Say goodbye to Gold Coast United
Columnist By Mike Tuckerman, 20 Feb 2012 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- A-League, Clive Palmer, football, Gold Coast United
135 Have your say
3,928 reads
Gold Coast United's coach Miron Bleiberg. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Related coverage
“The A-League is a joke.” There, in a nutshell, is the problem of getting into bed with the devil.
We talk about the need for football people to run our clubs and Clive Palmer has made it palpably clear he is not one of those.
Palmer’s outburst in yesterday’s Sunday Mail may have been extraordinary, but surely it was also calculated.
It was as considered as the decision to appoint a 17-year-old rookie as captain was calculated.
Just as the slashing of the wage bill at the end of last season and the signing of players to one-year contracts was calculated.
Just like getting offside with a proud and clearly competent coach like Miron Bleiberg was calculated. Did Palmer want Bleiberg to quit as coach of the Robina side? I think so.
Why else would he have publicly belittled a coach who led his team into successive finals series?
Perhaps because he thinks the A-League is “a joke” and men like Bleiberg are expendable.
“I don’t even like the game,” Palmer told the Sunday Mail’s resident football journalist Marco Monteverde. “I think it’s a hopeless game. Rugby league’s a much better game.”
So why invest time and money into the sport in the first place? Is it because Palmer the businessman thought it was a sure-fire way to score points in football-mad Asia?
Or like the archetypal playground bully, did Palmer simply feel his status as Queensland’s richest man would buy him instant sporting success, only to turn around and throw a tantrum because things haven’t gone his way?
How else can United make a statement saying Bleiberg has been “disrespectful,” only for the club’s owner to say two days later he thinks football is a “hopeless game?”
One rule for Bleiberg and another rule for Palmer? Absolutely.
Because Palmer has always wanted to run his football club as an oligarchy. And he’s always been frustrated at the thought of having to play by somebody else’s rules.
One gets the sense that when the FFA politely dismissed some of his less helpful suggestions – the football “State of Origin” idea springs immediately to mind – Palmer was genuinely shocked.
And while it may be cliché to suggest Palmer doesn’t hear the word “no” too often, surely there’s some truth behind it.
Because every time Palmer has been criticised for the way he runs Gold Coast United, he has reacted by doing or saying something even more outlandish.
The only question remaining is why?
Why deliberately antagonise and provoke such a backlash if there are still two years of his A-League licence to run?
Having decided Gold Coast United is no longer his preferred plaything, is Palmer simply burning all his bridges before relinquishing control?
That’s what I think is happening. Palmer said it himself.
“The club is a very small, insignificant portion of what I do,” he said yesterday.
I can’t see one of those projects being Gold Coast United once the 2011-12 campaign is over. Whether FFA can afford to take over at yet another club is another matter entirely.
For now, the competition has a real problem on its hands.
Clive Palmer has made it clear he has no interest in the A-League.
Football fans – starting with what’s left of United’s support – should make it clear we have no interest in having him.
Because the sooner Palmer is hounded out of the A-League, the quicker we can move on from the sorry mess that is this club inexorably bound for extinction.
More opinion:
Adrian Musolino: It’s time to cut Gold Coast United loose
Luke Doherty: A-League’s Palmer feud expected to drag on
Mike Tuckerman is a Sydney-born journalist and lifelong football fan. After lengthy stints watching the beautiful game in Germany and Japan, he has settled in Brisbane and has been a Roar columnist since December 2008. Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman
- Explore:
- A-League, Clive Palmer, football, Gold Coast United
February 20th 2012 @ 7:15am
Roarchild said | February 20th 2012 @ 7:15am | Report comment
From Clive Palmer via Twitter
“I like soccer but dislike how it’s run. Overpaid FFA execs also giving Fox Sports cheap TV rights. Free-to-air TV should be able to bid”
February 20th 2012 @ 11:13pm
Soccer Fan said | February 20th 2012 @ 11:13pm | Report comment
If you actually all read what Clive said, it mirrors what a lot of Australian soccer and A-League fans have been saying all along.
A) Ben Buckley is a dud CEO
B) Get A-League onto free to air tele
C) What is the FFA doing to promote the game.
Clive is staying until the A-League falls over in other words, get used to it.
February 20th 2012 @ 7:57am
Fussball ist unser leben said | February 20th 2012 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Mike you’ve raised some excellent “why” questions. What a shame Marco Monteverde, the journo from the Courier Mail didn’t have the foresight to ask those questions. Oh well, let’s hope Clive reads this article and responds.
But, to get some insights into some possible answers to your questions, we can refer to this 2009 interview on 60 minutes.
After spending many hours with Palmer, the 60 Minutes Reporter, Charles Wooley, reached the conclusion that:
“Clive Palmer wants to make the world game, our game, to make soccer our national sport … (he) is determined to turn Australia into the world’s next soccer giant”.
In that interview, Palmer said: “(Football is) a game that’s not based on violence, or breaking your nose or getting the other guy, it’s based on skill, and it’s a game where Australia’s ranked 16th in the world and, one day, we could be ranked first.”
To give an indication of just how small his investment in the Gold Coast is compared to his other investments, Palmer observed that: “I spend a lot more money on replacing the tyres on my company’s trucks (than I do on the Gold Coast United football club)”!
In concluding the interview, Wooley asked Palmer about his motivations for owning the GCU and Clive said:
“I own it for enjoyment. We play very positive football. We try to score as many goals as possible, and we’re really saying to the people – the kids, everyone watching – If you’ve got it, this is your opportunity, this is your life, make the best of it.
You saw the reaction we got from the crowd, and isn’t that satisfying to think you can stand there and there’ll be a couple of hundred people wanting to shake your hand because they’re happier than they were yesterday? What’s wrong with trying to make people happy?”
Source: http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/855184/the-big-league
February 20th 2012 @ 10:17am
stam said | February 20th 2012 @ 10:17am | Report comment
Some good points,
What has changed in such a short time frame for him to be so optimistic in that 60 minutes article to his recent outburst? Does he not see the potential that he once believed? Was he lying at the start? Is he just a big cry baby who is upset that things arent going exactly to plan?
If you where to base his decision making on GCU you’d have to assume he isnt worth a penny.
February 20th 2012 @ 8:00am
Kasey said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:00am | Report comment
I think now it’s a case of containing the damage for FFA. FFA have to be prepared for the worst case scenario. I’ve wracked my brains and with some experience dealing with egotistical people, I think Clive has proceeded with calculated motives here. He can’t/won’t get his own way so I predict he’ll get vindictive and seek to cause as much damage to this insignificant league and ‘ hopeless’ sport. I guess I’m with Midfielder on this one, I perdict he’ll try to take down FFA before he leaves, but how? What is my prediction?…He’ll sucker the FFA in by kind-of playing nice and ‘graciously agreeing’ to fund GCU for another season. FFA will accept like a battered wife who knows her partner is bad for her but stays because he has the money. Then on the eve of the 2012-13 season, he’ll announce that GCU are pulling out immediately, giving FFA absolutely no time to organise a contingency plan and thus making football look completely amateur hour. Job done. The only alternative is to make such unreasonable demands of Clive (such as he pre-pay for the season up front,) or have a contract in place whereby breaking the contract is cost prohibitive for him…a problem when a bloke is worth billions and FFA seem incapable of writing a contract worth more than the paper it is written on.
Going back to my battered wife analogy, FFA need to grow a spine and cut this dead weight lose from football. I struggle to find even one positive in the 3 years of Clive Palmer’s involvement in football in this country.
He’s given 20-30 players a shot at pro football is the best I could come up with.
Balancing that out are: he has completely poisoned the field on the Gold Coast for a future football team I think by alienating good football people (I’m thinking of the Beach and their ilk).
He has provided the knockers with easy ammunition to use against the sport with a constant stream of bad publicity for a game and a league trying valiantly to grow a positive image in the wake of the SocAus/NSL legacy of semi-pro organisation.
Overall a negative time for the sport. Surely it is past time for the FFA to lawyer up and cut loose the dead weight that is Clive Palmer’s involvement in football.
February 20th 2012 @ 8:23am
Midfielder said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Well said Mike but you get the feeling he wants to take those he blames down … FFA & BB … this guy loves to sue …
February 20th 2012 @ 1:36pm
Griffo said | February 20th 2012 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
…or he wants to recuperate some of the money he has lost back when he leaves.
February 20th 2012 @ 8:24am
jamesb said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:24am | Report comment
I suppose Lowy needs to be step in. Maybe he could talk to Palmer about relinquishing the final two years of his licence, and that Lowy would finance the Gold Coast club for a year or two until they get the right backers or consortium put in place.
Its obvoius that Palmer doesn’t have much time or respect for Buckley, so Lowy has to take charge here.
interesting story today from Ray Gatt about :
“A PROMINENT eastern suburbs-based businessman has been approached by Football Federation Australia to head a high-powered consortium with the aim of having a western Sydney franchise up and running by next season. ”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/tycoon-in-secret-talks-with-a-league/story-fn63e0vj-1226275186556
but at the end of the day, Palmer HAS to go.
February 20th 2012 @ 8:25am
Chris said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:25am | Report comment
All very well to say the FFA needs to cut him loose, but there is the small matter of a legal contract in place. As I’ve said in other posts, unless Palmer breaks one or more of the conditions of his licence, there is nothing the FFA can do. One thing might be a “bringing the game into disrepute” kind of thing. Does anyone know whether that’s part of the licence?
February 20th 2012 @ 8:32am
jamesb said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:32am | Report comment
Palmer has brought the game into disrepute with those comments, but the key thing is Chris as you mentioned, has Palmer broken one of those conditions in his licence if its included?
If it isn’t included as part of his licence, than the FFA have only but themselves to blame
February 20th 2012 @ 8:25am
The Special One said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:25am | Report comment
It’s unfortunate it has come to this, but questions need to be asked about the FFA as well .
February 20th 2012 @ 8:32am
The Cattery said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:32am | Report comment
There are many lessons for the FFA, especially in relation to handing out future licenses, for instance, is it wise to give out a 5 year license?
February 20th 2012 @ 8:40am
Kasey said | February 20th 2012 @ 8:40am | Report comment
There’s nothing wrong with a 5 year licence if the owner isn’t an egotistical megalomaniac with no idea on how to engage with the co9mmunity. If 5 yr licences aren’t given out, then sokkah haterz accuse the league of being a fly-by-night operation and death ride it. A 5 yr licence allows for a 5yr plan and stability in planning for both the FFA and the licence holder.
That said, there are absolutely lessons to be learned by FFA. I don’t think they are the lessons you think they are though. It should be as simple as better due diligence carried out prior to expansion and appropriate framework for new licence holders to follow in setting up their new club.
February 20th 2012 @ 10:12am
Matt F said | February 20th 2012 @ 10:12am | Report comment
5 years seems like the ideal time frame for me. Anything less and you’re not really giving them time to establish themselves. The problem here isn’tt the length of the license, but that it has clearly been given to the wrong person. Then again hindsight is 20/20
February 20th 2012 @ 10:18am
The Cattery said | February 20th 2012 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Matt F said: “The problem here isn’tt the length of the license, but that it has clearly been given to the wrong person.”
And my point is that if you can reverse that, then the length of license doesn’t matter if it’s given to the right person, or consortium.
All that is needed is some due diligence and a bond to cover, say, 1 years of player salaries, but otherwise, the license is relatively open-ended.
February 20th 2012 @ 10:59am
Matt F said | February 20th 2012 @ 10:59am | Report comment
True, though I think a 5 year license still privdes good security. Players might be more hesitant going to a club if it’s only got a 2 year license for example as they may see it as more of a 2 year “trial run.”
An open-ended license might also give the impression that the club can be scrapped as soon as it starts going a little below it’s targets. Certainly, with the quick demise of the NZ Knights, NQ Fury and now maybe GC, the FFA doesn’t have a great track record of long-term support.
Although the license does go for 5 years, their are various conditions that must be met for them to keep ther license for the full term, hence how the Fury were cut after 2 seasons. The problem the FFA have is that, no matter how much money GC lose, as long as Clive bails them out then they’ll meet their financial requirements for the license. Judging from his recent comments, he may well just do this out of spite.
February 20th 2012 @ 1:44pm
Griffo said | February 20th 2012 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
The question is: do you give a 5 year license to someone with no experience on the game or at kick-starting a club?
The more I think about it, the more I think there should be a clause in a new 5-year license that contains outlines of the FFA appointing an CEO to the owner to help start and run a football club.
This might also make the FFA do better at researching the best place to choose where the new license will go, especially if owners of Palmer’s ilk might hold the FFA liable for the club’s failure in the first five years.
February 20th 2012 @ 9:01am
jamesb said | February 20th 2012 @ 9:01am | Report comment
Kasey i agree
5 year licences is the right time frame. But the problem for the FFA is their dealing with an egotistical so and so.
If GCU does fold, than I don’t think you’ll see a franchise there again. If not for a long time. Its an area which NRL and basketball teams have struggled in the past, and thats a warning for Titans and Suns.
I reckon down the track the FFA should look towards getting the Fury back and base a team on the Sunshine Coast. A pop. of over 250,000 and growing, plus theres no other team to compete with like the Suns, Titans and Blaze.
The FFA can have the sunshine coast all to themselves. It will be a long time before the NRL and AFL base a team there
February 20th 2012 @ 9:14am
Titus said | February 20th 2012 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Meanwhile talk of a Western Sydney team heats up;
http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/tycoon-in-secret-talks-with-a-league-as-second-sydney-team-dream-moves-closer-to-fruition/story-e6frf4gl-1226275412008
As much as I think WS is the right move, I hope they get the foundations right this time. 3 months wouldn’t give them a lot of time to prepare.
February 20th 2012 @ 9:25am
Kasey said | February 20th 2012 @ 9:25am | Report comment
I agree 3 months is much too short a time frame, even if Gold Coast went belly up right away, giving the new team 30-odd players on the market instantaneously. WS is a crucial expansion for football. After failures in Townsville and Gold Coast, the FFA just cannot afford to mess this up. It would be better to give the new WS team 3 months plus next season to plan and get everything right before entering in season 2013-14. I like the linking of Ante Milicic to the new team. I was always an admirer of his playing style.
February 20th 2012 @ 9:35am
Titus said | February 20th 2012 @ 9:35am | Report comment
A team of Mllicic and Popovic would be a pretty good start in terms of admin, local boys too.
February 20th 2012 @ 12:08pm
Kasey said | February 20th 2012 @ 12:08pm | Report comment
Isn’t Poppa currently involved with SFC?
That would be a coup for a WS team and could be the kick- start of a beautiful rivalry, not that I imagine it would take long to germinate(unlike the red and blue twins in Melbourne, WS and SFC would immediately have a definite geographic point of difference:) )
February 20th 2012 @ 12:21pm
Titus said | February 20th 2012 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
Poppa is currently assistant coach at Crystal Palace, he was assistant at SFC for a while.
I think everyone at SFC was assuming Poppa wouldn’t be ready to come home, or that he wouldn’t be ready for a head coach gig, hence why there hasn’t been a lot of speculation of him taking the SFC job.
February 20th 2012 @ 12:26pm
Kasey said | February 20th 2012 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
I really feel that Miron and Sydney FC would be a good match. Miron has form in bringing on a young team and still playing attractive & competitive football.
Miron also has great form as a promoter(in the Sheedy mould) of the game. Both attributes I think would be well suited to the Sydney job. Now that he has quit GCU, I think SFC could do a lot worse than at least sound him out.
February 20th 2012 @ 12:48pm
Titus said | February 20th 2012 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
I am a fan of Mirons and think that if given the resources he would do well. The season that Sydney won the double, I thought that GCU were the best team playing the best football. However, I think Sydney will go after a bigger fish, at least initially.
February 20th 2012 @ 10:05am
Matt F said | February 20th 2012 @ 10:05am | Report comment
I agree Kasey, 3 months is too short. The Fury were rushed in probably a season too early and look what happened there. Assuming this consortium gets up, give them another season to get properly set up and get the foundations right.
February 20th 2012 @ 9:32am
Bondy said | February 20th 2012 @ 9:32am | Report comment
Generally I like to add my two bobs worth on most articles , but I think this article sums everything up .