Since FFA formally announced plans to expand the A-League by two new teams from 2019/20 some aspirants haven’t been shy when it comes to criticizing rival bids in public.

In June this year Southern Expansion CEO Chris Gardiner, said the Macarthur bid was up to a decade away from being successful and would be a “drag on the A-League”.

The FFA board is set to meet tomorrow to discuss A-League expansion and there is a possibility that the two successful bidders could be announced.

It's a nervous wait for all those on the shortlist, including Wollongong Wolves, Team 11 (Melbourne), South Melbourne FC, Western Melbourne Group, Ipswich Pride FC and Canberra & Capital Region.

O’Rourke said the behaviour of some of the A-League hopefuls was not in the right spirit of the bidding process.

“There was a number of people that decided to go into the media and talk about other bids - that wasn’t restricted just to one (bidder),” he said.

“But if you ask for my personal opinion it wasn’t necessary to go and do that sort of thing.

“Not every single bid has followed the rules which was to keep the bidding, the whole acquisition of the licence in a business conversation, not in the media.

“They have all been quiet except the ones who have chosen to go out and make things public.

“The FFA hasn’t commented on any one bid in the public forum and that was the agreement in the beginning.”

O’Rourke suggested that even though some bidders took public shots at their rivals that it wouldn’t affect the FFA’s final decision on the successful expansion teams.

“Not necessarily,” he said.

“The decision to award these licences is based on bid criteria and just being noisy in the media is not going to give them a negative...particularly bids that went out and had shots at other bids. That’s not really necessary, you really need to talk to other strengths rather than people’s perceived weaknesses.

“I don’t think it’s going to go against them, it’s just preference that there is a way to play the game.”