Locally, the establishment of a new club association is still on the drawing board, but Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin said: ''If owners can co-operate, and co-ordinate, a lot better than they are now, that's got to be a good thing. It hasn't got beyond the discussion stage, but does anyone object to an owners group? No. It makes sense.''

Two federal government reports over the past eight years have recommended some form of autonomy for the A-League, and on December 7 the owners made it clear in an at-times heated meeting with the FFA that they wanted genuine progress towards power-sharing.

Since then progress has been slow, although FFA chairman Frank Lowy has begun a ''listening'' tour where he will meet with all the key investors of each club. FFA chief executive Ben Buckley has the unenviable task of converting the rhetoric into a structure that would give the owners real input into decision-making - a long-time bugbear for those who are collectively losing around $25 million per year with little say in determining policy.

An FFA spokesman last night confirmed changes were under way, saying: ''The process of developing a better model for consultation between the FFA and the 10 clubs has been a work in progress … we've spoken to all the clubs today in the normal course of business, and they are largely comfortable with the what's envisaged, which is a solution within the current framework of the game and its constitution.''

Meanwhile the depth of support for an association of club owners has yet to be put to the test. Perth Glory owner Tony Sage, for instance, told the Herald last night his preferred option was for the owners to have ''one or two seats'' on the FFA board. ''That way we get the transparency, we get the input, we're all after,'' Sage said.