A contentious proposal by the country's biggest soccer club to convert a section of Footscray Park into an $18 million training facility appears doomed after council staff and a specially appointed advisory panel recommended it be rejected.

Following months of bitter argument over the public value of Melbourne Victory’s proposal, the panel chosen by Maribyrnong Council concluded on Friday that the facility was a “private business operation” that would unduly benefit the club more than it would the community.

Protesters against Melbourne Victory's proposal, such as the Save Footscray Park group, appear to have got their wish. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The proposed women’s and youth soccer academy has become the inner west’s most polarising issue in years since Victory announced last October that it had won $10 million of state government funding.

Supporters said the proposal would provide much-needed, state-of-the-art facilities for local grassroots and female teams.