THE architect of a radical A-League expansion project that was blocked by Frank Lowy has detailed the “lucrative” plan that the then Football Federation Australia chairman flatly rejected.

Jon Smith, who was at the epicentre of the Premier League revolution in England as a leading agent and consultant in the early 1990s, revealed in his new book The Deal: Inside the World of a Super Agent, that he had pitched A-League expansion into South East Asia to FFA, then headed by chairman Lowy

Now, in an exclusive interview with foxsports.com.au, Smith has elaborated on how advanced the reconnaissance into the proposal was, and that he had support for the concept beyond the corridors of the FFA for a model he is convinced “worked financially and logistically”.

In fact, Smith says he had nine out of the 10 A-League club owners in his Sydney hotel room and “everybody was interested”.

Over the course of nine months, Smith had a German logistics company help put together a proposal, which was discussed at Asian Football Confederation and FIFA level and there was goodwill towards the idea. More on that later.

It would have been 16-20 teams, administered from Australia, in a model Smith adds that at “16 teams it started becoming very lucrative”.

Tim Cahill is welcomed back by David Gallop. Source: Getty Images

Why South East Asia, when there are so many cities in Australia pitching for inclusion in the A-League already?

“It’s your corporate playground,” he told foxsports.com.au. “There are a lot of disparate leagues sitting there with attempts to get a Pan Asian League going.”

Smith says he understands the need for “consolidation” but when it comes to expansion, he dared FFA to be bold.

“If you’re prepared to think out of the box there’s the opportunity in your neck of the woods, which is appreciated globally. Australian audience would think ‘wow’.”

So after all that background work, what happened to the proposal?

“We went to Frank Lowy and he said no. He was all powerful; my guess is it will be re-visited in some time.”

WHY WAS SMITH LOOKING INTO AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL

He had a previous relationship with Central Coast majority owner and chairman Michael Charlesworth via Richard Creitzman, one of Roman Abramovich’s key aides, who was in the helicopter that flew over London as the Russian decided whether or not to buy Chelsea.

“It (the Mariners) was shipping cash at the time, but he got to love the Mariners,” Smith said.

“He loved the supporters. He wanted someone in football who knew how to run the business, make money out of it, protect the club from the ravages of people who prey on football clubs.”

Having been the agent for England’s cricket team, Smith had been in Australia recently and had taken note of the coverage the A-League received and the inroads it was making on social media.

But two observations – issues now re-surfacing heavily in debate in football discussions around Australia - jumped out.

“My view to David (Gallop) - as an outsider looking in - was (the A-League) was great but lacked two component parts.

“It lacks an excitement at the top and bottom end. Top is if you win it and go into Asia, but the bottom, there’s no relegation.”

Charlesworth issued Smith the challenge: he’ll provide the funds, if you think you can make a breakthrough with the other nations, the clubs and FIFA.

David Gallop enhanced the expansion debate in this press conference. Source: Getty Images

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Smith had worked on a previous election campaign for Sepp Blatter, so knew key players in Zurich, and revealed that the Asian Confederation were “accepting” of the idea, but needed the tick of approval from FIFA.

“The AFC were accepting that under the success of an A-League management - and David Gallop’s regime had garnished a lot of respect around the region - there was a genuine chance if it expanded into South East Asia that instead of swallowing it up, it could become a quasi-partnership.”

Before FIFA’s implosion, Smith took a team to Zurich.

Jon Smith. Source: Supplied

“They were quasi on side, you could see they wanted to be, but it would need to pass the legislative committee.

“But the interesting thing was the Caribbean was taking the same journey, and had turned up a matter of weeks before we did.”

He added: “What they didn’t want was leagues popping up (like this) in Europe, like France moving to Belgium. They were absolutely petrified of that … even though we had a laugh (with them) about Swansea (playing in PL).

“But it just showed that cross border things do happen. There was a quasi-opinion if Caribbean and South East Asia did it, it would help grow the finances and support of the game, and it would attract the star talent down there.”

Tim Cahill has shown the might of a big name. Source: Getty Images

THE THEORY BEHIND THE IDEA

Besides the Philippines, Smith’s research found that audiences outside of Australia were “largely enthusiastic”.

“Without the Philippines, most of them, including Malaysia, that whole basin, had fanatical support for soccer. Them wanting to stuff (beat) an Aussie team every two to three weeks would’ve been a fillip for the audience.”

Smith noted that while the A-League was a “great product” in a “visibly important” football nation, he just couldn’t see the value in expanding to existing regions or regional centres to grow the competition.

“With slow, deliberate well calculated expansion, my guess is TV, social media will grow a new audience.

Jon Smith, far right, Alex Ferguson (left), Gary Pallister (2nd left) and club director Maurice Watkin in 1989. Source: Supplied

“At 16 teams it started becoming very lucrative. If you really want to be ambitious, you start looking at India, but that is burgeoning soccer at the moment, it’s huge. It’s the next one that’s going to break out.”

He said: “We looked at: could we logistically actually make it work. Could you put teams on the road for three weeks - Perth or Wellington, for example and logistically let them train, run up as far as Hong Kong, which is a journey, and come back again, while creating enough income, to feed, clothe, water a team and give it enough competitive edge.

“We came up with a plan, and boy, financially did it work, because these were regions where the television money could be sizable. There were parties, including BeIN, whose eyes were looking at the A-League.”

Given the growth of the MLS in America, the potential stakeholders felt an emerging league could be similarly successful. “A number of the owners of clubs and leagues throughout South East Asia could see a league, with Australian administration, would actually work even though its antitheses from having their own independence. They could still run their own league, but run this alongside.”

Would it work logistically for Perth Glory to travel? Source: Getty Images

THE PULLING POWER

Tim Cahill and Alessandro Del Piero have both shown the appeal of star power, but Smith felt if the A-League “stood still” it will not compete for “A List or B+ List” talent.

“(The league) travels well – it’s tough, physically strong, a good competitive instinct, but players are only travelling north ... the infrastructure Gallop had in place was strong enough to take inbound traffic as well.”

Smith said he noticed the Del Piero hysteria and that in the league “we envisioned we would have had big talent down there”.

Alessandro Del Piero arrives in 2012. Source: Getty Images

A good media deal would have provided the money; the social media chatter would have meant Australian football had a reach to world football to ensure career enhancement, while genuine opposition and rivalries would accelerate the dynamic appeal.

Then, players currently looking at America now, or Holland, France or Turkey, might start looking at Australia at the same time.

“You’d need three to four A List to pull the rest.

“When one goes, others follow, talking about a league everyone wants to know.

“I thought the A-League was ready for it; Frank Lowy didn’t.”

David Villa v Steven Gerrard in MLS. Source: Supplied

THE ULTIMATUM

Ultimately, in early 2015 just after the Asian Cup win, Smith needed to know whether he could push the case on behalf of the A-League or not, with the FFA’s blessings, with the determining FIFA meeting to be held in November. At that point, the “AFC said we are not going to stand in the way”.

“It started getting traction. Then Frank just said no. We tried to re-group with Frank, he said no and he said no.”

IS THE IDEA DEAD?

Smith said nine out of the 10 club owners “thought it was going to enhance the value of my franchise” but ultimately, a brief flirtation with the idea of breaking away was dismissed.

“The franchise document is quite a stringent document and they absolutely couldn’t do it without the FFA,” Smith said.

Frank Lowy. Source: News Corp Australia

As for the thought of going it alone, he added: “But we took a deep breath, because that has issues then back at FIFA.”

With expansion chatter unleashed before this season commenced by Gallop – whom Smith describes as “a great administrator, you’re fortunate to have him” - perhaps we haven’t heard the last of it.

“I’d love to re-visit it,” Smith added. “I’ve got the plan, I only have to blow the dust off it. You’d have to start again, with a different FIFA administration, but we’re quite friendly with Infantino (new FIFA boss Gianni Infantino), and the different personnel at AFC.”

The Deal: Inside the World of a Super Agent, is available in Australia.