BEHOLD! Two giant, monstrous beasts rampaging across the Australian football landscape! Only one will survive! Only one will dominate the future of the A-League!
As a football fan whose enjoyment of the game is captive to the result, which creature do YOU support?
Down in Newcastle, "King" Con Constantine has already decimated an entire championship team! Now he is ruthlessly laying waste to his own terrified fan base! In one giant maw he clutches a frantic Adam Griffiths - screaming "LET ME GO-O-O!!!" - while the other hand flicks Squadron members off the balcony of his corporate box.
Enraged by his inability to sell off players and win games simultaneously, Con's now threatening to trash the reputation of Australian football teams in Asia! The FFA have timidly tried to stop him, but he is clearly out of control! GRRRRRRRR!!!!
Meanwhile, north of the border, "Clivezilla" Palmer is threatening to blow the salary cap out of the water! He's already signed Jason Culina - now he wants to sign the rest of the Socceroos as well!
His all-star squad is set to annihilate lesser opponents next season, leaving nothing but a trail of smoking devastation! The A-League will be destroyed and we'll never, ever qualify for the World Cup again! BWAAAHAHAHA!!!
Pretty scary, isn't it?
If you believe all the hype, either of these monsters could consign the A-League to ultimate disaster. But in fact only one of them represents a real danger.
Con's business plan seems to involve building a champion team then carving it up and selling off the pieces like a venture capitalist run amok. I can only assume that Con is over-exposed to the global financial crisis and frantically trying to rake in some cash. Otherwise, where's the business sense in it?
If he is planning to sell the club, he'd better make a deal quickly or there won't be a club left to sell! Making players' lives a misery is bad enough, but Con is also destroying his local fan base.
Worse yet, he's holding back the development of the A-League by actively ensuring that his players join foreign teams rather than moving to other Australian clubs.
Jade North was on his way to the Fury before Con cashed in on a deal with Korean side Incheon. Adam Griffiths is now on his way to the Gold Coast, but Con's still desperately trying to line up deals with Seoul and Beijing.
Con has made it clear that he will always consider any offer for any player, no matter how disruptive it might be to his squad, his fans, or the player himself.
By contrast, Gold Coast United has made it clear that Griff, Smeltz and all our other players are not for sale at any price.
If Con has his way, Australia will never be more than a giant football factory for other nations, churning out youngsters who go abroad as soon as they can.
If Clive Palmer's business model proves more successful, the salary cap will keep rising until we can match the wages of Asian and even European clubs.
Successful Aussies playing abroad will be lured back home, and the standard of the local league will lift accordingly. Aussie kids won't have to go play abroad because some of the best teams in the world will be right here.
So which monster do you support? I'll put my money on the dragon, not the monkey.
It's all very well to talk about developing young players, but (as Con's behaviour shows) we obviously need to develop some more professionally-run clubs as well. To that end, in case you missed it, this recent Miron Bleiberg interview (by fellow FourFourTwo blogger Chris Paraskevas) had a few fascinating insights.
Miron talked about being the driving force behind setting up the new Gold Coast club: "Up to three or four months ago Clive didn't know that a game of football involved eleven players on either side. He'll be the first to admit it."
He also talked about being forced out as Queensland Roar coach for commercial reasons, when a bad deal was made with Suncorp stadium:
"We looked at the initial costs to hire the stadium but then they forgot about the costs for the police and road closures, council approvals, cleaning deals and all of a sudden it started to be a financial strain on the club..
"So they came up with the great idea that instead of Miron Bleiberg - with all due respect to the nice guy with green eyes and attractive football - if we brought someone like Frank Farina who has a big name, the crowd's would double.
"So it had almost nothing to do with football. It was more a commercial decision. So they brought Frank Farina and have the crowds improved?"
Ouch! Obviously, Bleiberg still holds a grudge. He says a win against the Roar next year will be worth ten points to him: "Why? Because of human nature. Because of what they've done to me. I want to pay them back. Every goal we score against them will make me more happy."
Someone to love and someone to hate, eh?
++++
Finally, some good news from the club - long-awaited Gold Coast United Club Memberships should be on sale by the end of February!
Starting prices will be $199 per adult, or $462 for a family of five (two adults, three kids), in the areas behind goal including the supporters bay. That will give you access to all fourteen scheduled A-League home games next season.
Memberships will be sold directly through the club Website, rather than through an agency like Ticketek. Registered members will enjoy special deals like first chance to buy tickets to celebrity matches or finals. So if you haven't already done so, register your interest at the official club Website now.
