Amidst the hoopla of grand final week and the lauding of the two best teams this season, Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners, spare some praise for the defeated preliminary finalists, Gold Coast United... for their performances on the park, that is.

The expansion team achieved the remarkable feat of reaching the final series in their first two seasons, arguably as the most consistent club in that period. Compared to the efforts of new clubs across all codes, which often struggle to match their more settled opponents, United deserves high-praise. But it's the off-field performance that could condemn the club, with a fatal flaw that should not be ignored as their second season comes to an end.

Put simply, a club which can only attract a crowd of 3281 to an elimination final, below their already poor season average of 3434, in a region with a population of around half a million, isn't sustainable.

When you consider that a few hundred travelling Victory supporters were part of that elimination final crowd figure, just as the free entry matches inflated Gold Coast's crowd average over the season, it pours further scorn on the club.  

The condemned North Queensland Fury, for example, pulled an average of around one thousand more fans than Gold Coast over the last two seasons, despite one-fifth of the population in their Townsville home.

It's been an ongoing and well-documented saga on the Gold Coast, and throughout its short history the club has alienated itself from its community with a total lack of engagement.

The interest was there. 10,336 watched United play the touring Fulham on the brink of their A-League debut. But, somehow, the club managed to lose 70 per cent of its crowd in two seasons, despite on-field success (imagine if they were losing!).

Last October I saw an example of this lack of community engagement on a trip to the Gold Coast to cover the V8 Supercars round on the streets of Surfers Paradise, arguably the area's biggest sporting event.

There, within the track's precinct engaging with the local community, were the NRL's Gold Coast Titans, the AFL's Gold Coast Suns (still six months from their debut), and the NBL's Gold Coast Blaze, who all had stalls; intermingling with their community and pushing their brand through interactive displays.

Gold Coast United were conspicuous by their absence. Yes, they were playing away from home that weekend, but there was no presence to speak of. In five days in Surfers Paradise, I failed to see or hear a single mention of the area's A-League club: no billboards, advertisements, memorabilia on sale, nothing. While the other Gold Coast professional sporting clubs were on the front foot, United were invisible.

You need an aggressive marketing approach on the Gold Coast. After all, it's been a challenge for a number of franchises to engage with the area. Even in the NRL-mad Queensland, in the state's second largest area, the Titans struggle to fill the 27,400-capacity Skilled Park, with a crowd average 10,000 shy of that mark.

The competition from the wider entertainment sector is greater than in any other region, be it from theme parks, Meter Maids, strip clubs, nightclubs or the endless stretch of beaches.

It is also transient location; heavily reliant on the travel industry with people constantly coming and going, with far from efficient public transport options and a population sparsely spread across the coastline. As some have said, it can appear to be a soulless place; hardly an environment conducive to breeding the passion needed to build a football club.

It was always going to be an immense challenge to create a successful A-League franchise on the Gold Coast, ignoring Clive Palmer's billions (something the FFA couldn't). But Gold Coast United had so many things going their way; assets other A-League clubs could only have wished for.

Take for example former captain Jason Culina, a current Socceroo who was part of the national team throughout the 2006 and 2010 World Cup campaigns. An immensely likeable chap who is good with the media, the club had a leader it could seriously leverage. It didn't.

With Culina, Dino Djulbic, Steve Pantelidis, Zenon Caravella and Bas van den Brink on the way out, and Shane Smeltz likely to follow, the club must rebuild its squad heading into a season in which it desperately needs to reverse the sliding crowds.

But unless a marquee player worthy of the name can be acquired (and I'm not talking your standard A-League marquee but a player of some serious international note and fame), it's difficult to see the Gold Coast making serious inroads into attracting a sustainable supporter base.

Remember, with the Gold Coast Suns set for their debut, being propped up and pumped up with the AFL's seemingly bottomless loot, the competition for attention, sponsorship dollars and the hearts and minds of the Gold Coast community is now much more challenging.

How long before Clive Palmer, a businessman at heart rather than a football man, walks away from the club having recognised the situation is irreversible? And should he do so, who would possibly look to takeover the club given its perilous situation, particularly when there are more settled clubs, such as Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix, on the market?

Palmer reportedly flirted with the idea of merging Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United into some type of South-East Queensland super club, when it became clear that the Roar were in need of salvation, suggesting he could be seriously looking for an out or an alternative.

He must surely recognise that the perception of his club is close to being tarnished, and all the community engaging and free-entry matches cannot undo all the failings of the first two seasons.

In the wake of North Queensland Fury's demise, things aren't looking much better in southern Queensland.