News that handouts from head office will drop next season from around $1.7 million to just $530,000 will, says Krslovic, compel clubs to cease investing in “mediocre foreigners” and fast track the next generation of Aussie kids on to the big stage.

The spin off from the new economic reality, contends CEO Krslovic, will also benefit Australia’s myriad of national teams, with youngsters finally getting the first team opportunities at club level Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has long championed.

“This is economic reality of the times both within football and society in general,” Krslovic told FTBL.

“Clubs need to be more prudent and decrease the unrealistic and unsustainable amount of player and overall staff salary spend not to mention overall operational expenditure.

"In reality this should have all been tackled post Covid but it wasn’t. The game needed a major reset and it didn’t happen.

“It’s not all gloom and doom - what we’ll do is stop bringing in mediocre and overinflated foreigners and instead play the younger boys.

“In the long run that’s better for the national teams, who have to qualify for tournaments, better for the clubs and better for the product.

“It could be a silver lining. In the last two years we’ve seen more of our younger players (across the A-League) sold overseas than the previous 10. Why is that? Because they’re playing. That trend will only continue.”

The squeeze on funding was not unexpected, though even as late as Monday some club chiefs were hoping the Australian Professional Leagues would be willing to at least stump up $1 million.

Krslovic, though, views the move as part of a rationalisation that has been looming for some time.

“Some clubs were spending $4 million above the central distribution last season, even more,” he added.

“The top four clubs were spending close to $6-7 million, that’s a huge discrepancy. The days of committing those sorts of sums on players are truly gone.

“Even if the distribution was say $3.2 million, you can’t be spending twice that on players. That’s suicidal, and that figure doesn’t even include operational costs.

“This is a sign of the times. You only have look at what’s going on around the world, and see how your next door neighbour is living (having to tighten their belts). If you don’t acknowledge that then you’re blind.”

Krslovic believes the model for sustainability in the years ahead will be clubs grooming and honing young talent before cashing in with overseas sales.

“The long term effect of this should be an even greater number of players making their mark domestically before moving on to the next stage of their careers offshore, with the clubs reaping the benefit in terms of transfer fees,” he said.

“Every club should be looking to recoup around $1-2 million per year from player sales.”

Whilst the clubs are having to dig deep, Krslovic also had a stark message for HQ, adding: “I also think there has to be a further rationalisation of expenditure and head counts within the APL itself.”