Last week, Australian domestic football suffered another hammerblow when the FFA decided to pull the pin on the North Queensland Fury.
The Townsville-based club was, along with Gold Coast United, admitted during the first wave of A-League expansion in 2009.
However, the Fury succumbed to crippling debts - and the governing body's weariness of propping them up - after just two years.
Expansion, which has always been part of the grand plan for the rebooted national competition, has so far been a poisoned chalice.
North Queensland's fellow new boys, Gold Coast, have so far been one of the most poorly supported in the league's brief history and have been dogged by crowd caps and constant rumours about their future.
The second wave has been even worse - a second Sydney side was supposed to join Melbourne Heart this season. However, the team, Sydney Rovers, wasn't ready in time. The FFA decided to stagger the expansion, with Rovers to debut in 2011-2012. Disaster struck when the Rovers consortium was unable to raise the required capital (sound familiar?) and had their provisional licence revoked.
With the Fury's demise, the competition is back to 10 teams for next season, the same number as 2009-10 and two - TWO! - less than planned for 2011-12.
On top of that, the FFA continues to hold a major stake in the Brisbane Roar and only found owners for Adelaide recently.
Earlier in the season, Newcastle was days from folding until mining magnate Nathan Tinkler saved the day.
Sydney FC, the league's only team from Gosford to Melbourne, has been written off as a basket case.
Now, there are fears Wellington Phoenix could fold because its owner owes taxes to the New Zealand government and can’t secure loans to pay the bills.
So, what to do?
The FFA won't contemplate expansion again until the existing clubs are on a solid footing.
That means deserving areas such as Canberra, Sydney's west and Wollongong will have to wait. A solid foundation is better than jumping in too early and having new clubs sink.
Ten clubs. Half of what your garden-variety European league boasts - and with no relegation or promotion.
Some pundits believe promotion/relegation could be the key to the game's growth, but we barely have an A-League, let alone its 'B-League' equivalent.
The only eligible clubs - heavyweights from the state leagues - would find the step up impossible.
Scratch promotion and relegation. It’s not going happen any time soon.
As for the league this season, it has dragged on. Every team played 30 games, including an inordinate number of poorly subscribed midweek fixtures.
The FFA would hate to read this, but the league should be cut back to 18 games next year, under the traditional play each team home-and-away format. Give the fans a chance to miss you. Play only on the weekend.
That would mean with the month-long finals only 22 weeks of football each year - hardly enough to satisfy the all-important sponsors and television interests.
The solution? The long-awaited FFA Cup.
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