There could be "a lot of conversation in the directors’ box at Pirtek Stadium on Friday night," when the top brass of A-League side Western Sydney Wanderers host their counterparts from Melbourne City, according to Tom Smithies of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. At the ownership level there is "a lot in common." Western Sydney has "already turned the first sods" on a center of excellence and HQ that will ultimately cost some A$30M ($21M), according to club Chair Paul Lederer. Melbourne City has already been in its stadium for a year, "thanks partly to the huge database of intellectual property and research that went into designing the jaw-dropping campus next to Etihad Stadium." Both City and the Wanderers "talk similar language, about community, about engagement and about building infrastructure informed by the best in the world." The City Football Academy at La Trobe University in Melbourne "is light years ahead." The design is "suffused with ideas from its Mancunian big brother." City Group Head of Infrastructure Jon Stemp said, "It's unquestionable that all of the learning that we undertook in Manchester is present in Melbourne. There are key principles, such as the fact that the athlete is the most important asset you have in the organization. Everything has to be designed towards being fit for purposes for the athletes." The design aims to "integrate every part of the training process," where athletes move from the A$2M ($1.4M) hybrid-grass pitch to the boot room to the dressing room, then into the gym, massage rooms, showers, medical and recovery facilities. Stemp said, "It's not opulent, it's functionally excellent and there's a real difference. There's been no money wasted in Manchester, nor in Melbourne." But there are "broader concepts at play beyond how the footballers interact." Stemp: "We learnt in Manchester how important it was to bring the different parts of the family together so they can cross-pollinate. All of the admin staff are based here, and all employees mix and eat together in the food area, so that every department feels part of the whole" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 1/27).
