HOW dirty can a club owner be? Clive Palmer certainly wants to find out.
This escapade with Don Matheson and North Queensland Fury has me both disgusted by, and in awe of, Palmer's intentions and talents. Simply, he has played Matheson for a fool; Palmer would much rather have the game on the Gold Coast, so he had it moved. It was a classic performance by someone who is used to getting everything he wants.
Incidentally, it would also be a classic performance by a spoilt brat.
Right from the off he played to get Matheson and the Fury organisation angry, by inconveniencing the Cairns City Council to the tune of $35,000 (though Palmer might not understand how much money that is for most people), giving a lame excuse for not wanting to travel (the 'high' cost), and then attacked the Fury team directly by questioning their ability as footballers.
Whether intentional or not, the icing on the cake was using his entirely honorary title of Professor in the press release where it was noted that "The primary purpose for establishing Gold Coast United FC was to bring football to the Gold Coast", and in another attack on the FFA said that the "FFA's short-sightedness in scheduling five out of our first seven Hyundai A-League games away from home is the only disgraceful Board decision."
It is pretty obvious from these quotes what is going on. Either through hurt feelings, or a sheer sense of entitlement, the Gold Coast United administration is trying to get every game they can played at Skilled Park.
It is also interesting to note just how well Matheson played into Palmer's hands. The goal was clearly to agitate the Fury owner, and Palmer could have done it with his rear-end, blindfolded and into a Wellington gale with three 'keepers on the line it was so easy.
Clear signs of Matheson's anger were jibes about Palmer's fleet of private jets "I just can't figure out the Gold Coast decision, maybe all three of the Board's jets were in for service that week", an ironic use of Palmer's title in reference to its use in the GCU press release and even Palmer's eyesight "Having a Queensland team pull out of a game that would have helped strengthen support for football in Queensland is short sighted."
This retaliation probably had Palmer and his underling Clive Mensink rolling around on Palmer's office floor like a pair of super villains-cum-hyenas.
If the coaching staff and players at GCU display even half of this kind of tactical nous, they could just wrap up the Premiership with several rounds to go.
This whole flare-up does however leave me with one worrying observation. It seems a matter of when, not if, Palmer graduates from small-scale verbal attacks on the FFA to trying to manipulate them into giving him what he wants; and we hear him claim that football in Australia owes him. Which it might do someday, but only if GCU becomes one of the most feared teams in Asia.
James Malthus would like to inform all uninterested parties that a Professor Palmer and Don Matheson were lecturers at Victoria University during his father's Law studies.
