PAUL Lederer pauses for a few seconds as he fixes his eyes straight ahead. Given he is one of Australias most successful and widely respected businessmen, it is something he has probably done countless times over the years as he weighs up what he is about to say before clinching yet another business deal.
Chairman and co-owner of one of the most remarkable success stories in Australian sport, the Western Sydney Wanderers, and a regular in BRWs top 200 richest people in Australia, Lederer hasnt got to where he is by doing or saying foolish things.
Its understandable, then, that you just want to scream Hallelujah when this long-time football fan and passionate advocate of western Sydney and its people outlines where he wants the Wanderers to be in five years. The biggest and best sporting club in Australia bar none. To be the best managed, on and off the field, and the most reputable, he says. And thats irrespective of the AFL and NRL.
It might sound like a war cry, but the 67-year-old Lederer makes no apologies. Why should he?
The A-League club, created a little over two years ago, has exceeded all expectations to emerge among the best-supported and best-run clubs, not just in Australian soccer but in mainstream sport in this country.
Lederer saw enough to be part of a four-man syndicate that paid $12 million to take it off the hands of Football Federation Australia, who, with the help of federal government funding, started and owned the Wanderers until the end of last season.
Make no mistake, the national competition has partly grown on the back of the Red and Blacks and its fanatical support. Such has been their rise, and the growth of the A-League, that FFA chief executive David Gallop has more than once suggested soccer could become the dominant sport here. Lederer doesnt go that far he acknowledges the League has some way to go and is wary of the sport getting ahead of itself or becoming overconfident.
When it comes to the Wanderers, however, he is unbending. Look, it will take time for the Wanderers to get to where I would like, he says. This is a brick-by-brick process. We are getting close, but we have to work hard. We have to keep making it better and not sitting back and resting on our laurels. Then the others (sports) might have some worries.
So how worried should they be? I am sure there would be concern on their part ... 100 per cent I think theyd be concerned. As long as we do the right thing (and) know what we are doing, as long as we are professional, as long as we have got a vision ... we will get there as a club and a sport.
As much as Lederer needed some convincing from FFA chairman and close friend Frank Lowy to be part of the Wanderers before their birth, destiny was always going to dictate his involvement. His early reticence revolved around his work commitments and how much time would be needed helping to run a football club. I was a bit worried about the time it would take to run the club, the matter of work and balancing things, he says. Of course Frank was influential he told me it takes no time to run a club ... I knew that was wrong.
Of course, with my passion for football and the western Sydney region, I was always going to do it. And it has been fantastic, most enjoyable. I dont think we have done too bad.
Elegantly dressed and a man of clear stature, you would not pick Lederer for someone who considers himself part of a vast area that lends itself more to the working class than the big end of town. Looks are deceiving: you wont find a greater champion for the region than Lederer, who has worked in the west for 40 years. Primo, the smallgoods manufacturing giant he inherited from his uncle, the late Andrew Lederer, is based at Chullora, where the company employs more than 1000 people.
Lederer has a 30 per cent stake in the company after selling off 70 per cent to Affinity Equity Partners in 2012, but he is immensely proud of the company and what it has done for western Sydney. He believes the Wanderers will be just as influential.
By being involved with the Wanderers, Id like to think I can make a difference to western Sydney, he says. And thats just not football-wise. I know the people. I relate to them. I want things to be great in the region through institutions like Westmead Hospital, Western University, through the charities. We want to be a destination for western Sydney. There is so much potential here.
The west has copped a raw deal for too long. I think the club can make a difference, to help change that. This (the Wanderers) is all about western Sydney. The region drives our motto, our vision and our mission.
Lederer believes one of the most important next steps is to fast-track redevelopment of their home ground, Pirtek Stadium, which they share with the NRL club the Parramatta Eels.
With a capped membership base of 16,500 second only to Melbourne Victory the Wanderers have almost run out of room to satisfy their fans. Lederer is in discussions with the state government to renovate it and increase its capacity from 20,000 to 32,000.
In fact, I had further talks with the government today. I am quietly confident something can be done. It is embarrassing western Sydney does not have the great stadium it deserves. We need a proper solution
There is just no room to manoeuvre at Parramatta if we want to grow our brand.
The stadium is a small part of what Lederer has in mind for the Wanderers. He has plans to build a state of the art training complex, to establish youth academies and, critically, to start a licensed club. It is a must, a game-changer for us, he said. It can underpin the Wanderers and give us more room to move financially.
In the meantime, the pressing issue for Lederer is tonights Asian Champions League first-leg decider against Al Hilal at Parramatta. Of course we will win, he says with extreme confidence.
I am confident they will play to their best. We have shown what we can do in Asia.
A-League or ACL? I say ACL because it is harder to win. I went to China and I saw the passion and the teams and the money. We beat Guangzhou, a club with $400m capital value, a world-class coach and world-class players.
