The Manchester City-owned club won plenty of plaudits for its attacking style and swashbuckling approach last season, when it averaged more than two goals a game.

But having lived for all of their existence in the shadow of the A-League's biggest club, Melbourne Victory, City badly needs to build on that goodwill and attract more fans to their games.

Whether it's the Cahill effect or a gradual growth of appreciation for the Latrobe University-based team, City are building up their supporter base.

Figures from the FFA show, in the last week before the season starts, that City's membership figure is up to 9,530, putting them in fourth spot on the league ladder for paid-up members.

Victory are far and away the runaway leaders, as they are most seasons, with their membership roster more than 23,000, with Western Sydney Wanderers, not surprisingly, next best on 18,318.

Those two powerhouses of the competition are the only clubs whose membership, pre-season, runs to five figures. To some extent Victory's numbers may be capped by their occupancy at AAMI Park, where the capacity is around 30,000.

City and third placed Sydney will likely crack the 10,000 barrier sooner rather than later.

Adelaide are the national champions and the only team in their city, yet have just under 7,500 members. The South Australian capital might be four times smaller than Sydney or Melbourne as far as population goes, but the Reds would surely hope, as champions, to lift their total closer to 10,000.

Brisbane Roar's fantastic run of success in recent seasons certainly hasn't translated into paid up season ticket holders.

The Roar, according to the FFA website, have just 4,225 members: that's fewer than the Central Coast Mariners, who last season were arguably the worst team in A-League history.

Perth Glory have recruited well and are signing many Western Australian players in a bid to cement their links to the local community. Glory have so far signed up a little more than 6,000 members. Like Adelaide and Brisbane, they are the only game in town so should be looking to lift hard core membership to 10,000 if they want to rekindle the old Glory days when they were the biggest dog in the old NSL.

Most worrying of all is the team at bottom of the membership ladder, Wellington Phoenix. The Kiwis were under the shadow of expulsion from the league last year and their fans mounted active social media campaigns to show their support. Yet so far only 2,848 Nix fans have stumped up to put their money where their mouth is.

The hard sell for all concerned should become easier once the AFL and NRL grand finals take place this weekend and the season proper kicks off, with Fox Sports promotion and televising of games and more space in the traditional media to cover the sport.