful start-up sporting franchise in this country’s history.
“They really listened to the people and they got the community onside. I think that’s really key and it’s something that we’re going to really work hard on.
“We’ve spoken to people as far as Mount Gambier and Warrnambool, there’s a great catchment area in Werribee, Point Cook, western Melbourne…they would all form part of our community engagement.
“We’re not looking to take away fans from any club, both (Melbourne) clubs have done a remarkable job. We feel the game is big enough (to handle three teams) and the game is growing at an incredible rate.”
In what will become a challenge for any expansion club bidders, Horvat is of the belief the bid criteria may not be released by Football Federation Australia until April, despite February being announced as the original date.
“Originally the timeline that they (FFA) stated well before Christmas was that February would be the month that they release this criteria,” he said.
“I’m hearing rumblings from inside football circles that there is potential that could be delayed by a couple of months, but no-one is quite sure at the moment.
“But we’re still hoping for a February release, because whoever the successful bidders are it leaves them not much time to actually get a club up and running, in the timeframe.”
Horvat says by coming out and declaring their interest last week, it showed their bid was ready to go, and says the reaction via social media has been overwhelming.
“We’re really excited about what we’re trying to achieve and we’ve got people involved in this process who understand the workings of a football club and an organisation,” he said.
“We’re confident that we can possibly pre-empt what the FFA are going to release in the near future and I think it was time to get the ball rolling and get some social media action happening.
“The response has been nothing short of staggering…it’s really captured the regions imagination.”