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So Shane Smeltz is off to Perth Glory following his two-month stint back on the Gold Coast. Forget about questions of player loyalty, the real issue is whether United will soon go the way of North Queensland Fury, with all indications suggesting Clive Palmer is growing tired of bankrolling the club.
Palmer said as recently as February he was committed to United, despite reputedly holding talks with Brisbane Roar about taking over the licence in the Queensland capital.
“The future of (United) 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 told reporters just days after allegedly meeting with the Roar.
But with Gold Coast offering only one-year contracts for next season, surely a valid question is what Palmer plans to do after that.
Not only have United seen Smeltz exit for Perth in a three-year deal reportedly worth $1.2 million, but the club’s inaugural marquee signing Jason Culina barely waited for the season to end before confirming his departure to the Newcastle Jets.
Zenon Caravella has jumped ship to Adelaide United – with Bruce Djite seemingly set to join him – and with Bas van den Brink, Dino Djulbic and Steve Pantelidis also gone, one has to wonder what sort of squad Miron Bleiberg will oversee next season.
If it’s a squad cobbled together on the cheap, with bit-part players signed to fill ever-increasing gaps, then attendances at Skilled Park will be even lower than the pitiful 3,400-odd average the club recorded last season.
Let’s face it, although United at times play an attractive brand of football, Gold Coast residents have clearly not embraced the club, and the few thousand hardy fans who do make it out to Skilled Park will be watching an entirely different team take to the pitch next season.
It’s hard not to imagine United’s 2011-12 campaign becoming an entirely pointless exercise if Palmer plans to pull his money out at the end of the season, especially when it’s clear the greater Gold Coast community remains largely indifferent to the club’s fate.
And if Gold Coast were to disappear, it’s bad news for fans of rival clubs hoping to see their team qualify for the AFC Champions League, since Australia looks to be stuck with just the two ACL positions until our domestic league expands.
For all his assurances to the contrary, it’s difficult to see a hard-nose businessman like Palmer throwing good money after bad should attendance figures fail to improve in Robina next season.
Even if Gold Coast slash ticket prices – as Football Federation has asked all clubs to do – it may take the signing of a genuine marquee star to attract football fans from the glitter strip and its surrounding suburbs back into the ground.
And it may also take some more convincing assurances from Palmer himself, to dampen the growing fear he will withdraw funding at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.
I’ve argued before that adding United to the A-League was a mistake, but now that we’ve got a 10-team competition, it doesn’t bode well for the future if we can’t even manage to sustain that.
But one-year contract extensions and the departure of key players don’t exactly scream commitment, so unless Gold Coast United change their tune over the coming months, the writing could soon be on the wall for the A-League’s most unpopular club.