SO the dream is back on. Just as we braced ourselves for a summer of incessant promotion of the so-called Giants of AFL invading the west of Sydney, comes news that soccer is ready once more to fight for the territory.

It's no wonder Football Federation Australia has tried to keep this under wraps, though, because there is no greater sensitivity at soccer HQ than the shambles of the abortive attempt to establish a second Sydney team in 2010.

There were various bids initially, with equally various levels of credibility, but all of them lacking one thing - cash. Until we see the money, said the FFA, no one gets the nod. Except they then ripped up that rule book and handed a provisional licence to a cobbled-together consortium, who likewise had no backing.

A year later, they still didn't and the FFA beat a hasty retreat.

"There was a lot of talk and no action," said Frank Lowy of that episode, rather forgetting that the FFA was universally warned that creating a franchise without money was a cart with no horse. So the plan this time seems to have been to keep it a tight secret until the financial backing is in place.

Nick Tana's involvement takes the concept a long way along that road - he is wealthy, adores the game and has a track record of success at building up Perth Glory.

All of that should be a magnet for other backers, creating a critical mass of funding and kudos that begets more of it. Remo Nogarotto's involvement is also fascinating, as a living, breathing survivor of old soccer who has transitioned into the new era of the A-League.

Nogarotto has the contacts, of both the footballing and political variety. The prize, after all, is potentially lottery-like in its scope. If any area is ripe for colonisation by the A-League, it is a region that is home to more active players than any other in the country. The immigrants who built their communities out west brought soccer with them almost as a currency and it's as embedded there as ever.

Yet it is anything but an amorphous mass - you could argue for hours, and then days, with proponents of various sites for a team seeking the "heart" of west Sydney.

Whether it's Campbelltown, or Bankstown, Penrith or Parramatta, the answer will displease somebody.

But ultimately a team fashioned in an appropriate regional identity should - should - be a winner.

It should attract Socceroos who sprung initially from that very region, when the club goes hunting for a marquee.

And it would be a very interesting statement of faith in the domestic game at the time the league is seeking a far greater injection of TV cash.

This time, How The West Was Won is a football movie that might get made.

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Originally published as Lowy's last laugh