The sky is falling! Armageddon is upon us! Fire shall rain down and smite us all....!!!
Yes! The unthinkable has happened. Clive Palmer has made a visible and tangible move showing his intent to have a Gold Coast team in the A-league for the foreseeable future. The club has made public the details of behind closed doors meetings regarding the re-signing of the current squad. They have also backed their youth and snapped up Halloran and Brilliante onto deals from the youth team.
Yes it is now time for the Jesse Fink in your head to start screaming and throwing around the cushions in your mind's eye. For some people who seem hell bent on dismantling United this is the worst possible positive news they could hear. Ironically the people of the Gold Coast don't reciprocate the same ill will and anger.
Should Adelaide have been saved or Fury bailed out? I can tell you now a team that financially implodes after one season is a commercial landmine for a league as young as ours. How are we to attract bigger sponsors if it looks like any team could disappear overnight like Fury almost did, while it simultaneously weakens our strength at the next broadcast deal?
"So it's a 7 year package with a 12 team format for all this money BUT several teams could be gone in any year so you may only get to show three games a week if that happened".
As a Gold Coast fan and like every single one I've talked to, the answer has been YES. We want Fury to be given some time to prove they have new finance; we are overjoyed that Adelaide finally have owners and that all these things are good news for football in Australia. All we ask is the same latitude from everyone else - time to get people back to the game in our stadium.
This has been buoyed by the announcement of FFA's new advertising company whose focus seems to be at increasing the live spectator numbers. As much as FFA say no funds were directed away from the A-league in terms of advertising and that no ball was dropped to focus on the WC bid, it does strike me as suspicious timing that now the bid is mere weeks away and all the money that can be spent IS spent, that money surfaces for a new media push for the league....
Assuming that the benefits of the advertising won't be felt till next season, it bodes well for Gold Coast, North Queensland and Melbourne Heart that these three teams that have never existed in the post 2006 glow of the World Cup or have ever been in the league when it has actually marketed itself like it did in the first two seasons, will finally be able to ride the tails of the league in promotion.
Love it or hate it, we're still here and staying. We are still at the top of the pile where we have occupied for our entire existence and we are still finals-bound. I now look forward to the day I can say to my son as we head into Skilled Park "I remember that strange time in the first few years when our crowds were so low, but we still were one of the best teams even back then..."
Adelaide are moving forward, United are moving forward and seemingly the FFA is addressing one of our MAJOR concerns in the league's lack of main stream visibility. Now all we need is a white knight for Fury and a successful 2022 bid - and the future couldn't look any brighter.
