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Gold Coast United club chairman Clive Palmer (right) and head coach Miron Bleiberg speak at a press conference at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. AAP Image/Laine Clark
He called media speculation to the contrary “nonsense” and insisted Gold Coast United’s future is secure, so why was Clive Palmer allegedly meeting with Brisbane Roar officials last weekend? Could it be because this season’s potential A-League champions are on the brink of collapse?
Three days ago, The Courier Mail’s resident football writer Marco Monteverde alleged Palmer met Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou a day after the Roar’s 4-0 thrashing of Gold Coast at Suncorp Stadium.
What the basis of those talks were is unknown, but the result was Palmer’s pledge to continue his support of the embattled United.
“The future of the club was never in doubt and we will be proceeding next season with the same aim that we’ve had every season – to do our best to win the competition,” Palmer later said.
But on the eve of United’s finals showdown with the Melbourne Victory, the speculation once again brings into question whether Palmer has Gold Coast’s long-term interests at heart.
And it comes on the back of reports Football Federation Australia was seriously considering switching Sunday’s sudden-death decider from Skilled Park to Etihad Stadium because of pitch concerns.
The Skilled Park surface resembles a donkey track at the best of times, but with Brisbane Roar and North Queensland both playing rescheduled fixtures there – not to mention the recent NRL All-Star Game – the pitch could be in a diabolical state on Sunday.
It’s not a good look for the A-League, and nor are the thousands of empty seats which will frame the backdrop of the match for TV viewers.
Then there’s the fact United’s star man Jason Culina is on the verge of leaving, and it doesn’t surprise me his name has been linked with a J. League club.
The penny has finally dropped in Japan that Australians can actually play, and Alex Brosque’s move to Shimizu S-Pulse could open the floodgates for a wave of departures from the A-League.
Former Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek is a close friend of new S-Pulse coach Afshin Ghotbi, so don’t be surprised if Brosque isn’t the only Aussie to lob up alongside Brosque and Eddy Bosnar in the Nihondaira foothills.
Plenty more Japanese clubs have been exposed to Australian players on the Asian stage, but Culina is surely the pick of them, and the talismanic midfielder’s exit from the Gold Coast could prove crippling.
He arrived with the tagline of the most talented Australian to play in the A-League, so to see the injured Culina limp forlornly out the back door just about sums up Gold Coast’s fortunes.
I don’t begrudge Clive Palmer his input in the game and nor do I think the FFA can look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to funding clubs.
But I do think Palmer is being disingenuous when he labels as “nonsense” media concerns about Gold Coast’s potential demise – especially when another Queensland club are at death’s door.
Unless a saviour like Palmer comes sailing out of the sunset and into Townsville Harbour, it looks like the A-League will be a 10-team competition next season after the terminal decline of North Queensland Fury.
And with miniscule attendances, a looming player exodus and a club benefactor reputedly courting big brother up the road, there’s every chance Gold Coast United could also go from potential champions to potentially extinct.