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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, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. Palmer and Bleiberg confirmed marquee signing Socceroos star Jason Culina for their debut A-League season. AAP Image/Laine Clark
The Gold Coast United owner has really lost the plot this time. Clive Palmer’s outlandish statements before the A-League season began gave the press something to write about. And now he is generating more news.
The self-made billionaire – one of Australia’s richest men – wants to save $100,000 per game by capping the crowd at Skilled Park to 5,000.
Palmer would rather save money than see football flourish in Australia.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and NRL boss David Gallop must be laughing as this new strategy by Palmer will surely see the gap between the three codes grow even more.
At a time when the A-League expansion is meant to grow football in Australia – this doesn’t help one bit.
The move has come when the Coast could arguably have its largest crowd of the season with the A-League’s biggest drawcard – Robbie Fowler – coming to Skilled Park with his North Queensland Fury side.
For matches where Gold Coast United has crowd under 5,000 people, the rent agreement with Stadiums Queensland drops from $140,000 to $40,000 per game.
Surely that is pocket change for Palmer – a man who’s estimated wealth is $1.5 billion – although he claims a fortune of $6.5 billion.
This weekend will see cheaper tickets for fans (another incentive for a bigger crowd), but once the stadium has 5,000 supporters inside, the gates will be closed.
Why spend millions on setting up a ‘glamour club’ with the likes of Socceroo Jason Culina and New Zealand star Shane Smeltz when a dismal 5,000 people are allowed to see them play.
In pre-season Palmer was quoted as saying that money would not be a problem for United.
“Nothing is a problem for us,” he said. “My company, for one, will be happy to provide sponsorship. Nothing will stop us from going out and winning the title. We’ll have the best team in the A-League and lift the standard of the competition by about 300 per cent.”
How times have changed after a 6-0 thrashing by the former basket case of the A-League, Wellington Phoenix.
The cap is turning away fans and hurting the development of Australian football.
Is Palmer in it for the money or is he in it to allow the A-League to grow and benefit the nation on every level possible?
As an avid Perth Glory supporter, I am totally behind owner in Tony Sage because he has forked out his own money to lure the likes of Mile Sterjovski, Jacob Burns and Chris Coyne to WA.
Not only this, but Sage also dug into his own pockets to attract English Premier League sides Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers to come to Australia for their pre-season tours.
He has done this to try and increase Perth’s poor crowds of recent years – he wants the standard and support of the A-League to rival other codes./
But Palmer would rather turn away fans than pay the extra rent – what kind of message is this sending to his team’s supporters?
However, the mining giant has no qualms about flying United around to away games in one of his own private jets.
He also flew 40 of his own staff in an all-expenses paid trip to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Getting behind your fans and giving them what they want is the best way to make sure they turn up to the matches, not turning them away at the gate.
Come on Clive, this is a huge step backwards and will not give reason for fans to atten
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