Here, on the 34th floor of Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer's corner office, with views stretching from his club's heartland in the west to arch rival Sydney FC's home Allianz Stadium in the east, the first thing that grabs your attention is the little sign on his desk.
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SHOW ME THE MONEY.
The message isn't taken from the movie Jerry Maguire but a chance meeting many years ago with a European businesswoman also in the meat business, who, much like the Lederer family, had started from tiny beginnings to become outrageously wealthy. The sign on her desk: Show Me The Money.
When he arrived back in Sydney, there was a package. She had sent him the sign to place on his own desk.
"That's business," says Lederer, a seemingly gentle but firm man. "People say sport's a business. Football clubs do not make money. Let me be blunt about that. Team ownership isn't about business at all. You do it for the right reasons. If you did this for the money, you'd quit after one day."
Luckily, he's got plenty of it. Lederer and his uncle started their business in a garage in Sydney's west and took the Hungarian family tradition of smoking and curing meats and turned it into Primo Smallgoods, a business sold three years ago for $1.45 billion. This year's BRW rich list estimated his personal wealth at $824 million as the 73rd richest man in the country.
"I've done very well," Lederer says, without hubris. "There's no secret about that. I would like to think I can put something back into Western Sydney. I feel very close to the working people of Western Sydney and I think they deserve something they didn't have before. Western Sydney has been deprived of lots of things, and one of them for many years was a football team."
In 2014, Lederer and a consortium including Sabre Sports United director Jefferson Cheng, Pirtek founder Glenn Duncan and businessman David Slade bought the club following months of protracted negotiations with the FFA.
He has granted the Herald a rare interview because the club finds itself parked at the most interesting crossroads of its six-year existence: second last on the ladder with just one win and none of them under Josep Gombau, who replaced foundation coach Tony Popovic after he quit six days before the start of the season.
Presently living a nomadic existence as their spiritual home of Parramatta Stadium is rebuilt, they lost 2-0 to Brisbane Roar last weekend in front of 8000 fans at a rain-soaked ANZ Stadium.
A heavy defeat to Sydney FC in Saturday night's derby before an expected crowd of 35,000 at the same venue will spark inevitable questions about their future, from outside and within.
Key matchup: Western Sydney face cross-town rivals Sydney FC in a key fixture for disgruntled fans. Photo: AAP
Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas chuckles about the emails bombarding his inbox but that's expected of a team for which performance is directly linked to its passionate supporters.
"There's some crackers, but I reply to all of them," he says. "Our fans are very demanding but this season there have been no incidents at all. That's the best thing: the team's been ordinary but there have been no incidents."
Those on the exterior have been equally savage in their criticism, like Fox Sports expert Mark Bosnich after the loss to Brisbane.
"They were a disgrace," the former Socceroos keeper said. "They need to sort themselves out. I don't care that they've had to play on different pitches and this, that and the other. They need to sort themselves out. And as for their new manager [Josep Gombau], show a bit of passion. All I see every time I watch them is him sitting on the bench and looking. You've been there for long enough, you've got the best supporters in the country and they deserve more than to be served up that kind of crap."
If you look beyond the short-term malaise, however, the club is 18 months away from potentially becoming the A-League's superclub.
When they get "Wanderland" back for the 2019-20 season, they will have a state-of-the-art 30,000-seat stadium with stands steeper than Brisbane's Suncorp, a standing area for the Red and Black Bloc. The crowd will be so close to the players "they can almost touch them", says Lederer, who predicts the current membership of almost 18,000 will swell beyond 30,000.
"At the moment, it doesn't feel like home - we lost our home-ground advantage," he adds in reference to ANZ and the club's other temporary home, Spotless Stadium, which has been abandoned for now after the match against Wellington was cancelled because the playing surface wasn't up to scratch. "That fortress is no longer there and the results reflect that."
Bloc party: Lederer has called on Wanderers fans to stay strong despite the side's poor start to the season. Photo: Jonathan Carroll
At the same time Parramatta Stadium is opening, the Wanderers will be putting the final lick of paint on a $40 million centre of excellence right alongside the M7 motorway at Blacktown. It will feature nine fields (some of which will be synthetic), and high-performance facilities the club claims will be the best in the country after Lederer and Tsatsimas scoured the world, including Manchester United and Arsenal, for ideas. It will house all of the Wanderers' teams, including its massive catchment of talented juniors. Eight of the 23 in the current national under-20s squad are Wanderers players.
"In two years' time, we will be the biggest club in Australia," Tsatsimas promises.
He says this in his office at Blacktown International Sportspark. It doesn't have the same views as Lederer's office. Actually, it has no view. In the early weeks of the franchise, when the FFA finally decided six years ago to create a Western Sydney club, he was one of only three employees, alongside Popovic and former executive chairman Lyall Gorman.
So Tsatsimas has skin in the joint. He grew up in Greystanes, the son of Greek parents who sold fruit and veges out of Flemington markets.
"This club represents those people," he says. "I know the struggles that they have. We still have 300,000 people a day who head into the city for their jobs. To do that, they have to leave at 5am for a 7am job, they don't see their kids at work, they come home after a long day at work, by the time they get stuck in traffic, or ordinary public transport, they come home at 8pm and their kids are in bed. For too long, that has happened. We want to give the people of Western Sydney something outside their normal lives."
That was the instant beauty of the Wanderers, of course. In just one glorious debut season, they not only won the premiership but sat Sydney's sporting landscape on its arse with an army of fans unified in red-and-black, loudly marching shoulder to shoulder to whichever ground their team was playing at.
A small section of the RBB has garnered the most attention with violent and offensive behaviour, not least their banner last season graphically depicting Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold engaged in a lurid sex act. They have come after Tsatsimas since his letter in July to members, four days out from the exhibition match against Arsenal, outlining zero-tolerance for misbehaviour.
During our interview, Lederer says countless times that "we have the best supporters in the league". He's no stranger to them, he says, often asking to get out of his car a kilometre from the ground so he can walk among the faithful.
Just as fundamental to the club's rapid success was Popovic, born and bred to Croatian parents in Fairfield with the discipline of a drill sergeant who squeezed every last drop of talent out of his players. In many ways, the Wanderers have been a reflection of the man Popovic is.
That's why it wounded so many when it was announced he had signed with Turkish Super Lig club Karabukspor and was leaving immediately, right on the eve of the season. Legally, the club could've stood in his way but didn't.
'I'm gone': Tony Popovic walked out on the Western Sydney Wanderers for a coaching role in Turkey. Photo: David Moir
The first the players knew anything about it was on a Sunday morning when the group chat on their mobile phones lit up.
"Just heard Poppa's leaving," one of the players posted.
Recalls captain Rob Cornthwaite: "I didn't believe it. No chance. No way. I made calls and nobody knew what was going on. By the afternoon, it was announced. Popa spoke to the boys on the Tuesday."
Lederer was on business in New York when Tsatsimas called him.
"I was disappointed," Lederer says. "It was difficult, the timing of it. I don't stand in the way of anyone bettering themselves. Six days prior to kickoff? That is tough news."
Clearly, it's not his favourite subject. He repeatedly insists the Wanderers don't fall back on excuses but there's no escaping this was a cataclysmic way to start the year.
"All I've got to say on this situation is that I was very disappointed," he says when pushed. "And Tony knows that. He believes it's a betterment for himself and his future in football and that's how it happened."
We find the man who replaced Popovic sitting in an office adjacent to Tsatsimas'. On the wall is a team photo from the inaugural season. Jokingly, we suggest running a black marker through Poppa.
"No, never," says Josep Gombau before pointing out the only remaining members of that squad are striker Mark Bridge and keeper Jerrad Tyson.
Gombau dramatically lost weight since joining the Wanderers - about 40 kilograms - but we're assured it's because of healthy eating and not stress. He speaks English well but the former Barcelona FC youth coach has a thick Spanish accent that requires concentration from the listener.
His first match was against Melbourne Victory ??? three days after getting his feet under the desk.
"When I was coaching Adelaide [from 2013-15], we play against Western Sydney and my feeling is that it's a big club," he says. "They have something the other clubs don't have: the power of the people."
The people are getting restless, though. Some critics say the players look "disinterested". Others suggest they are just taking time to adapt to a new style.
Popovic progressed in the past two seasons to a game focused on possession. In simple terms, Gombau has ramped that up even more, with more short passes, less long balls, running the other team off its feet, breaking them down to the point of exhaustion.
"When I left Adelaide, I brought this philosophy," he says. "It takes time. Five six months to play the way I like, no? We are doing here quicker. We are in the middle of the competition and we have a test every week. I understand the fans want to see the team winning. I understand the players for a long time they are used to all those things. This club only have one coach, which is not usual, no? It's true that some are open, some that aren't that open, but I have had nothing to say to any player. They are working hard."
Says Cornthwaite: "Poppa was so meticulous that there was little room to move. It was his way or that was it. That worked, for a lot of players; he got players who others thought were rejects to play their best football. That was a mark of how good a coach he was. Josep likes to keep everyone happy. He likes to give them freedom away from the field. But it's a case of 'value the ball, run, be the best'. If we stick together and work on his game, we'll play the most attractive football in Australia in the next 12 months."
Unlike many trigger-happy owners, Lederer is prepared to wait that long, although he's desperate for a win.
Just before our interview, his pleasant executive assistant, Rayner, is locked in a FaceTime conversation with the office receptionist.
"We're trying to work out Paul's Christmas present," she laughs. "What do you get a man when he has everything?"
No need to show him the money. A victory against Sydney FC will do.
