Western Sydney Wanderers' long journey from Parramatta to Morocco

The rapid rise of the Western Sydney Wanderers has been just that, but as in most fairytales, there is a force that threatens a happy ending.

For the Wanderers, it's the price of success that now threatens everything they have built in a rags to riches journey.

A rift has formed at the once-unified club, that, for the first time in its short existence, has genuine adversity to overcome.

A dispute between the players and management over the carve-up of prizemoney at the Club World Cup is the first chink in the previously impenetrable armour that has guided them to two grand finals, a premiership and an Asian Champions League title.

"The Wanderers can be the biggest sporting franchise in Australia," former boss Lyall Gorman says.  He quickly adds: "If it stays on track with its culture, values and original vision."

The Wanderers were taunted by Asian giants in the Champions League, who labelled them "a small club".

They were right, but the fact the officials and players were insulted by such claims shows the mentality of a club in no shortage of belief.

With a small club comes a sense of belonging and an attachment you can't buy in organisations run by royals and billionaires.

Now, as they embark on the world stage, the Wanderers are at a crossroad.

The club from humble beginnings in western Sydney, trying to uphold the culture and values Gorman talks about, but at the same time trying to take the necessary steps to ensure they are no longer branded "small" in the future.

Among the company of football royalty inside a luxury Moroccan hotel is a team born in a three-star motel in Lismore two and a bit years ago.

After months of searching the globe for players, some of whom were lost and never heard from again on their way to Australia, coach Tony Popovic sat down with the team he'd managed to assemble at dinner the night before a trial against Melbourne Heart in northern NSW.

"That was the first time we felt as a team," chief executive John Tsatsimas will tell you. 

A team, now in illustrious company at the Club World Cup.

Driving into the club's Blacktown headquarters just days after their Asian Champions League triumph, a sign was erected that read "the biggest club in Asia" - the same words uttered by Popovic just moments after conquering the continent against Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

"That was one particular thing that was gnawing at us," Tsatsimas said. "Those comments made by opponents describing us as a small club, while it was a throwaway line, it probably provided some inspiration for us and escalated the elation in the joy we felt in beating the bigger clubs. 

"But when Tony Popovic said 'We're now the biggest club in Asia', that certainly resonated and hit home how significant this milestone is."

They are a club that the NRL was happy never existed when the A-League was formed, but feared the moment they were announced.

Sitting in rugby league headquarters a decade ago, albeit with a few less grey hairs, former NRL boss, now FFA chief executive, David Gallop recalls the relief that followed the news that only one Sydney team would be included in the A-League.

"I always thought when the A-League started in 2004 that FFA were making a mistake not having a second team in Sydney straight away, and rugby league has always benefited from that," Gallop said.

"When we heard about FFA's plans for a team in western Sydney we were immediately concerned about the impact it would have ... I just wouldn't have expected it to be successful straight away."

A team that now has a capped ticketed membership of 17,000, which brings in $3.5 million each year, as well as another $1.5 million in merchandise per season. A team that only had seven players when foundation player-turned-captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley arrived.

"I saw Shinji Ono sign his contract on a chair in a makeshift office," Topor-Stanley said. "There were no change rooms. There was nothing in place and you're a few months away from starting an A-League season and you're washing your own clothes. You don't know what's around the corner.

"A lot of my friends in the league were asking questions ... they automatically assumed we were going to be wooden spooners. I think even our own fans would have been happy if we avoided the spoon."

Just before the start of their first season, the club had a man to build the team and image around - Ono.

The Japanese star quickly developed a cult following in western Sydney, while across town Alessandro Del Piero was doing similar things for Sydney FC.

But what isn't common knowledge is that the Wanderers turned down Del Piero before Sydney FC signed him, adamant the Italian legend didn't fit the culture and values they were trying to instil.

"Del Piero was offered to us first," Gorman said. "Once we did the seven forums and identified the sort of club we were going to be and the brand essence and what we stood for from a values and cultural perspective, Del Piero wouldn't have been the right fit for that. If we talk about the brand values at the time being very raw and real being out in western Sydney, we needed someone who could reflect that western Sydney look and feel.

"A three-time World Cup player in Shinji, but one of the most humble, giving and down-to-earth players you could ever find. I remember sending him to a Japanese school in Frenchs Forest for an hour to do a community appearance, but three hours later we had to drag him out of there. That's the sort of player we needed to have that really reflected the brand we were building around this club."

It's a club that has united a divided footballing region, which was often at war before the Wanderers arrived, disgruntled by the demise of the National Soccer League.

The Wanderers have given western Sydney a sense of ownership and belonging, with the fractured heartland of Australian football on the same page for the first time in a long time.

Scenes in Parramatta and at Sydney Airport after the club's Asian Champions League triumph are like no other this country has witnessed.

Gallop says the Wanderers have changed the landscape of Australian sport, partly due to their fan group the Red and Black Bloc.

"Australian sport has never seen the level of engagement inside stadiums like they create," Gallop said.

"I love the story of the grandmother that hands out throat lozenges in the RBB. They've definitely been a shot in the arm for the entire A-League and I think they've been a critical part in football's booming popularity because people have sat up and taken notice of the A-League in some way because of the Wanderers, and that's only going to get bigger and bigger in the decades to come.

"They've done a fantastic job of uniting what I call the tribes of western Sydney football. I never really liked the expression 'old soccer, new football' but I think this is an example of where old soccer and new football have come together."

Popovic knows all about old soccer, having grown up in western Sydney.

Whether it was in Tsatsimas' kitchen in his western Sydney home, or inside cafes at The Star where Popovic was staying during his brief visits back home before the club's inception, the former Socceroo never wavered in his belief of what the Wanderers were to be about.

"I've never seen a bloke with the attention to detail and preparation similar to Tony's," Gorman said. "I only ever spoke to one coach. I knew who had to coach this club. I knew he was the perfect package."

And he has been. There was no greater testament to that than receiving the Asian coach of the year award in Manila a fortnight ago.

"I grew up in western Sydney so I knew what football meant to the people out here and they don't take lightly to people not giving their all," Popovic said.

"The culture needed to come from us first and that needed to be established from day one and there were non-negotiables that I set and that went for players and staff. I had to lead the way not just by words but by actions and that was something that we really tried to bed down from day one at our very first training session."

For a region that doesn't take lightly to people not giving their all, how do the Wanderers fans feel about players threatening to boycott the biggest tournament any Australian club can compete in?

At what point does the team's winless start to the A-League season become a reflection of the attitude of the players rather than the hectic travel schedule?

At what point do fingers begin to be pointed at new owner Paul Lederer or club management?

These are all big questions for a small club to deal with that could have massive ramifications on the chapters yet to be written in this fairytale.

- Sydney Morning Herald