Can Brisbane Roar turn their troubles around?

Interesting looking back isnt it. Especially when its a positive outcome(on the park at least). Last 5 home games should give some indication as to whether the lost fans are returning.

It seemed pretty unlikely back in April bit well done Ange and the Roar for turning it arround.

well said, there are clever ways to get around the over-rep of blue by using secondary colours better. maybe on the away strip. go the gryphon, its our coat of arms!

Good post TomF That was an issue that bugged me that I forgot about. Kick offs later than 7:30 really annoy me.

I would say that the FFA have a big share of the blame why more kids don't come to games- when you see the scheduling of Roar games to suit Southern TV times! Many games, especially during daylight saving down south don't start until quite late up here (often 8pm kickoffs!). This means they finish way too late for families, who unsurprisingly, stayed away in droves this year. That was one of the greatest differences I noticed in the stands this year. That and the amount of empty seats in "The Den". If those who are supposedly the core of support can't be bothered, why will anyone else!

Roar didn't distance themselves from Lions, it was the other way round. Roar were bleeding Lions dry.

The best bit is that the AFL have already pathed the way with the Aus-kick program so we know it works. I seem to bang on and on and on about this but its all about the kids. GRASS ROOTS FOOTBALL. the sole reason I love football is because of my coaches and them doing the extra bit. getting tickets making us aware of football overseas etc. think about it most people dont start being a massive (insert sport here) fan as a adult. they usually grow up with it. But I feel the the AFL and NRL are really scared of Australias WC bid it not about losing a stadium it about the massive exposure football will have to the kids. Football has the benefit over other code as it deemed safer for kids and it so esy to play at every level. I think the FFA is the best thing that has happended to football in the country and a scheme from the FFA that can be rolled out to each A- League club should be started. You treat kids with comtempt and think of them as a $$ figure you will get know where. The A- League should have a 10 year - 20 year and 50 year goal.

As an aside,theres a strong chance Roar may play Everton in the annual Roar Against Racism charity match. For me its a double edged sword playing a stronger team. It may pull in over 30,000 like the Celtic match,but unless the Roar can compete it exposes the gap in football standard as the Celtic game did. Now were talking about getting in the punters. Many of the football fans at this match will be Euro followers,the ones who see the A-League as definitely not being value for money. If we can compete against these clubs, put up a show,some may turn up for Roar matches. However(& this is a personal opinion) if like last year against Celtic we are hopelessly outclassed it just reinforces the Euro followers reasoning to not turn up at the Roar. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27016660-23215,00.html

Fortress Miron? Try sandcastle, with Miron as the small, loud, offensive and annoying child with the bucket.

If you want to get pedantic, the colours are Blue and white/gold. Those colours would be fine as they represent Brisbane. Nothing wrong with having Blue white and Maroon. To take the mall thing further, if you asked Brisvagians what the city's colours were, I bet you would get a long, blank stare.

Not bad idea re the barca style strip. A bundesliga team (that I can't remember) has a maroon strip with thin orange/yellow horizontal stripes. Perhaps its a change strip. Anyway I'm a big fan of that kit. Or like I said elsewhere you can look at Roma, Villa et al. Not sure if it's a bad thing to go maroon as there are more queensland teams in the comp. Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide took their state colours. That makes the decision not to go maroon ever worse. Re ipswich and sunny coast - teams there are a long way off. Just as the lions and broncos are supported by people through south-east qld so is the roar. Just not at the same scale.

Jeb & etat One hopes the Roar management have an idea of what fans are thinking. Jebs lines "Heaps of people gave the roar chance after chance and were never rewarded. My friends and I saw almost every home game over the first three seasons but enough was enough. It’ll take something extraordinary for the us to go again and for crowds to get to 15K." speaks volumes. What that shape ,that extraordinary comes in I think is probably personal. For me its simply that I"d like to see the team play attractive winning football at home & pay a reasonable price to do so bearing in mind I'm not watching the EPL. My own opinion is that the Roar have carried some players from the beginning not of A-League standard. Particularly in the area of being able to choose the right option & read the play. Also the club culture because of strong personalities with too much personal connection to Frank Farina wasnt going in the right direction. So regardless, you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Ange for me has no choice,but to start afresh & set himself up as a saviour or get hung out to dry. Personally I accept that scenario. So far he is doing okay in recruiting from the back,but I dont yet see the exciting players going forward. Hopefully his trip to Europe proves fruitful in this regard. Because its a vital cog in the wheel, to help start getting back the ones lost after season three.

Nice one AF.

Jeb - I see your point and strongly agree with you about the cultural support for maroon. It's huge and I claim it as well. I think it's difficult to swing though if there is more than one Queensland based team in the comp. Perhaps a Barca style maroon and blue kit? What do you think?

Jeb - Ipswich and Sun Coast will soon have their own teams. In the next 10 to 15 years both areas will have populations greater than Newcastle. Check the projections on growth in queensland. This population growth means that people from Ipswich (and they will tell you they are from Ipswich and not Brisbane) and Sun Coast are likely to have their own teams to support. They won't need a team from Brisbane. Have you seen the setup of Sunshine Coast FC in the QLD State League (its a taster of things to come - that club is aiming for the A League)? Re colours for a Brisbane FC, maroon is the state colour and the team would look a bit stupid with (perhaps eventually) five or more Queensland based teams playing in the A League and the Brisbane team pretending to be all things Queensland. If the club is going to wear maroon as a dominant colour then they should call themselves Queensland and stop pretending to be from Brisbane. Let another setup take that licence. The club can't have it both ways.

Gold Coast United FC are only just down the road---hope to see your there son, at Fortress Miron.. :) _____ AF

Agree 100% with your sentiments etat. Just not sure if you're on the right track when it comes to implementation. Put it this way - I've lived here my whole life and wouldn't know that Blue is brisbane's colour and I wouldn't know that the gryphon is, well whatever. But I know that I bleed maroon and that I instinctually support any team that wears it. I'm not the only one. Not tapping into this was a huge mistake from day one in my opinion.

Towser - good value entertainment is absolutely number one. If the club can win and the hardcore Brisbane Roar fan, football supporter or passer by, can have a good time for a good price then that's fantastic. However, we need to look beyond a simple product / price combination. "Story" is key. The extensive investments by AFL clubs in the history of Aus Rules and the great names of their clubs is something that a new Brisbane soccer club wont be able to copy. This means that the club lacks heart and soul. It's a paper lion. The best way to overcome this is to borrow heart and soul. The iconography of the city of brisbane is the best source of heart and soul until the club develops fully.

The horse bolted long ago. What killed the club was the hopeless performances at home. Heaps of people gave the roar chance after chance and were never rewarded. My friends and I saw almost every home game over the first three seasons but enough was enough. It'll take something extraordinary for the us to go again and for crowds to get to 15K. Nothing short of total rebranding and a total break from the past is enough. That's a bit melodramatic but I can't stress enough how badly the roar is thought of. They're a joke. Rightly or wrongly, football still has it's detractors, especially in a league town like Brisbane and they haven't made it easy to be a supporter by giving the team the stupidest name ever and the worst strip in history. Forget the stupid orange. Going to maroon is a no-brainer and they could do something really classy with it. Think Roma, Nurnberg etc. Someone said earlier that it's about brisbane not queensland and that maroon is the state colour. Well that's right but I think we identify as being queenslanders first and foremost. And there actually is a need for brisbane f.c. to also be the team for ipswich, sunny coast etc.

Some great replies. Shows the level of interest in the Roar for me. Overall impression is that colours,history are peripherals, winning at home & reasonable ticket prices are imperative. Also for me leadership starts at the top. Bombolas so far is a dud in my book on all counts.