Oxford United's Australian Cousins, Brisbane Roar
Ange Postecoglou's former side share an unlikely connection to the yellows
We know all about our club’s owners, don’t we? Anindya Bakrie and Erick Thohir, who in September 2022 purchased 51% of Oxford United’s shares to become controlling, majority owners.
We know that both are successful Indonesian Businessmen. Most are aware of Thohir’s past involvement with Inter Milan. Slightly fewer are aware that both men hold governmental positions in their native country, Bakrie the Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, whilst Thohir heads up the national FA, among other things.Â
What has gone essentially unreported however, is the fact that this is not the only club owned by Anindya Bakrie and his family. When that deal was completed in 2022, Oxford United gained a new step-relative of sorts, on the other side of the globe.Â
Brisbane Roar FC is one of the most important clubs in Australian ‘soccer’ history. Twice they have topped the A-League, winning the championship play-off ‘Grand Final’ three times. They play at the stunning Suncorp Stadium, which holds over 50,000 supporters and they are the only A-League club from the state of Queensland.
Before I go on to explain why this club is worth paying attention to and why I think we should embrace our new cousins, an important distinction needs to be made.Â
Bakrie’s investment in Oxford, in partnership with Thohir, is a personal endeavour. As far as we can tell, he used his private wealth and holds the shares as an individual. Brisbane Roar are owned by the ‘Bakrie Group’, an enormous conglomerate, run by the family since its inception.Â
They produce everything from oil, gas, telecommunications, car parts, coal, rubber, TV shows, palm oil, environmental disasters… you name it. This is the giant which owns Brisbane Roar, a giant which our very own Anindya Bakrie, is the CEO of, as well as heir to the entire empire once his father passes it on.Â
This conglomerate has no formal involvement with Oxford, but its CEO and ‘prince’ does. Safe to say, he is ultimately responsible for the fates of both.Â
Who are Brisbane Roar and why should we care about them?
As mentioned, the Roar were by far the most successful Australian club in the early 2010s. In a young and volatile A-League, where clubs often went bust and stability was hard to come by, Brisbane emerged from the early chaos to set the standard for domestic Aussie ‘Sokkah’.Â
A club defined by mediocre performances and unprofessionalism in the first four years of the league, a 2009 rebrand to become the ‘Roar’ also saw a change of direction. Ange Postecoglou, younger, slimmer, with colour in his hair, arrived with a point to prove, following a controversial end to his time with Australia’s national youth setup.
What Ange was able to do here would go on to act as the basis of his rise through world football. Releasing several key players, clearing out the ‘old guard’, Ange rebuilt the squad to his specification. It was his style of play, or nothing at all, as we’ve all grown accustomed to since he hit British TV screens.
Possession based football, attack at all times, in fear of nobody. Ange’s Roar sides played their opponents off the park. Nicknamed ‘Roarcelona’, they shared plenty of principles with the dominant Barcelona side emerging across the globe.
The results speak for themselves. Brisbane won the ‘premiership’ (topped the A-League) for the first time in 2010/11 and completed the double by winning the Grand Final to secure the championship in frankly insane fashion.Â
Imagine League One, but with no automatics, just playoffs. Coming first would be great, but it’s winning the final which really matters. Just to underline the insanity of that final, played in front of a packed house at their Suncorp home, see the scoreboard below. I’ll put a clip there too, it makes for good viewing. (Spot a young Matt Ryan in goal!)
Ange’s Roar would go a record 36 games unbeaten, winning the Grand Final again in 2012 in equally ridiculous fashion. This club had an ‘Aguero moment’ two years in a row…
It was between these two successes that the club’s ownership would change. The previous owners came to the realisation that they could no longer afford to run the club, handing their franchise licence back to the Aussie FA in 2011.Â
The new investor was of course the Bakrie Group, paying at least A$8m to become the A-League’s first fully foreign owners. What followed was a story of decline and neglect, seeing the Roar slide from the peak of Australian soccer to what can only be described as shambles, humiliation and disarray.
Another championship in 2014 was won very much in the post-Ange afterglow, proving to be their last honour to this day. What follows is a timeline of utterly scandalous football administration, which I have titled…
The Bakrie Hall of Shame
2012 - Ange Postecoglou quits the club, leaving for rivals, Melbourne Victory, on the same day as the club’s title parade. A Roar director had promised fans that very morning that this was not the case, emphasising the owners’ commitment to making the club a ‘powerhouse of Australian and Asian football’.
2015 - The club announces they will play their Asian Champions League games 83km away, on the Gold Coast, angering fans
2015 - A financial crisis engulfs the club. The FA demanded that the Bakrie Group address the situation, threatening to revoke the club’s licence. An investment of A$1m followed. (‘In 2007, Forbes Asia put the Bakrie family's net worth at US$5.4 billion’)
2015 - Star player, Luke Brattan, walks out over unpaid wages and bonuses (nice hair)
2016 - The club’s managing director, Daniel Cobb, calls out the Bakrie Group over continued late payments, accusing them of lying when they promised to properly fund the club. He ‘quits’ on the eve of the new season.
2017 - Cobb’s replacement is fired after 14 months.
2018 - Where do I even start with this… just look at it…
In an Asian Champions League game, the players’ shirt numbers started to fall off. What’s worse is they lost the game to a team of Filipino part-timers. Verdicts ranging from ‘amateur’ to ‘lowest point’ inevitably followed this rock bottom moment. They stuck it back on! With tape!
‘I really am speechless other than to say … just pull out of the competition because I’ve never seen that before in my footballing life’ - Mark Bosnich
2019 - The club’s only organised supporters group, The Den, who provide what little atmosphere remains amid dwindling Suncorp crowds, withdrew its support. They demanded change and commitment from the ownership. In response, the club disavowed them, stating that it no longer officially recognised the group!
2020 - Citing financial reasons, the club left Suncorp stadium. This saved money, but saw attendances plummet, with three crowds in two years failing ‘to top 1750’, a far cry from 50,000 at Suncorp in back to back Grand Finals. What’s worse at this point is that Robbie Fowler was appointed manager. In 2023, the club announced that it would return home.
2023 - As a result of sharing the ground with Aussie Rules side Brisbane Lions and Rugby League club Brisbane Broncos, as well as multiple concerts, the Suncorp pitch is continually left in a near unplayable state.
2023 - Here’s another thing Oxford and Brisbane share. Both of our managers ditched us midway through the season. Roar’s Ross Aloisi left to be an assistant manager in China, which shows how much faith he had in the club’s prospects, not to mention his pay packet…
That brings us up to date. In 2023, the club is a sad shadow of what it was a decade ago. The Bakrie Group has failed to even pay attention to its only official football club, let alone fund it. Supporters have either accepted this new reality, or moved on to more popular sports, as players’ shouts can be heard echoing throughout a lonely Suncorp.
There’s plenty more to the Bakrie family’s exploits that I won’t go into here. I’ll point you to the fate of C.S. Vise however, a second tier Belgian side which the group purchased in 2014, signed multiple Indonesian players to, then sold when it lost interest. It no longer exists, going bust less than a year later, after 90 years of history. Details of the catastrophic Sidoarjo mud flow, for which the Bakrie Group is widely deemed responsible, can be found here.
A Proposal
So why am I telling you all of this? Anindya Bakrie owns most of Oxford United and the group which he is CEO of owns all of Brisbane Roar. He is ultimately responsible for the fortunes of both. However, no official link exists between the two. In fact, the connection through the family’s ownership is not recognised or acknowledged at all and I think this is a missed opportunity.
Despite the two entities formally having ‘separate’ owners, Bakrie has the opportunity to pool his resources. For so long, the Roar have been treated as an afterthought, it’s actually amazing to me that the group even still own the club.
They have evidently had no interest in making it successful, despite how relatively little it would cost them to do so. Why not then, turn a burden into a blessing?
If Bakrie seriously sees Oxford United as a ‘Top 30 Club’, then it would surely benefit from a partnership with an A-League franchise? The form which this collaboration could take is up to them, but imagine the possibilities.
Youth players going out to train in Australia for a few months, Aussies coming here. Coaches at all levels sharing knowledge between the two clubs. Loan and transfer possibilities, access to Des Buckingham’s network, most of which lies down under.
In an era of ‘multi-club models’ , where even Crystal Palace is heading one up, Bakrie has one at his fingertips. Already owning both, Oxford’s ownership has the chance to act like it belongs in the top 30.
Brisbane’s sporting operations, similarly to our own, are actually taking a turn for the better, reaching the FA Cup Final earlier this year. New CEO Kaz Patafta and COO Zac Anderson are both former players turned-executives, credited with improving communication, returning to Suncorp, restoring trust and revitalising a youthful squad. (Keep an eye on Thomas Waddingham and Shae Cahill, son of Tim, among others)
So this is my call to them. Kaz, Zac, Tim Williams, pick up the phone to the big boss and remind him that he is responsible for more than one football club.
Closing Thoughts
On the safe assumption that Tim Williams doesn’t read this… what can we do?
Well, I propose an informal alliance! Drop Brisbane Roar a follow and keep an eye out for them. It’s the least we can do for our unexpected Australian cousins. The way that Mumbai City’s fans now look out for our results, let’s do the same for the Roar. Did I mention that Max Crocombe played for both clubs?
Almost all of their games are on TNT Sports on weekend mornings, so why not tune in to see familiar EFL foes such as Tom Aldred and Jay O’Shea, who has become one of the league’s best players. It depends how much of a football ‘hipster’ you consider yourself and of course, whether you have better things to be doing…
As I’ve detailed here, their fans have been through the wringer, their story acting as a warning of what can happen when a conglomerate loses interest in its shiny Grand Final winning toy.
I have no doubt that Mr Bakrie is fully committed to our project. God knows he’s invested enough to prove that already. Besides, he has his own skin in the game, we are not some forgotten ‘department’ in a billion dollar corporation.
I am, however, hoping that he will remember his ultimate responsibility to a club, its staff and fans who deserve far better on the other side of the world.
Thanks so much if you’ve made it this far! I thought this was an underexplored topic and I couldn't find any reporting on it online. Something a bit different, which is really the point of this blog!
This is the first post in a while. I’ll admit, Uni is taking priority and my writing time is limited. I’m hoping to do something on Des and the changes he’s made so far, but I think we need to wait until these are more apparent!
Thanks to everyone who has shared or subscribed, your feedback and support has been amazing! Don’t forget you can check out other pieces I’ve written on the homepage and you can follow me on ‘X’ @OTG_UK - Up the Ox!
So, despite all the red flags thrown up by the Bakrie Group's stewardship of Brisbane, your conclusion is "I have no doubt that Mr Bakrie is fully committed to our project."? The argument that the difference is that the ownership of OUFC is a personal endeavour by Anindya whereas Brisbane was owned by his group of companies is spurious. Football club ownership is a passion project for individuals, regardless of what corporate vehicle is used to hold the shares.
Rather than looking at some sort of partnership, we should be using Brisbane as a warning sign and a reason why we should keep check on what is going on at OUFC, particularly with regards to communication from the board. For example, we were told that a planning application for The Triangle would be submitted in Oct/Nov. We're two months down the line and it's still not been submitted. The clock is ticking on that project and such delays could be fatal.