I think you are dead right. I live in Perth, Australia and there are numerous factors that make starting up an academy a very viable idea.
First off the popularity of Timmy Cahill is massive over here, for a sport that historically hasn'y been soo popular, he is one of, if not the most recognised face for a sporting figure, but we only see him in Australian Jersies. In my local shopping centre alone I can count 4 pictures of Tim Cahill in advertisments, and with the advertising legwork already done, making the connection to Everton would not be hard. Example, the only football (soccer) news we get is when Tim Cahill Scores, and if one of the top four win a title.
Secondly the high amount of english moving to Australia is a factor, because there simply is no current focus on Football (soccer) in the media, you are always plesantly suprised when a conversation about the premier league pops up, and funnily enough almost everyone I talk to have everton of their favourite team (the tim factor). Australia have a very active nation, and even an academy that could head hunt possible players from other leagues in the youth would be extremely effective because football has factors that other sports in Australia have (a massive international following, higher pay rates and a better standard of skill in the chosen sport).
Thirdly Australian football have the massive regulation of salary caps, so besides a few marquee players here and there, the general skill level never excells and it's quite rare to see an atrractive level of football, hence reducing the appeal of the game in australian circles. But then if you consider selling the brand Everton (which is already half established because of it's australian players) the market is there for a definate opportunity to be dominated. Just look at the effect of Beckham touring with the galaxy recently, he played 2 games, one in Sydney and one in New Zealand. Both of them got a prime time spot on TV (unheard of for the code besides world cup) and got huge ratings.
Finally the profile of Australian Football (soccer) has changed and will never be the same again. We will develop into a footballing nation because the changes that have recently been made to the fifa world cup qualifiers means that it will get some serious press because we will qualify, as compared to when we were in the oceania group and had almost no chance. Just read this to understand what I am saying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_national_association_football_team
We have gone to playing comparable teams and lesser teams to qualify, from running the marathon and having to play teams like argentina on a must win game to qualify.
If you have any more questions on the topic, please reply because I love Everton and I think the commercial future of this idea or an idea like could be very profitable.
