By Con Stamocostas -
October 24th 2009 @ 1:32am
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Gold Coast United are an embarrassment to the A-League
Gold Coast players react after Jason Culina scored in the 59th minute to put the Coast 2-0 up during the 1st round A-League football match between Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Gold Coast United are an embarrassment one moment and the headline act in the theatre of the absurd the next. None more so than the antics of the ubiquitous owner Clive Palmer.
Before season five began, I wrote a pre-season preview on each A League club. With players to look out for and a light hearted prediction. Let’s rewind the tape.
“I predict Miron Bleiberg to be sacked after four games because of the poor form shown by the side in only scoring two goals per game not three. I expect to see Professor Palmer in pure Roman Abramovich-style, giving half time speeches while a bemused Paul Okon looks on.”
Last week that happened.
During the half time break, the Fox Sports camera’s showed Clive Palmer at half time in the Gold Coast dressing room.
A case of life imitating absurdity.
What’s more bemusing is that Clive Palmer has tried to cap the crowds at 5,000 so the Gold Coast don’t have to pay transport costs if more than 5,000 attend a home match.
No wonder the White Shoe Brigade don’t go to any games. In a first for football anywhere in the world, the owner doesn’t want the crowd to support his team.
Recently, I spoke with well-known surfing journalist and magazine editor of http://worldprosurfers.com, Jimmy O’Keefe, who was actually born and raised in the area. Jimmy offered some fascinating insights into the Gold Coast market.
Me: What are your thoughts on having an A League team on the Gold Coast?
Jimmy O’Keefe: “Tops. I think there’s potential for it to really blossom”.
Me: Why do you reckon the crowds are so low?
JOK: “It’s because Gold Coast is full of Visigoth-type bogans with bad tatts, and the only sports that seem to flourish in this cultural vacuum are burnouts in low-rider utes and rugby league”.
Me: Does the Gold Coast have the potential to be a football town?
JOK: “Certainly, it’s one of the biggest cities in the country. I think the place has had trouble as far as fan bases go because over the last two decades AFL and Rugby League consortiums have come and gone about five times. There’s also a huge transient population there, no affiliations to any teams”.
Me: What needs to be done to get bigger crowds? How would you engage the community so fans can watch the game on TV or attend?
JOK: “When it comes to families, let them know that it’s an alternative to whatever else is going on. That it’s a day out, people would jump at it. They just need to know that when it comes to singles, I think push it as a great place for women to go (unlike league) and a great afternoon to catch up with friends for a drink. Kind of like a Sunday session.
“I think marketing wise, it’s kind of strange place in that it’s a radio town, and people do a lot of driving or listen to the radio at work. And they seriously get into all the ‘Morning Crew’ and ‘Black Thunder’ sort of stuff. Sadly, they are indeed an effective way to mobilise Gold Coasters”. (The Gold Coast Titans signed Mat Rogers and gave his girlfriend a job on local radio.)
So there you have some free market research.
I am embarrassed to watch some of the Gold Coast matches. I think the FFA should have chosen a team in Canberra or Wollongong.
Those towns have football history and easily would have had greater crowds.
I also think the club would have used the word “Community”, rather than words like “three Jets”; “second richest”; and “undefeated”, in the way it sold the club to the local folks.
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(72)
tifosi said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:04am | Report comment
The FFA must accept the blame for this.
They passed over the Galaxy bid for the guy that had the money and now they look like a laughing stock, how can the best team in the comp get 5000 per game?
Mark said | October 31st 2009 @ 8:22pm | Report comment
Mate, you seem deluded if you think they are the best team in the league, like all things Gold Coast it shimmers therefore it must be gold, well, rubbish, they’re just fools gold!
Jeff Baxter said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:15am | Report comment
Is this a satire? Should i be laughing?
Con Stamocostas said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:02am | Report comment
yes.
Jeff Baxter said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:16pm | Report comment
Oh well. Maybe next time
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 6:52am | Report comment
What a waste of time Con. Does it matter what some surfer thinks about football? I find it hard to think of something more irrelevant, there is very very little connection between the two.
Robbos said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:13am | Report comment
So if you surf, you don’t like football????? Huh!!!!
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:20am | Report comment
No, that’s not necessarily the case but when your answer to the question, “why are crowds so low is” – “It’s because Gold Coast is full of Visigoth-type bogans with bad tatts, and the only sports that seem to flourish in this cultural vacuum are burnouts in low-rider utes and rugby league” well then you’ve got no idea.
Jimmy O’Keefe is probably the only person whose name Con could drop that MIGHT ring some bells here, that’s the only reason for him posting this rubbish, he wants to look like he’s hob-nobbing but obviously doesn’t have any real famous friends so he used a pseudo one from a totally different sport and even though the answer were absolutely crap he still felt it prudent to post it here.
Dom said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:08am | Report comment
i have surfed since i was 4 and played football since i was five, nothing wrong with combining those two sport as i have done for last 20 years
Robbos said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:19am | Report comment
Con, they are top of the table, they do have the best marquee player, they do have the top goal scorer, they do have in Okon, the next potential Aussie socceroo coach, they do have one of the best link man in Joel Porter, they do have a colourful coach, they do bring excitment & hatred when they travel & fans in Sydney, Melbourne are keen to attend games & want badly to beat them.
Yes, they have been very poor in the community side of things & Mr Palmer as a billionare has too much to say.
macavity said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:22am | Report comment
that Jimmy guy is an absolute tosspot with NFI about land-based sport.
hope a shark gets him. greg bird will do nicely.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:33am | Report comment
Con
Good article.
Why are people getting stuck into the views of a local sporting journo??
To deliberately attempt to cap a crowd is idiotic – but this concept of paying what amounts to a massive fine if you get over 5,000 people sounds quite idiotic.
Billionaire businessmen are quite predictable in their motivations – if they can avoid paying 2 cents of tax – they will move heaven and earth to make it so.
Con Stamocostas said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Jimmy is the editor of this surfing website:
http://www.worldprosurfers.com/
I thought a local would give an insight into the market. As finding a local on the Gold Coast talking about football is a rare thing.
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Well you might just as well of asked your newsagent or the owner of a chinese restaurant, the answers would have been about as qualified.
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:48am | Report comment
It’s such a huge cost to get over 5k people I understand his motivation….but wtf get into that deal in the first place?
Clive may as well as bought a piece of land (he is an ex developer afterall) or done a deal with Palm Beach and built his own 5k ground.
I can onl guess they stuffed up royally with their market research on what locals would be prepared to pay (their prices are the highest in the league) and hopefully they come up with a better plan for season 2
The Answer said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:32am | Report comment
Jimmy has clearly been to one too many schoolies weeks.
cosmos forever said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:13am | Report comment
I’m over the FFA and Canberra – we get the numbers they require to second string games and they still give licences to everyone else. Raiders and Brumbies will own this town now and football will have to put up with ‘Gold Coast’ type crowds of 5,000 when two unrelated teams (Western Sydney – please) come to town.
Midfielder said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:38am | Report comment
Cosmos
Word on the street is you won’t have you long to wait before you get your A-League lience… your start date is more the isssue somewhere between 2012 & 2014.
But back to the article… the GC have been a terrible disappointment … I remember they came and looked at the Mariners model .. indicated they would use it and to date have used none of it… I am told the GC are not much into connecting with the football community like the Mariners … then the Sydney Bling squared is difficult to sell I think … finally ticket prices almost twice the amount of many existing clubs…Through in Clive Palmer who like Con (differnt Con to the writer) at the Jets just has a way of making ordinary folk not like him… i.e. buys his 18 daughter a 5 million boat …
Right place … good money … but maybe he should let his managers run the place and a bit more humble pie and connect with te football family up there.
goldcoastclint said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:08am | Report comment
Unfortunately the club is in a hard position thanks to the stadium deal that they signed. The QLD Government is making a lot of money out of GCU while the team bleeds a fortune, its simply not sustainable long-term. To add salt into the wound the QLD Government is unwilling to spend any money fix up the paddock playing surface.
If GCU do what we all want and drop ticket prices they are halving their revenue while the QLD Government laughs all the way to the bank. by capping the crowd the QLD Government is missing out on $140,000 per week + all the extra food and drink sales, so hopefully it will make sense for them to come up with more mutually beneficial terms.
Its all a bit disappointing because we want a succesful team up here but there really is bigger forces at play eg the Labor Anna Bligh (who Clive is suing for deffamation) vs the Liberal National Party Clive Palmer.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:12am | Report comment
In fairness to the Qld Govt – anytime a state government makes a substantial investment in a sporting stadium – it is hoping to receive at least some form of financial return to offset the investmet – perhaps not at commercial rates – but something has to be returned to the budget over a longish period.
goldcoastclint said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:24am | Report comment
Pippinu,
At the same time its the QLD state governments responsibilty to provide entertainment for us Queenslanders which will not always have a return on investment. Surely they have a responsibilty to do what they can to make sure that the team is a success. How about share the burdan of lower ticket prices and reap the rewards later…
The QLD Government just lost $11 Million on the A1 GP, Is spending $100’s Millions on a stadium just for the AFL team and are trying to bring the Red Bull Air Race to the Gold Coast, These are not commercial investments but do provide entertainment and make people feel good about living on the Gold Coast
Rob said | October 24th 2009 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
Well, really, the first responsibility they have is to provide infrastructure to us Queenslanders, not bread and circuses, which is exactly what they’ve given us with the upgrade to Suncorp, the building of the Robina Stadium, and all that. Their responsibiliity to provide us entertainment is NOT as important as all of those things.
That being said, if they are going to build a football stadium at Robina, at least they should make sure that it has good public transport servicing it, which again, goes back to infrastructure, which is aprimary responsibility of the Qld Govt. Public transport on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts is rubbish, and they should be investing in that sort of thing. Naturally, this investment would feed into better transport to the stadium.
But to say that the State Government has a responsiblity to provide entertainment to Queenslanders is a nonsense of the highest order.
Michael B said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Con, this article shows why some people might be turned off and why you’re getting sh*t crowds @ GC united games.
It’s blatantly obvious that you’re not a fan of league, by your petty comments towards it. Maybe, just maybe if you thought for one second that you should be trying to win across some of those league fans to GC United games? Your comments about Visigoth-type bogans with bad tatts and unsafe females at league games just alienate fans from other codes and the outcome is 5K avg crowds.
constantine said | October 24th 2009 @ 2:57pm | Report comment
you have a point
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:06pm | Report comment
I think he tried to back track later saying that the titans were going to win the comp this year but making those comments were dumb from the get go.
He’s a rugby league supporter himself so why he would piss of 85% of the QLD population by having a go at league is beyond me. especially the titans, if he had of made fun of the broncos fair enough but who has a grudge agaisnt the titans? Most people have a soft spot for them. I don’t support em but I admire what they have done on and off the field. Preston Campbell and Scott Prince are two of the nations favorite sportsmen.
macavity said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:32am | Report comment
they are fleecing the Titans too – hence they have the highest prices in RL which keeps their crowds artificially low.
and all to build an AFL stadium when (a) the AFL signed an agreement to get the GABBA upgraded and have now broken it, and (b) the AFL has buckets of money.
shame on the QLD govt for not making the AFL put their money where their mouth is.
bever fever said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
They did, the AFL provided quite a few million, a lot more than Searle and Palmer did, who gave nothing, both those clubs are privately owned, with all profits returning to the owners.
On the other hand if the GC football club makes a profit the money is funnelled back into the club not some fat cats pocket.
Are you for real.
James said | October 24th 2009 @ 6:41pm | Report comment
Good Point. The QLD government is not stupd…thay know AFL is the number 1 game in the country….and when you look at crowds (you know…the people who get their asses off the couch and pay to attend games), no other footballl club comes close to the AFL…more than double the next best. So they know that when GC plays a Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon, there will be 10,000 out of towners staying at GC hotels, drinking that crap XXXX beer and generally stimultating the Gold Coast Economy. DO NOT have a crack at the AFL, they do a sh1tload more good than harm.
Redb said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
Bever,
Dont talk sense to the RL folk some just wont listen.
The fact is the AFL team will drive more inbound tourism than any other footy team on the Gold Coast easily and that is why the QLD Govt signed up.
Redb
michaelunt said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:52am | Report comment
Nice try AFL boys but the fact is that Rugby League rules in Queensland and Rugby League fans should not be forced to pay exorbitant ticket prices to subsidise a less popular code flush with cash.
Rugby League dominates QLD in terms of crowds and viewers – the AFL is a distant second.
Just assuming superiority, as you guys always do is not an argument – it is just bloated egoism of the worst type replacing argument with an elevated sense of self importance.
Freud of Football said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:56am | Report comment
And an NRL fan coming to a football article to talk about how poor the AFL and its fan’s are?
Are you intelligent enough to sense the irony?
michaelunt said | October 25th 2009 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Yes I am mate because whatever thread you start here the AFL boys come in and tell us why there code is the best in the country ad nauseam.
If I feel like responding I will. Are you intelligent enough to understand this?
Ben Somerford said | October 24th 2009 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
I did a bit of my own ‘market research’ this week Con, posting a few threads on Titans forums to hear some views and there was some interesting responses about GCU. There’s a few links of threads below but my favourite was this reply from Diehard, a Titans fan;
“I have a very long memory.
Clive Palmer once said- “The difference between us and them (Titans) is that we will win the premiership and they probably never will.”
Needless to say, Diehard isn’t a big fan of GCU.
http://forum.titans.com.au/showthread.php?t=15758
http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=347366&page=2
Con Stamocostas said | October 24th 2009 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Well like me today it seems Clive has upset folks from the Gold Coat before a ball was kicked.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
You get around Ben.
Not a huge amount of posts, but some common themes emerge.
I know it’s very hard to compare to Melbourne, but about half of the Victory’s membership comprise AFL members (i.e. football fans with two memberships, like me), and if you go to the Victory forums, there’s no shortage of aussie rules being discussed.
The Victory management understood this from the very start and have successfully cultivated an atmosphere where aussie rules people enjoy coming out to watch the Victory.
Mitch said | October 25th 2009 @ 7:06pm | Report comment
Pretty simple why GCU arent getting crowds..
Its still Soccer!!!
Apart from the Socceroos (who are now the biggest national team) people couldnt give a toss about the game in general. Which shows in crowds and ratings..
constantine said | October 24th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
palmer is an idiot and he really needs to learn when to stop. the team needs a bit of a boost, their not an embarassment they actually play extremely well. its obviously harder considering they never had an nsl team
bever fever said | October 24th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
Where’s KB on all this.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 5:01pm | Report comment
KB has previously given his view on this – that 4,000 at the A-League provides far more atmosphere than 14,000 at Carrara (which may be true).
goldcoastclint said | October 24th 2009 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
Rob,
The Government has a lot of responsibilities, one of them is to provide or at least support entertainment eg The Olympics, parades, sporting events, libraries, art exhibitions, parks etc.
One thing the government shouldn’t be doing is running businesses, They get their incomes from rates, taxes, fines etc. It shouldn’t be from charging too much for services for their people.
Right now the state government isn’t just getting a commercial return on their stadiums they are getting much more. Why government owned stadiums are far more expensive then privately owned one is beyond me, unfortunately it is causing ticket prices to be so expensive no one wants to attend this may make our team unviable and will mean that we on the gold coast will miss out on seeing live professional football. This would mean the government would lose their main summer tenant at Skilled Park.
Rob said | October 26th 2009 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Clint,
I won’t disagree with you on the point about government running businesses, although governments have had a long history of it – from banks (CBA, Suncorp) to butchers and a fishing fleet (Qld in the 1920s), and with my socialist hat on, I am all for it., because it was not about profit, per se, but about making sure there were stable jobs floating around, an “honest player” in the marketplace to help regulate the others – moderating capitalism, if you like. We could argue economic theory here, but it isn’t really relevant. We all know about how inefficient government run enterprises are, etc.
However, when operating a business specifically FOR PROFIT, Governments tend to want an immediate return on their investment, whereas most businesses plan for incremental gains that initially cover costs and build into tidy profits. That is evidently not what is going on with the stadium deals at both Skilled Park and Suncorp since the redevelopment. This is about recouping the cash in the fastest possible time, with no regard for the sustainability of the costs they are imposing on the clubs that are, in fact, filling the govt’s pockets.
So I agree with you that the government is being an idiot about all this rental cost business.
Again, my argument really comes down to the responsibilities of government – first and foremost they need to provide the basic provisions and equality of access for all, which is where infrastructure comes into it – trains, busses, light rail, hospitals, schools, universities and TAFEs, etc. and after all of these things are sorted out, entertainment comes into it. Unfortunately, it seems, entertainment and the provision of sporting facilities seems to outweigh the provision of these other things at times. Hence the argument about crap public transport on the Gold Coast, which invariably ends up in a discussion of why people don’t attend GCU games.
Incidentally, I wouldn’t put Libraries in my list of “entertainment”. They are cultural institutions and are about literacy, learning, preserving our history, and then entertainment, a distant last place.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 8:11pm | Report comment
There is one team who is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum (in terms of being an embarssment to the A-League) and that’s the Victory.
Eight consecutive wins against Adelaide, the latest in front of 22,000 (probably the 2nd highest attendance of the season), and an emerging start (Dugandzic) should have had a hatrick.
Who needs a World Cup when we have the opportunity right here and now to witness the likes of Arch, Muskie, El Zorro, Dugandzic, Leijer, a couple of gun Thais – the list just goes on and on.
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:00pm | Report comment
The new Thai didn’t score but he looks the goods.
MV’s recruitment vs SFC bounty of young players…. it’s going to be interesting last half of the season.
Fury 19mins to go 2 – 1 up, hope they hold on.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:21pm | Report comment
Yep – they’ve done it – came back from 1-0 down.
Well done NQF – the only Queensland team that can hold its head high.
AndyRoo said | October 24th 2009 @ 9:29pm | Report comment
3 from 3 for the home teams…very un A league
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:40pm | Report comment
“Who needs a World Cup when we have the opportunity right here and now to witness the likes of Arch, Muskie, El Zorro, Dugandzic, Leijer, a couple of gun Thais – the list just goes on and on.” – I hope there was a hint of sarcasm there so subtle that I was unable to detect it.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:45pm | Report comment
Just like the title of that James Bond movie: “The World is not Enough”
Don’t worry about what the world can do for you – worry more about what you can do for your local football club.
Realfootball said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:20am | Report comment
I wish my GCU season ticket was a Victory season ticket, let me tell you. If I hadn’t paid so much for the damned thing, I’d be giving it back. Leaving aside the players, who are terrific, the club off the pitch is so disappointing. The bad judgements, the lack of professionalism in dealing with the public and the media. I was disgusted when I read that the old 5k cap issue was on the agenda again. Do these people have no self respect? Do they have no understanding of their market at all? I will most certainly not be taking out a membership next season. I’d rather travel further to see the Roar as I have done for the 4 previous seasons, because I think Postacoglou will turn corner for the club, and the fans will return. Commentators keep on saying how smart Bleiberg is. Well, I began the season with a high regard for Bleiberg but that has well and truly gone, and as someone who worked for a long time in PR and marketing, let me assure you that, contrary to Miron’s belief, there is such a thing as bad publicity. Exposure is about creating a brand, and Gold Coast have failed to create a brand that connects with its market – because, simply, they didn’t know what they were doing.
There is another match at Skilled Park next weekend. I couldn’t care less whether I go or not, and there is no more damning indictment from a member than that.
AndyRoo said | October 25th 2009 @ 6:09pm | Report comment
Someone from the roar was on TV tonight talking about opening a bay that would be $15 tickets.
I hope that’s in place before Ange’s first home game as it would be a real positive turning point for the club.
Pippinu said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
There is no better value in World sport than a Victory membership.
Davidde Corran said | October 24th 2009 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
Con I quite enjoyed your piece. I don’t necessarily agree with all your points but it’s nice to see the local community engaged in the debate (something I’m afraid Gold Coast United have done well).
Not sure why you’re getting a bit of a smashing for your approach in speaking to someone with understanding of the local layout and I don’t like the tone of it either. ‘Out of the box’ thinking should be encouraged. Keep it up.
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:38pm | Report comment
Nothing wrong with out of the box and as you said, it should be encouraged but there is no point posting that sort of crap on The Roar.
The Gold Coast is a huge area and I’m sure there are more qualified people to comment than someone whose answers make him appear as bogan as those he accuses of visiting RL matches. The comments of someone with no idea about the game or sports administration in general are totally useless and mean nothing, O’Keefe isn’t the kind of guy about to go and buy Gold Coast tickets so even from a fans perspective his answers are worthless – all in all it was a waste of time reading this article.
Pippinu said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:43pm | Report comment
Steady on Freud – it wasn’t a complete waste of time!!
con’s line: “A case of life imitating absurdity” was quite good and that was a pretty fine pre-season prediction that the billionaire owner would address the team at half time!!
Freud of Football said | October 24th 2009 @ 11:49pm | Report comment
Ok, so I read this article to find out Con made a good prediction before the season about an eccentric/idiotic billionaire who was always going to do something stupid sooner rather than later.
His posting of comments from the editor of a surfing magazine were a total waste of time and what this article was about. I’ll stick to it, a total waste of my time.
Con Stamocostas said | October 25th 2009 @ 11:16am | Report comment
I think you are over analyzing this one Freud…..
Con Stamocostas said | October 25th 2009 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Thanks Davidde
bruski said | October 25th 2009 @ 9:07am | Report comment
I am not a football fan but have been trying to make it to games and watch some A-League on TV. The problem I have now is that I have made it to 4 games, all with poor crowds and I have been trying to figure out why they cannot get the feet through the gates.
I really wanted to become a fan of GCU as a summer sport and support the other code/s in the winter months, no problem. but with the crap coming out in the media of late about the capping of the crowds to 5k well they can count me out!
Firstly, if they do not want me and others like me to come out and support them well it is a no brainer! Then there is always this underlying thing of football or as I will keep on calling it Soccer of having some sort of cultural supperiority over other codes.
Now this type of thing does nothing for the game with so many of us wanting to be convinced that Soccer is a worthwhile sport to follow; With this sort of snobbery it will and I imagine is turning would be supporters away from the club and sport!
I will give GCU a tip, watch the next 18 months at how the new Gold Coast AFL team goes about it’s business, they will work their asses off to win hearts and minds whilst soccer on the coast will continue to languish.
Lastly, how do you expect a team to be successful with no-one watching them, it makes me wonder!!
AndyRoo said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:09am | Report comment
I lived on the Gold Coast for a few years and before GCU started I would have told you their is just as much of a Football culture as their is an AFL one. I still say that.
But the AFL team will be a huge success when compared too GCU, GCU have butchered their entry into the market. Meanwhile the GC AFl team will spend a lot of money yet charge much less for tickets (and give away bucket loads of free ones too). They know posting big crowd figures gains momentum with news services, sponcers and builds a club.
Pippinu said | October 25th 2009 @ 10:19am | Report comment
It’s still a mystery how it’s going to pan out – but there’s no denying that with a club that had the resources GCU had, they’ve gone a funny way about it in garnering local support.
Re the new aussie rules teams, I can say that the Bears operated out of Carrara for its first five or six years when they were a bit of a basket case.
Some crowds were as low as 4,000, other times they were around 18,000.
So with a smarter return to Carrara, I have no problem envisaging crowds of around 12,000 to 15,000 in their first season.
AndyRoo said | October 25th 2009 @ 11:56am | Report comment
GCU would have been much better of following the Fury strategy.
They might not have much money and arent in the top 3 of the table like GCU but their tickets are cheap and the stadium has a lot of people wearing lime green. Old and young they were going off when they clinched that win last night.
They might be small now but that is a Football club with a future.
Bears last time on the GC they were a joke, prett similar to the swans before barrassi came in. K Hunt seems a similar “joke” strategy that I don’t think is the way to go but if they do everything else right it should look more legit.
danny said | October 25th 2009 @ 4:59pm | Report comment
that loss was a bit of an embarassment…
Pippinu said | October 25th 2009 @ 6:41pm | Report comment
just saw the highlights – amazing scoreline – there is clearly something wrong in that club – I wonder if Clive gave the half time speech again?
Realfootball said | October 25th 2009 @ 8:22pm | Report comment
I watched the game in Wellington with amazement – and then, as a very unhappy GCU supporter – with delight. Yes, folks, delight, because after a performance like that surely heads must roll. Bleiberg stands revealed as an emperor utterly without clothes. He will never be taken seriously by the football public and the only thing that will save GCU now is a coach with the kind of respect that Lavicka and Merrick possess. That and a massive reduction in ticket prices – so that they are the same or cheaper than the Mariners, who are the closest model of market to the Gold Coast.
But will Bleiberg going be enough if Cliver Palmer, a man who is quite open about the fact that he knows nothing about the game, is addressing the team at half time? I have the greatest respect for Palmer, but this is not the way to run a football club. And there is the unpleasant suspicion that GCU are in fact the meat in the sandwich between Palmer and his arch adversary, Premier Bligh.
I actually believed at the beginning of the season that GCU were the best thing to happen to the A League since the first kickoff of season one. I wasn’t alone in that. Instead, what we have is a weekly soap opera of decline and fall. Unless drastic action is taken to turn GCU around very, very soon – and it will require drastic surgery – I will be surprised if GCU exists next season.
I would not be at all surprised to see GCU push towards record attendance lows in the next couple of matches. We could well be entering NZ Knights territory for the game against the Fury who, on current form, will win at Skilled Park. The GCU team is clearly at rock bottom in terms of morale, and Bleiberg is equally powerless to do anything about it.
What we will see now is just how much Clive Palmer actually wants this football club to survive, because he is going to have to think about almost everything again and be prepared to eat some humble pie and admit that he got things wrong. Can he do this? Well, if he can’t, Gold Coast United are dead in the water.
Pippinu said | October 25th 2009 @ 8:43pm | Report comment
It is amazing.
The Nix has won very few games by a margin of 2 or more goals in its whole existence, let alone 6.
Even when GCU were flying at the start of the season (and looking pretty good) – I recall stating here on the Roar more than once that the combo of Panta, Thwaite and Rees was not really anything fantastic.
But that’s life in the A-League – get a marquee, fine, get a few quality players, ok, but then you’re filling the remainder of the roster with low budget players – because there’s no other way.
Still – this loss had nothing to do with that – this was something else altogether.
It’s an amazing scoreline.
Rob said | October 26th 2009 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
Hey Pip,
Yeah, it was an amazing game. I watched the whole thing, and kept thinking, boy, Thwaite looks out of his depth here. He was getting skinned all the time, he was frequently out of position – I think he was the one keeping Brown onside when he raced through and around Higgins for his goal.
Ifil made him look stupid, Daniel gave him problems, and for a guy that some (insert GCU’s most avid supporter, GAZ here) were touting as deserving a Socceroos call up, he looked massively off the pace!
I think that the players got carried away by their pre-season and very early season form, and believed some of the crap that came out of the mouths of Bleiberg and Palmer, and now that things are coming unstuck there’s a good chance that they are not sure where to go from here. Culina and Okon need to put their heads together and sort it out between them, because I don’t think Miron is up to the challenge, as he’s proved in the past.
Pippinu said | October 26th 2009 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Rob
did you watch it live? Are you a Nix supporter?
Even in a socceroos shirt, Thwaite was a bit of an oddity – he was ok on the ball (as far as defeners go), but he did have a habit of going on a wander.
Similar thing at the Victory. He had a couple of excellent games mid-season (actually helped us out of a bad patch), but then completely lost his bundle for the rest of the season and was shown up for a complete incapacity to mark players (he lost his place in the team a couple of weeks out from the finals).
AndyRoo said | October 25th 2009 @ 8:44pm | Report comment
Will be interesting to see how GCU handle it compared to the Fury after their loss to GCU in game 2.
cab711 said | October 25th 2009 @ 9:58pm | Report comment
The Nix played very well but equally the GCU played awful football. For a club that plays an excellent passing game they looked very ordinary and turned over alot of uneccessary posession especially in the GCU half. The distribution from the defensive back was absolutely horrible and when Van Stratten got pulled the structure really broke down.
Feel sorry for Culina cause he got stretched thin between mid and defence. Even Caravella couldnt play his usual game and Smeltz seemed reluctant to test his old team mates. GCU should have tried to slow down the pace of the game before it got away from them.
Ifill is fantastic, what a great player to have in the HAL. I rate him higher than Tico Hernandez. I also think the Nix kit is the best in the HAL.
Realfootball said | October 26th 2009 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
Welcome to Jason Culina’s nightmare.
bever fever said | October 26th 2009 @ 7:40pm | Report comment
Where’s KB , will he be the only barracker at their next game, if he is going he should wave so i can see what he looks like.
Fortress Miron to be defended by just one.
Con Stamocostas said | October 27th 2009 @ 5:56pm | Report comment
Great blog by Gaz on 442 today finally giving it to the club!
http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/115453,blog-an-open-letter-to-clive-palmer.aspx
Pippinu said | October 27th 2009 @ 6:28pm | Report comment
thanks for the heads up just had a look – good on him