A reconciliation letter to Gold Coast United

Roar Rookie

By cmag, 5 Nov 2009 cmag is a Roar Rookie

Tagged:: A-League, Clive Palmer, football, Gold Coast United

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Police direct Gold Coast United fans after they stormed a closed off area of stadium in protest of a crowd cap at Skilled Park during the round 13 A-League match between the Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury , Saturday, October 31, 2009. Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer made the decision this week to limit the Skilled Park crowd to 5,000 people to save on stadium fees. AAP Image/Dave Hunt.

Dear Gold Coast United, it is really hard for us to write this letter, considering the way you have treated us lately. Especially last week, when you just pushed us aside and basically ignored us.

Your actions of the past week and a lot of the things you said really hurt, and it felt like you didn’t want us around anymore. But truth be told, we miss you.

We still don’t understand fully why you tried to shut us out of your life, but we are willing to give you a second chance.

This is our “first big fight” and a turning point in our short relationship. We can really grow from here, but first we need to resolve a few issues.

We are glad your parents (the FFA) came and finally talked some sense into you the other day, so you could stop all this nonsense and let us back into your life. We were praying for a positive outcome, but we didn’t want to get our hopes up too high.

We know how stubborn you can be sometimes.

We also understand you are having financial difficulties at the moment. We all are.

That is one of the reasons we haven’t seen you as much as we would have liked. We hear your parents are going to help in this regard too. I hope it is not too much of a strain on them, now they are supporting your sibling (Brisbane Roar), too.

Anyway, we’re very grateful your parents have intervened and now they are helping you out. Hopefully we can start to see some positive results and our relationship can only grow from here.

We know you were disappointed and you expected more of us. We weren’t good enough and you thought you could do better. But quite simply, you need us.

As much as it pains you to hear it, you need us!

Without us you would be all alone and we know you don’t want that, do you? We know your parents certainly don’t want that. You see, your parents like us, they understand us, and more importantly they know how valuable we are in this relationship.

You have said and done some things lately, which I am sure you regret. An apology would be nice, but we don’t want to push our luck. We have said some things we are not proud of either, like when we said we would look elsewhere to get our football-fix.

We lied!

We only said that to make you jealous. You know you are the only club for us. Hopefully, one day when we are back together, we can look back on this laugh.

We really need better communication between us. So far, in our short relationship, you haven’t listened to us. We have tried, many times, to offer advice, but you wouldn’t take it and only pushed us away even further.

You wanted to do things your way and you did, and we all know how that turned out. If this is going to work, you can’t always have things your own way. You have to be willing to compromise in some situations too.

Anyway, you have promised us you have changed and we have to believe you. It may take us a little time to forgive you, but hopefully in time we will be back together bigger and stronger than ever.

We hope to see you soon.

Love always,
Your Fans

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The Crowd Says (31) | Page 1 of Comments

Rusty0256 said | November 5th 2009 @ 7:56am | Report comment

Reconcilliation is a wonderful thing providing those you are attempting to mend bridges with are not spoiled, self-centred, egotistical arseholes who display levels of warmth and affinity roughly equal to that of a junk-yard rottweiler; or in your case a mining magnate billionaire.

So best of luck with that.

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- whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:11am | Report comment
  
  well hardly a display of bona fide intentions to establish cordial relations on your part either. so whats the solution if the fans dont get over this? the club fails and they have to go back to supporting the ROAR. for the club to work Clive needs to realise the club will lose money – only 2 make money – and the club needs to make better attempts to be a community club. like the fury. like MV and like CCM. and lastly the fans need to be prepared to move on.
  
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Rusty0256 said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:31am | Report comment

Quite right. GCU needs to re-invent itself and Palmers job is to find a way to put his ego in the cupboard for a while and start to listen and learn; from the members / fans, from FFA and from the genuine football people around the club (I’d be talking to Culina and Okon for a start).

The rest of the Australian football community quickly learned to hate GCU not because of the players or the fans but because of the way they portrayed themselves, like they were better than the rest of us. Nobody expects CP to suddenly go all humble but he does need to get the hell out of the way so others can begin to re-invent the club. Let’s face it, it’s never going to be some sort of touchy-feely community club of the CCM or NQF style but it could certainly align into a more user-friendly model a-la Melbourne Victory.

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Brett McKay said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:33am | Report comment

Cmag, I was really hoping to see “it’s not us, it’s you…”

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Gibbo said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:42am | Report comment

i dont see this fight ending in spectacular make up, uh, snuggles.

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- md said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:57am | Report comment
  
  Hmm – make-up “snuggles” with Clive. Now there’s a visual delight.
  
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Redb said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment

Clive is not use to dealing with ‘customers’ just markets!

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- whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:59am | Report comment
  
  good point! and is probably used to getting his own way (which maybe he got by his brinkmanship with the stadium and FFA? because in all honesty if the team goes on and plays well all these shenanigans wld be forgotten but Clive wld have gotten financial support/ help from the FFA…)
  
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  - Redb said | November 6th 2009 @ 9:34am | Report comment
    
    whiskeymac,
    
    The other thing is that mining companies develop long term plans, their timing horizon is often 20 or 30 years. It is very process driven: explore, identify, source funds, dig a hole, process, sell commodity to established markets.
    
    Commodity being the operative word – ‘sports entertainment’ has to be sold to people (engaged), Clive is not selling gold, iron ore or coal, established commodities for hundreds of years to markets who accept them without question (quality notwithstanding).
    
    Clive has applied a Six Sigma solution to sports fandom.
    
    Redb
    
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    - AndyRoo said | November 6th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
      
      He made his first fortune in Real Estate so I would have though that involved some people skills….but perhaps it’s all just about how much is in the brown paper bag.
      
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Gaz said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:53am | Report comment

Hah! Brilliant stuff! Now let’s all get down and play some sexy football!!!

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K B said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment

I have just checked out the Ticketek prices, WOW, fantastic reductions… I will be there on Saturday night for my Football experience and hoping for a good turn-out from the supporters… We have a fine stadium, perfect conditions, and low prices, so now let’s all get behind this new club… The club is for our community and for the local kids who are aspiring to becoming full time footballers in our own backyard; who will also want to go on and play for our country in the future… The 2018 FIFA world cup is just around the corner… “Come and Play”

~~~~~~~
KB

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- whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 9:00am | Report comment
  
  speaking of which… any chance traore being an aussie in the future…. good player….
  
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  - K B said | November 5th 2009 @ 10:03am | Report comment
    
    Whsky,
    he has a lot to offer, quick, close control, very good first touch, and since his absence from the GCU they have been in terrible form — if he remains in Australia and becomes an Australian citizen I would certainly consider him as a starter for the national team…
    
    ~~~~~~~~
    KB
    
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whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment

good points.
there’s a touch of the pantomime villain in Clive, which isnt necessarily bad for the game, but does need to be checked. the rest of the footy community hated the fact he had a good player roster more than anything else. talking themselves up was OK, IMO, it was just a bit of self promotion and advertising. and the first few games of the season the club played brilliantly too to back it up. but in all honesty for me clive and his big talk really doesnt register – he’s a bit like Con at Jets.

What people didnt like is his desire to bring the game into disrepute by closing off stands. that was poor form, as was his unnecessary commentary on Farina’s demise. Interestingly Clive had threatened to cap numbers early on in the season – i wonder if the FFA back then had decided to draw a contingency plan up if he followed through or just forgot about it…

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The Bear said | November 5th 2009 @ 9:07am | Report comment

Nothing like a good barney to clear the air. I wonder if Palmer reads this blog….

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- Freud of Football said | November 5th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
  
  Queensland’s richest man has nothing better to do I’m sure.
  
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Realfootball said | November 5th 2009 @ 10:42am | Report comment

I really hope the local football fans come on Saturday, but I recognise that it may take some time for the new prices to filter through.

In the end it was a much better result than I personally had hoped for. Course I have season ticket, so it doesn’t save me money but I think most members wouldn’t care. We just want to come to a game with atmosphere and people and players who want to play as a result. Frankly, I wouldn’t complain if they let everyone in for free for a game as a marketing ploy.

Well done Archie Fraser. Bleiberg must wish that he hadn’t smart mouthed him in the press conference. The only downside for me is that they didn’t fire Bleiberg as part of the package and let Okon take over. Bleiberg absolutely has to go. His coaching is not up to it, and he is now indelibly associated with the worst aspects of this debacle. I started out thinking he was a character and good for the game. Wrong – he is egomaniacal embarrassment.

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- AndyRoo said | November 5th 2009 @ 10:55am | Report comment
  
  Roar only got 7.5k to there first game with the new prices so it will take a while.
  
  At least I feel both clubs have turned the corner and it can only get better.
  
  Mesinek, Palmer and Bleiberg should all stay away from the media they have shocking people skills when it comes to relating to the man in the street. I can’t remember the exact latest comment from Bleiberg but it was to do with steaks while the team still hadn’t announced new ticket prices and it reeked of PR disaster…luckily Bleiberg doesn’t have much credibility now, but it’s very hard to muzzle a coach so I feel he needs to go but I think your stuck with him for the rest of this year (he’s Clives mate).
  
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- K B said | November 5th 2009 @ 11:32am | Report comment
  
  Realfootball,
  I recall we had this discussion before with Miron/Okon tactics… I still believe that the tactic are Okons the right ones and Miron is the smoke and mirrors front man and I don’t think he is necessarily bad for the club, although, I have the greatest admiration for Okon as an explayer tactician, but who is not ready to handle a tough press conference interview… Miron has balls when it comes to the press and adds the comical entertaining phrases that make me smile in his interviews… Palmer with the money and Miron are very good mates… I think both are good for the club and have learnt valuable important lesson here; to not treat the supporters with disregard, no matter how much money they were losing…
  
  I believe that Archie Fraser was the real villain in all of this in the very first place for treating GCU with contempt by moving their first home match to Suncorp, creating animosity with both the ROAR and those with GCU, which should have been a much better relationship… We should have had a relationship similar to the Broncos and the Titans have… More than half way through the season and still no local derby match at skilled stadium, that’s poor scheduling by Archie Fraser, which has been my concern right from the start… Archie had played favourites in all of this instead of treating both clubs equally…
  
  ~~~~~~~
  KB
  
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  - Realfootball said | November 5th 2009 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
    
    KB
    
    Yes, I recall the discussion re. Okon and Bleiberg and tactics. The fact that team has been so tactically inept recently I think tends to support my view that Bleiberg runs the show. Okon would not have been so clueless when things started going wrong on the pitch.
    
    The way this has played out seems to me to prove fairly clearly that Miron’s stunts have not worked – quite the contrary. Regardless of what sort of a coach he is, the problem is that he is now inescapably associated with the worst of GCU and I don’t think a clean break is possible until he is gone.
    
    I also note that the team has exactly mirrored the Roar when they started losing in season 2 and Bleiberg could offer nothing in response. Even the expression on his face was the same – an unhappy impotence. GCU needs a serious coach with serious credentials.
    
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    - whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
      
      does OKON have FIFA credentials?
      i remeber the Roar under blieberg playing great football, until they got worked out by others and then cldnt do anything about it. it does look familiar to GCU now…
      
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      - K B said | November 5th 2009 @ 3:54pm | Report comment
        
        Whisky,
        Not that I’m aware of, however, when he was appointed assistant coach for GCU he took off to Italy to do a sabbatical of sorts with his old club Lazio (?) I think he is getting involved in the FFA coaching licence scheme, which will be a good start for him… His involvement with Italian clubs is very well documented as you would well know, and has a great knowledge of how things are done over there…
        
        He is a great believer of possession football the Italian way… I believe when you have played at such a top level in Italy, train, play eat, and sleep football with one of the best clubs in Italy, you get to know how to organise a team at the back and in the midfield…
        
        Undoubtedly he has been the best passer of the ball we have produced in Australia outside of Ned Zelic… But you need to know how to manage player’s egos as well as have a good knowledge of the game… That’s an area I think he needs to work on in my view, if he is going to be successful… He seems to me to be a very shy person when he is interview on TV… I believe he has to show more assertiveness as a manager; something Miron was never short of..
        
        ~~~~~~
        KB
        
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        whiskeymac said | November 5th 2009 @ 4:05pm | Report comment
        
        yes he does seem quiet. but am sure he cld get respect – if only for his resume – from the players, the test wld be whether he can assert his game plans and change the team. these are more important attributes that can still be displayed by an introvert (if indeed he is one – maybe just media shy?) but i know what you mean. more wenger than mourinho or in the local context,more herbert than blieberg maybe.
        
        maybe he can get totti over as a guest player. (someone shld tell Davvide Corran….)
        
        i hope all our future coaches follow that example and go off to European clubs to learn the managerial role.