Despite being owned by Australia's fifth-richest man, United will field a shoestring team with a major influx of youth players for the 2011/2012 season.

Already Bruce Djite, Jason Culina, Bas van den Brink, Dino Djulbic, Steve Pantelidis, Anderson and Shane Smeltz have left the club this off-season.

And last week United coach Miron Bleiberg told the Sydney Morning Herald the club had no confidence in the FFA.

'The future, at the moment, looks very bleak … Clive doesn't want to make any unfair promises to anyone,” Bleiberg said.

''Gold Coast does not want to offer contracts to players who may not be playing if the competition goes broke."

He added: ''The owners just don't believe in the current model of the A-League and many of them are not sure that the competition can survive.

''That's why Gold Coast only going to be offering one-year contracts for now. We're going to have a team next season of youth players and a few senior players, but not many.

''Clive is like any businessman, and he doesn't like throwing money away on something that isn't working.

“He's listened to what the other owners are saying, and it's simply responsible fiscal management in the current economic climate of the game in Australia.''

But today Gold Coast United CEO Clive Mensink insisted his club supported Football Federation Australia and the Hyundai A-League

And he insisted: “Despite the rumours and innuendo, not everyone is on a one-year contract at our club; that’s just not the case."

It's understood four players on the current roster for next season are on contracts for the following season and beyond.

Nothing has been finalised for the length of deals for any new signings and will judged on a "case by case basis", according to the club.

Up to six youth players will be promoted to the senior squad for next season but no contracts of any length have been finalised yet and are unlikely to until they've got several games under their belt.

But Mensink insisted: “I think it’s important that we set the record straight and make it clear that we have every faith in FFA and the Hyundai A-League.

“Everyone involved in the code wants it to succeed, but we will hold ourselves back with continual finger-pointing or constantly playing the blame game.

“As a club, we have made several decisions on what direction we will take next season, but just because we have decided that we need to be prudent and be responsible financially, that does not mean we don’t have faith in FFA or the Hyundai A-League. Far from it in fact.

“Since Gold Coast United started we have talked about career pathways for young players and we are sticking to that by promoting five or six of our highly successful youth players to complement our existing experienced players.

“There is little point in investing time and resources into creating a youth team that wins the competition two years running if we don’t allow those players to make the next step into the senior ranks.

“These youngsters have been loyal to the club and have provided great service over the last two years. We have assisted them in their development and we will be loyal to them in return.

“We have faith in these players, but if we find that one or two require more development before they are able to cope with the rigours of senior football then we will have room to move in terms of bringing other players in.'

He added: “Gold Coast United will introduce several new players to the competition next season.

"We are proud of that and see it as a good step for us and a good step for the development of young Australian players."

Mensink also hailed the recent restructuring at the FFA - which saw six redundancies at the Sydney HQ (which senior FFA management instructed staff to ignore when talking to the press) and two key resignations - as a step in the right direction for football in the country.

He also saw the debate sparked by Bleiberg's comments and Palmer's decisions as being vital for the sport.

"Of course it’s healthy to question and review the governance of the code; however, we are in a phase where it’s vital that everybody does their bit to take football ahead," he said.

"That goes for FFA, Hyundai A-League clubs, local clubs, fans and players. Unity is the only way forward."

He added: “The recent restructure at FFA and the new strategic direction is part of a necessary and ongoing process of review with the aim of improving the game at every level.

“Football is changing all the time, as every business or industry does. It’s important that both the governing body and its member clubs adapt to those changes and indeed plan ahead for predicted changes in the future.

“I think it’s important to remember how far football has come in the last few years and it will continue to grow, even if that growth takes place at different rates during different stages of our development."