There are three seasons left to run on the $56 million-per-year deal that effectively bankrolls the professional game in Australia and Fox has been dissatisfied with the arrangement for some time. Sources at FFA indicated the next instalment from Fox - which is carved up and forwarded onto clubs every month - is due to arrive next month. Whether it actually lands remains to be seen, and there is trepidation among many in the game about what may happen in the coming weeks. 'If anyone takes advantage of this situation ... well, look yourself in the mirror, that's all I can say.' Paul Lederer Lederer, who also heads up the A-League club owners' representative body, the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association, said there was no room for any predatory behaviour across any aspects of business and life during this grim world crisis. "This is not a time to take advantage of one another," Lederer told the Herald. "That goes for Fox or anyone else. This is a one in 100 year scenario. Therefore we all have to come together - the only way we're going to get out is together.

"This is a time when you have to stand up and be counted, and be smart, and not take advantage of your fellow person or your fellow company or your fellow anything. We've got to be united. And if anyone takes advantage of this situation ... well, look yourself in the mirror, that's all I can say." Peter Campbell, the head of Fox Sports, declined to comment when contacted by the Herald. A-League boss Greg O'Rourke flanks FFA chief executive James Johnson as he prepares to enter Tuesday's press conference. Credit:AAP FFA chief executive James Johnson seemed to choose his words carefully at Tuesday's press conference, saying the A-League had been forced into a halt by increasingly tough state and national border restrictions - not by choice. "The reality is for right now we are unable to continue with the season," Johnson said. "I think that's reflective of other sports in the country. That's where we are right now and there's nothing further we've needed to discuss with Fox at this stage."

Loading A-League chief Greg O'Rourke was similarly guarded on the A-League's relationship with Fox and how it might be complicated by the current circumstances. "The conversation with Fox is not a public one," he said. "Neither any sport, or Fox, want to prejudice their positions." O'Rourke made the frank admission that it is "too early" to know if every club will survive the coronavirus effect, but said private ownership was an advantage for the A-League in the circumstances. "It's a matter of making sure everybody supports each other," he said. "The owners have got to support other owners. Owners have got to support FFA and FFA have got to support owners. I think there's a lot of interdependency thinking now about the future and the need for everyone to work together to ensure we can get this thing back up and going. "The league will survive. It might look different. We don't know exactly what it will look like but we're not suggesting that professional football in Australia won't be around once this COVID-19 has passed."

Loading FFA is set to dramatically pare back their operations, with stand-down periods likely for national teams and technical staff, who have no football on the horizon, while other workers could be subject to redundancy. A-League clubs were on Tuesday figuring out how and where they can do the same. Meanwhile, players have been encouraged to go back to their families, with most clubs issuing them with training programs for them to undertake by themselves so they are physically prepared in the event the A-League can return. But they, too, face a perilously uncertain future with more than half the competition's players set to come out of contract on May 31. "It's an incredibly challenging period for these footballers and W-League players wondering if the league can reactivate next season," said Professional Footballers Australia chief John Didulica.