IT WAS surprisingly hard to think of what exactly to write about in such a ground-breaking week for Gold Coast United.

I eventually realised the reason was because everything that could be said about the club’s launch, squad, coach, owner and even new badge already has been said.

GC United’s launch was a massive story not just for the club and its supporters, but for the entire domestic football scene in Australia. Even approaching a critical week in the race to the A-League finals, nothing could compete with Clive Palmer’s juggernaut for press space.

While helicopters and World Cup stars and possible friendlies against Singapore and Hong Kong (remember when it used to be the Socceroos playing friendlies against club sides?) are very impressive, the cautionary tales of disastrous NSL clubs should not be forgotten by GCU administrators.

Similarly talented Carlton SC and Parramatta Power sides failed to register acceptable crowds even by the lowly standards of the time. Connecting with a community to establish a fan-base requires as much skill as any goal created on the park. So far the club has been meeting the benchmarks, but now is not the time to get over-confident.

A lot of what Clive Palmer says and does makes it hard at times to be a Gold Coast fan. A football fan knows that in a league like the A-League, no team can go undefeated.

We can try and defend Palmer’s confidence, but it’s no easy task. Even now I find it very hard to continue using that word, ‘confidence’, in place of what really should be described as ‘arrogance’.

Australians are renowned for turning their back on ‘tall-poppies’, the arrogantly successful, and generally anyone who tries to big-note themselves. Whether the same rings true for Gold Coast residents might not be quite so true, and one only hopes the club knows the market it’s trying to capture.

But it would be a desperately sad story if, despite the quality the club will be putting out on the field, people refused to support the club for the sake of a few crude comments by its owner.

So far the club has been doing just about everything right. But Clive Palmer cannot take for granted that a football club is more than just a plaything for its owners.

It is, if successful, the heart of a town’s population and extends well beyond one rich owner. Lose sight of this, and risk becoming another Carlton SC or Parramatta Power. Remember this, and the chance to become a truly great club is well within reach.