IPSWICH-based Western Pride are poised to join fellow NPL Queensland club Brisbane Strikers in bidding to join the A-League.

While the Strikers have made no secret of their intention to be part of an expanded A-League, the Pride have gone about their business quietly as they wait for Football Federation Australia to unveil the criteria bidders must satisfy.

Those criteria will reportedly be released early next year, and that’s when the Pride will make a final decision on whether to formally apply to join Brisbane Roar in flying Queensland’s flag in the national competition.

“We’d love to be part of the A-League but only if we can sustain it, and until we see the criteria, we won’t know,” Pride general manager Pat Boyle said.

But there’s no doubt the Pride are making plans.

Boyle said influential Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale had helped secure wealthy potential investors.

The Pride are also conducting a feasibility study in determining where their potential home ground should be.

A boutique Springfield stadium and a redeveloped North Ipswich Reserve have been identified as two possibilities.

Boyle said Suncorp Stadium, the home of the Roar and where Strikers chairman Bruce Atterton-Evans says his club would play if successful with its A-League bid, was not being considered by the Pride as a home venue.

He hoped the distinction between Brisbane and the burgeoning Western Corridor area would count in the Pride’s favour if and when FFA decide whether Queensland gets another A-League club.

A similar distinction is what makes the Sydney FC-Western Sydney Wanderers rivalry more compelling than that between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City.

However, the Strikers — the 1997 NSL champions — are confident of presenting a compelling A-League bid to FFA.

Atterton-Evans stressed that the Clem Jones Group would not be funding the bid in any way.

The Strikers have yet-to-be revealed investors­ via former Roar and Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg­ backing their bid.

Atterton-Evans said Suncorp Stadium, not a redeveloped Perry Park, was the only realistic home venue for the Strikers if they joined the A-League.

“We’d have to play there. We wouldn’t have much of a choice,” he said.

FFA chief executive David Gallop’s comments in October that south-east Queensland was FFA’s preferred location for a second Queensland A-League club indicates a bid from Townsville-based Northern Fury would seem forlorn.

Fury chief executive Rabieh Krayem said his club would not include itself among the current expansion hopefuls, with the immediate goals being to enter teams in the W-League and the National Youth League.