Johnny Warren never lived to see an A-League match. He died on November 6, 2004, aged 61 – nine months before the competition kicked off.

He never lived to see Australia qualify for the 2006 World Cup, the country’s first trip to football’s biggest stage in 32 years.

He never lived to see John Aloisi streaking shirtless across the pitch at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, having fired home the penalty that sent us to Germany.

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And he never lived to see the Socceroos’ qualification for each World Cup thereafter.

But all these things can be traced back to the efforts of Australian football’s most passionate advocate.

This year, the A-League has already set an attendance record for a single round, with 106,082 fans pouring through the turnstiles across Australia in Round 2.

The Western Sydney Wanderers are the champions of Asia, the first time an Australian side has won the continental title.

Johnny Warren in 2004 with his FIFA Centennial Order of Merit award. Photo: Getty

And Australia, managed by an attacking, (largely) home-grown coach, will host the Asian Cup throughout January.

Once the gangly, red-headed stepchild, football has grown into its frame and is starting to flex its muscle.

Watching the estimated 2000 supporters who turned out at Sydney airport to welcome home the conquering Wanderers, it was difficult to conceive a time when football in this country was on the margins.

Yet it was on the margins where Johnny Warren operated all through his career, steadfast in his belief that football would eventually find its way.

The title of his book, Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters was a wonderfully eloquent reminder of the kind of abuse you could take for playing football in Australia throughout the 1960s and 70s (and 1980s and 1990s), rather than league, union or Australian Rules.

After his playing career, Johnny made it his mission to take football to the people of Australia.

He ran coaching clinics, hosted the TV show Captain Socceroo, and was a long-time pundit on SBS, where his passion was as compelling as some of the French and Spanish cinema one could stumble across late at night on the network.

No one who saw it will ever forget Johnny’s heartbreak the night in 1997 Australia blew a 2-0 lead against Iran at the MCG. Fighting back tears, he spoke for football fans everywhere.

“You just feel for them,” he said. “Not just the boys, they are representative of so many people who make this game their life. I can’t say anything, mate.”

It seems criminal that Johnny Warren, Australian football’s loudest and proudest drum-beating evangelist, never lived to see the gains his beloved game has made over the past decade.

He’d be proud, but he’d also be on television imploring the powers that be for more. One of Johnny’s strengths was his inability to settle for anything less than the best for the game.

“When I’m up in the big football field in the sky, I just want people to remember, I told you so,” Warren said once.

Yes he did.