“Don’t sign a new contract with Everton because Fergie is after you” – Jack Rodwell’s date with destiny

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In May 1964, Everton FC arrived in Australia as reigning English champions but it took forty six years for the club to return Downunder in 2010.

On that tour, a young England starlet, Jack Rodwell’s life changed forever when he met his life partner at a charity dinner in Sydney, attended by the Everton squad, including Tim Cahill.

It was no coincidence that the father of his wife, Alana, Rene Licata, was the former Marconi and Australian youth striker who delivered that famous cross for Frank Farina to level the scores at 1-1 in the opening match of the World Youth Championships in Mexico City, 1983 in front of 110,000 spectators at the Aztec Stadium against the home team Mexico.

Licata had worked in conjunction with Cahill to organise the charity event and if Alana hadn’t attended on the night, Jack Rodwell would never have called Australia his second home.

Notably, before he signed an extension to his Everton contract in 2010, Rodwell heard the whisper that Alex Ferguson was keen to sign him for Manchester United but rather than take the risk of missing out altogether, he signed on the dotted line at Goodison Park.

Rodwell was regarded as ”the Next Big Thing” early in his career but a spate of injuries and indifferent treatment by football managers have hampered his progress. When the opportunity presented itself to come to Australia in November 2021 to play for the Western Sydney Wanderers, Rodwell grabbed it with open arms.

At the moment, Rodwell is a free agent but is considering his options as he waits for the Wanderers to offer him a new contract for the 2022/23 A-League campaign.

In this interview with Roger Sleeman, Jack Rodwell talks about his life in English football, the highs and lows of his professional career and impressions of the A-League.

ROGER SLEEMAN

You were signed by Everton at a young age, but was Liverpool ever interested in you?

JACK RODWELL

Strangely, my Dad was a Liverpool fan but I was signed by Everton as a seven year old.

Prior to this, my brother and I received free tickets from Everton and we went with my Dad to their home games.

I had gone to Liverpool when I was nearly seven years old but they said you’re a bit young so come back next season.

Ironically, Everton saw me play two weeks later and told me go to the Belfield training ground one night per week and I was asked to stay.

R. S.

In May 1964, Everton arrived in Australia as the reigning England champions.

Are you familiar with former stars from that squad like Jimmy Gabriel, Ray Wilson, Roy Vernon, Alex Scott, Alex Young, Gordon West, Derek Temple and Brian Labone who were part of that touring squad.

J.R.

I’m only familiar with Brian Labone, the great Everton and England central defender, who was a household name at the club.

R.S.

What are your memories of Everton’s tour of Australia in July, 2010?

J.R.

We landed in Sydney, went for a jog on Bondi Beach and put our feet in the water which was like an ice pack .

A few days later, we played Brisbane Roar, followed by Melbourne Heart and Sydney FC.

I was fortunate to play in all three games and scored in two of them which was a great boost for me to get into the first team.

In the previous season, I wasn’t playing regularly in the first team so this tour was an important preseason for me.

Jack Rodwell – Image supplied

R.S.

There were some pretty impressive players in that squad.

Your comments on some of them.

J.R.

Louis Saha, the French striker was one of the best I’ve ever played with and he was crazy, fast and had two good feet.

Phil Jagielka, former England defender, was not big but strong and fast. He came to the club as a central midfielder but often older players are relegated to the backline.

Distin was massive, like a beast to opponents and was so strong in his gym workouts.

Phil Neville was an inspiring captain who looked after the younger players which I was always thankful for.

Ken Hibbert was a local product who was one of the best fullbacks going forward and a great tackler.

Tim Cahill was a great man to have in the dressing room as he always gave 100% and was the first man on the team sheet.

Manager, David Moyes was brilliant for me and after I came into the squad as a centre back, he converted me to a holding midfield role because he preferred old heads in the centre of defence.

R.S.

Do you regret not waiting for the call from Sir Alex Ferguson before you signed that contract extension with Everton in 2010?

J.R.

Somebody had said ,” Don’t sign a new contract with Everton because Fergie is after you”.

However, my parents advised me not to risk it as they thought he could always sign me from Everton.

Also, I wouldn’t have met my wife if I hadn’t toured with Everton in 2010.

R.S.

What was the background to you signing for Manchester City in 2012 and tell us about your experiences.

J.R.

I was in a preseason camp in 2012 with Everton and the club was contacted by City who wanted to sign me.

Roberto Mancini was the manager of City at the time.

It’s a great club but I sustained a series of hamstring injuries which prevented me from playing many matches .

However, I played in the 2013 FA Cup Final when we were beaten by Wigan.

Before the Cup Final, I had a meeting with Mancini and David Platt to discuss my future at the club after I had scored two goals in the last game of the League season.

Unfortunately, Mancini was sacked at the end of that season and Brian Kidd was appointed as caretaker manager before Manuel Pellegrini took over into the start of the new season.

I didn’t receive any favours from Pellegrini as he brought some South American players in and he also excluded Joe Hart, Jamie Milner, Mika Richards and Scott Sinclair.

I was forced to leave the club , even though we won the League and I received a winner’s medal.

R.S.

Your next club was Sunderland.

Can you relate your experience there?

J.R.

I was still only twenty three at the time and Gus Poyet was the manager who just wanted me to play games.

In the first two years, we were in the EPL .However, we were relegated to the Championship the next season and as the highest paid player, they did everything to get me off the wage bill.

I wanted to play in the EFL, not the Championship, but instead of showcasing me in the shop window by playing me, they attempted to move me out of the dressing room to find a club.

I wanted to play but they wouldn’t even allow me to train so I had another season on the same salary.

Manager, Chris Coleman was asked,” You’re losing games ,so where’s Jack”?

He then put me in the reserve team and we were relegated to League 1 in my fourth season.

I finally left the club in June, 2018 when my contract was terminated.

Jack Rodwell
Jack Rodwell in form for Western Sydney Wanderers

R.S.

What led to your decision to come to play in the A- League with the Wanderers in November 2021, and what did you expect of it?

J.R.

I hadn’t played for nine months before coming to Australia so I was very keen to give it a try after Carl Robinson approached me.

I wasn’t too familiar with the A-League, apart from what my father-in-law had told me.

I just wanted to play regularly again.

R.S.

What was your relationship with Carl Robinson like, and was he treated unfairly by the club?

J.R.

I knew about his playing record with Wolves so he had a good pedigree but when you start losing, the fans start to whinge and blame the manager.

It’s not that we didn’t have a good squad according to the local experts but as results became worse, the club decided to relieve Robinson from his position.

R.S.

What were your thoughts on the strength of the Wanderers squad last season and should you have done better?

J.R.

In Dimi Petratos, Steve Ugarkovic, Tomer Hemed, Adame Traore, Keanu Baccus, Bernie Ibini, Terry Antonis and Rhys Williams we had seasoned campaigners.

Williams injury early in the season was a great loss to the team but we still had enough depth in the squad to perform more consistently.

In several matches we were dominating in the first half but took our foot off the pedal in the second to let opponents back into the game.

R.S.

Do you feel Mark Rudan needs more time to achieve his plans for the club and were you happy with his coaching philosophy and management?

J.R.

He definitely needs more time after taking over the role well into the season.

Also, a lot of players are out of contract and he will want to build his own squad for next season like he did at Wellington and Western United.

He has a good grasp of the game from his extensive playing and coaching experience so hopefully next season will be fruitful for him.

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The Participation Boom Councils Didn’t Plan For Is Hitting Football Hard

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Football in Australia isn’t being held back by passion, participation, or community support. It’s being held back by local government failure. From a CEO perspective, the warning signs are no longer subtle — they’re screaming. Confidence towards councils is collapsing, clubs are done believing the rhetoric, and the people carrying the game every weekend are telling us the same thing: councils don’t understand football, don’t consult properly, and don’t plan for growth. This isn’t opinion anymore. It’s measurable. And it should embarrass every policymaker in the country.

Football in Australia isn’t struggling because of a lack of passion. It isn’t struggling because communities don’t care. And it certainly isn’t struggling because participation is declining.

Football is struggling because, at the local government level, confidence is collapsing. What is more, the people closest to the game can feel it.

Soccerscene’s latest survey on council readiness and football planning shows something deeply confronting: trust in councils is at its lowest point, and clubs no longer believe the rhetoric. Councils frequently speak about “supporting the world game” and “investing in community sport,” but the data tells a different story.

The people building the game every weekend, people such as presidents, coaches, volunteers and administrators, are telling us councils do not understand football demand, do not consult effectively, and do not plan for long-term growth. And that’s not an emotional opinion. It’s now measurable.

In our survey, over 61% of respondents said their council has limited or no understanding of football participation demand. Consultation outcomes were even worse: 74% said council consultation is inconsistent or ineffective. And when asked if facilities are being planned with long-term growth in mind, the answer should stop every policymaker in their tracks: more than 71% said planning is short-term or non-existent.

Results graphic from Soccerscene’s January industry survey:

This is not a small problem. This is a national warning sign.

Football is not a niche sport. It’s the world’s sport

Councils across Australia are making decisions as if football is still an emerging code, competing for scraps. That thinking is decades out of date.

Football is not only Australia’s largest participation sport in many communities – it is also part of the global economy of sport, the largest sport market on earth, and a cultural engine that connects Australia to Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

When councils underinvest in football infrastructure, they’re not just failing local clubs. They’re failing an entire economic pipeline: participation growth, player development, coaching pathways, community engagement, multicultural integration, women’s sport, health outcomes, events, tourism, and commercial opportunity.

And yet, football is still treated as the code that should “make do”.

The Glenferrie Oval case: a perfect example of the imbalance.

Take the redevelopment of Glenferrie Oval and the historic Michael Tuck Stand in Hawthorn.

This is a major project with a total estimated investment of approximately $30 million, with the City of Boroondara allocating $29.47 million over four years to transform the site into a premier hub for women’s and junior AFL.

Let’s be clear: there is nothing wrong with investing in women’s sport. In fact, it’s essential.

But this investment is also a symbol of something football people have been saying quietly for years: councils understand AFL. Councils prioritise AFL. Councils know how to justify AFL.

They don’t do the same for football, despite its participation scale, multicultural reach, and global relevance.

Across the country, football clubs are being told there is “no funding,” that “planning takes time,” or that facilities “can’t be upgraded yet.” Meanwhile, we see multi-million-dollar grandstands, boutique ovals, and legacy infrastructure funded and delivered for other codes.

Football isn’t asking for special treatment.

Football is asking for fair treatment based on reality.

Councils are stuck in a domestic mindset – while football is global.

Here is the core issue: local councils are making decisions through a domestic sporting lens, while football operates in a global one.

Football isn’t just a Saturday sport. It’s a worldwide industry with elite pathways, commercial frameworks, international investment, and an ecosystem that Australia must compete within.

If councils don’t understand this, they will keep making decisions that shrink our competitiveness.

And this is where the stakes become real.

Australia is not only competing against itself. We are competing against countries like Japan and South Korea, who treat football as a national asset. They don’t leave football infrastructure to fragmented local decision-making without a clear national framework. They invest strategically, align education with delivery, and build systems that create long-term advantage.

We cannot keep pretending we are in the same conversation globally while our local facilities remain stuck in the past.

Clubs are carrying the burden – and it’s breaking the system.

The survey results point to a harsh reality: football clubs feel like they are carrying the weight of growth alone.

When asked what the biggest council-related challenge is, nearly 49% said funding is not prioritised, while others pointed to poor facility design, limited engagement, and slow planning processes.

This isn’t just an inconvenience.

It is creating volunteer burnout, club debt, stagnation in women’s participation, and barriers to junior growth. It is forcing clubs into survival mode – patching up grounds, sharing overcrowded facilities, and trying to grow in spaces that were never designed for modern football demand.

And when planning is short-term, the problem compounds. Councils aren’t just falling behind- they’re building the wrong solutions.

So what do we do? We stop reacting and start leading.

Football cannot keep waiting for councils to “get it” organically. That approach has failed.

What we need now is a national strategic response that is structured, intelligent, and relentless.

This is where football must learn from high-performing football nations  not just on the pitch, but in governance, philosophy, and decision-making.

A powerful example is Korea’s “Made in Korea” project, which was built to identify structural gaps, align stakeholders, and create a unified development philosophy. It wasn’t just a technical framework, it was a national alignment strategy.

Australia needs the off-field equivalent.

A National Football Facilities & Readiness Taskforce.

I believe the time has come to establish a National Football Facilities & Readiness Taskforce, made up of the most capable minds across the game and beyond it.

Not another committee. Not another meeting group.

A taskforce.

It should include leaders from football, infrastructure, urban planning, commercial strategy, government relations, and corporate Australia. We should be selecting the most intelligent and effective people in the country, not based on titles, but based on outcomes.

This taskforce should have one clear mission:

Educate, influence, and reshape how councils plan, consult, and invest in football infrastructure.

Alongside a taskforce, we need long-term strategic working groups embedded across the states, designed to:

educate councils on football participation demand and growth forecasting

standardise best-practice facility design and future-proofing

create consistent consultation frameworks

align football investment with economic, health and multicultural outcomes

build a national narrative that football is an asset rather than a cost

Because right now, the survey shows councils aren’t prioritising football for economic reasons. In fact, only 2.56% of respondents said councils should prioritise football due to economic benefits. This is not because it isn’t true, but because councils haven’t been educated to see football that way.

That is a failure of strategy, not a failure of the game.

This is bigger than facilities – it’s about Australia’s place in the world game.

If we want to be taken seriously as a football nation, we must build a country that treats football seriously.

Not just at elite level.

At local level – where the entire pyramid begins.

The message from the survey is blunt: football’s confidence in councils is collapsing. But within that truth is also an opportunity.

Because when trust hits its lowest point, change becomes possible.

The next step is ours.

We either continue accepting a system that doesn’t understand the world game – or we build one that does.

No More: FV introduces ‘draconian’ Three-strike Rule with Mass Points Deductions

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football Victoria (FV) has ratified an uncompromising new “Three Strike Policy” for the 2026 season.

The regulatory overhaul targets the systemic abuse of match officials, shifting liability directly onto club administrations for the behaviour of all associates, including spectators.

The policy responds to critical workforce retention data. In 2022, over 50% of first-year referees exited the system, creating a sustainable coverage crisis. With 2025 data revealing a persistent trend of “egregious incidents” (including threatening language and physical violence), FV aims to arrest the decline by enforcing strict club accountability.

The Framework

The policy targets specific offences, including inappropriate physical contact, intimidation, spitting, and violence committed by any Club Associate. Crucially, this definition encompasses coaches, players, parents, and general spectators. Strikes apply cumulatively over a rolling 12-month period.

Strike 1: A suspended 3-point deduction is issued to all club teams. This places the entire membership on notice immediately.

Strike 2: If a second offence occurs within 12 months, the 3-point deduction is triggered immediately for the offending team. A mandatory $2,000 fine applies. Operationally, FV may also mandate closed-door matches or venue reversals, stripping clubs of home-ground advantage and vital matchday revenue.

Strike 3: A third offence triggers the 3-point deduction for every team in the club that has not yet been penalised. A mandatory $5,000 fine is levied. Furthermore, Club Executives are summoned to a mandatory meeting with FV leadership to explain the pattern of behaviour. FV reserves the right to remove teams from competition or revoke club affiliation entirely.

Implementation

Significantly, there is no right of appeal against a strike. This removes the traditional tribunal pathway for these specific offences, streamlining the punishment process. If a club accumulates a fourth strike, fines escalate to $10,000.

This zero-tolerance approach ensures clubs can no longer view behavioural fines as a mere operational cost. By tying spectator and associate behaviour directly to the league table, FV has effectively monetised the culture of abuse, forcing committees to police their sidelines or face relegation.

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