GCU: from potential champs to potentially extinct?

=) mike loves his westerns

"Unless a saviour like Palmer comes sailing out of the sunset and into Townsville Harbour" To be accurate, if you were sailing into the Port of Townsville, you would be sailing out of the sunRISE. Just saying.

Yes Axelv, I was just cutting to the chase----I didn't necessarily find it too important to write too much in my reply, but just getting to the crux of the matter, with the inevitable outcome of this year's season's end... :D

how do GCU plan on playing in the ACL? you do realise they have to make the grand final? Victory, Adelaide and Mariners stand in the way :D , and getting past Victory looks extremely unlikely! (oops, i've written off mariners already :D)

It would be interesting to see this winter how the suns and the titans go as far as crowds go. Gold coast only has a pop of over 500,000 not a million so lets see what happens AS far as gold coast united is concerned the FFA should shut them down. You should never have a club that puts in a crowd cap. Fury to stay.

Few points for consideration. Clive shuts Gold Coast; the remaining 185 GC supporters go boo-hoo. Clive wedges his not inconsiderable bum into the chairman's seat at the Roar. FFA says thank you Clive for 1) closing embarrasing franchise and 2) taking Brisbane off their financial drip-feed. Clive's boy Miron gets a new office upstairs at the Roar - Ange not happy. Ange says thanks for the memories and takes a job in Asia. Miron comes downstairs to be coach and half the squad start looking at their contracts. Queensland United are born playing in a unique Orange, Gold, Maroon and Blue strip. Meanwhile the 'Big Fella' enjoys just one too many of his long lunches... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlK62rjQWLk

No decisions to discard any club should be based on the past 2 years performance when the focus of FFA and all its resources were directed towards the World Cup bid. We need at least one year of normalised trading with the focus back on HAL and with proper promotion behind it before we can know whether to change anything. And that goes for these suggestions of an Oct start. No 7 month off season please!! Don't change anything until we've backed HAL, the season's schedule and these clubs in the way they should have been in the first place!!

Harry Kewell will play in Europe next season. He is too good not to.

There is no way of knowing exactly what was said behind closed doors. GCU admit that the FFA approached Clive, but that Clive rejected the deal. It could be as you state Mike, or it could be Clive sounding out Ange. However I think Clive will look for someone who will be his yes man, he seems to autocratic to have a free thinking Ange. We will aslo wait and see what they do with signiungs in the off season. After all Harry Kewel doesnt have another contract at Gala yet, does he? :) As football supporter in this country i just had no choice but to support GCU when they cam along. I was surprised it happened as quick as it did and I said before it happened that expansion was too sonn when the "Galaxy" bid was going down. And that has proved to be the case. There are football fans on the GC, no doubt about it. They just dont go to the games for any number of reasons. In the mean time i will be there until we either fold or actaully pick up a crowd :)

The crowds are appalling, the community doesn't really care and with the Titans and Suns proving to be very popular there simply isn't enough room for Gold Coast United. The FFA should have realised this was going to happen. Expansion happened too quickly.

That's what happens when the Club is the hands of a sole owner all be it a billionaire one. If he pulls the pin they are stuffed. There needs to be measures implemented by the A-League heirarchy to mitigate the risk of this happening elsewhere ( If Palmer does in fact pull out ). I had serious reservations about the A- League introducing 2 new teams in Qld. Nth Qld was baffling and GC to a lesser extent however the embarrasing crowds at Skilled tell the tale. The A-League are following the old NBL model.

Not a bad idea Funk. Gold Coast is not going to happen. Apart from a few football likers, that area is full of rugby league freaks and other mindless acts. I just cant see that club ever getting it together. But the game needs Clive and he should back a more viable proposition like Brisbane.

I can't see Ange missing out on ACL football Whisky after the Grand Final has been played. There should be lots to do on the Coast next year to get GCU ready for the ACL.. And on a brighter note those poor Helensvale Raw supporters who have to travel 2hrs both ways to see the Raw play, their time travel will be reduced to only 20 mins both ways. (lol)

Just call it a merger and call the team Queensland United. It will kill off two ugly birds with one stone. Get rid of the GCU club which is a lame duck and elimate the silliest nickname in world sporting history. A win, win for the planet.

Meanwhile, in a universe far, far away...

Wld Ange give up the chance for ACL glory? Wld he give up building a legacy at Roar for GC? will be interesting to see if your wish has substance AF.

"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." It is not hard to figure this one out Mike. It's the Roar who are floundering in debt not the GCU FC. As reported in the Courier Mail, Clive met with Ange to discuss football matters. However, it was probably to take the reins at GCU FC and Miron to move up stars as technical football director, which has always been the plan from the outset when Paul Okon was his assistant. There was an interesting paragraph in the Courier Mail's piece that said, talks broke down after players contracts were discussed in the discussions between Clive and Ange, with Clive saying we don't walk away from older player's contracts who have signed on for three years at the club. At that point according to the Courier Mail the discussion was over. So what was really the discussion all about? Was it Ange coming to the GCU and putting a broom through the place; repeating his football philosophy of signing young players for United? Or was it Clive taking his old players to the Raw to replace the youngsters? Common sense tells me it was a discussing to bring Ange to the Coast. Not Clive buying the cash strapped Raw. As for the Robina Stadium it is a state-of-the-art facility that had a near perfect surface last year. This year it is crap. However, I'm looking forward to seeing Ange at GCU next year, with lower tix prices, and a prefect surface to play football on. Also may I add, in the recent post match interview it was interesting to note, Miron jumped to Ange's defence when Michael Thwaite lambasted Ange as being disrespectful. Yes Mike, I'm looking forward to seeing Ange as our new coach and Miron as our technical director next year at Skilled Park Robina.. Watch this space.

Death by a thousand cuts.

Seriously give Palmer 50%+ of Fury along with Fans funding the rest and let the GCU debacle end.