Morgan’s call for a style change has seen the normally gritty defensive unit plummet to the bottom of the league table, topped off by a humiliating 7-1 capitulation to Sydney FC last weekend.

But his comment that fans were putting their own interests ahead of the club sparked an angry response from those who have supported the Kiwi outfit through thick and thin.

In an interview with Radio Sport, Morgan said many fans were over-occupied with the league table and didn’t know much about the game anyway.

“People expect instant gratification or they expect gain with no pain. It’s just pathetic really,” he said.

But today Yellow Fever representative David Cross snapped back at the economist businessman turned Phoenix supremo.

“It’s an interesting one, isn’t it?," said Cross.

"From a man who pretty much admits he knew nothing about football 12 months ago to suddenly be telling people how they should support a football team is amusing at best.

“He’s in a space where he’s trying to build something. I’m intrigued how he and the other owners think they’ll make Phoenix a profit-making organisation – it’s not traditionally how a football team’s worked anywhere in the world.”

Fellow Yellow Fever rep Guy Smith said the maverick co-owner was a lone voice who didn’t speak for the club and knew nothing about the game a year ago.

“Now he’s commenting on the football knowledge of some who’ve been fanatical supporters for years – long before he even knew the club existed,” Smith said.

“If that’s what he genuinely thinks about the fans then it’s a real shame.

“The loyal fans pay to turn up – some of them have been doing it for years and years now and to be labelled pathetic and unsophisticated just because they’re worried about how the club’s performing is pretty brutal.

“But I don’t think what Gareth Morgan says reflects necessarily what the club thinks. He is one very outspoken man amongst a large ownership group.

“The Yellow Fever’s relationship with the club office and the players is very strong. I certainly do not think the players or the coaching staff think anything like what Gareth thinks and, on a wider level, that might be part of the difficulty the club is having at the moment.

“And I think fans are smart enough to separate out what Gareth says from what the football club really thinks – we’ll get on with supporting the team and maybe that’s what Gareth should be doing too.”

The club admits they need 10,000 a game just to break-even and the comments could see a backlash in lower attendances.

“Certainly none of the 6,500 hardcore fans will turn their back on the club just because Gareth had a yap,” Smith said.

“We’ve been around a long time we’ve seen a lot of things come and go at the club and Gareth’s just another one of those things.

“I think what’s a shame from the club’s perspective is that the people who do know the least about the game – and come and go – are the ones that Gareth’s likely offended the most.

“So the type of fans that the club is desperately trying to attract and retain and convert to committed fans, they are the fans that Gareth has targeted with his comments. That’s a real shame.”

Cross told au.fourfourtwo.com Morgan was playing a risky game: “I don’t think he’s thought through the message he’s trying to convey.

“The club talks about there not being enough fans on game day and statements like that are going to do nothing to engage the fan base or encourage others to attend.

“To me the two messages that they’re trying to get across seem to be mutually exclusive – telling people you want them to get along and then belittling the ones that they’ve already got.”

A poster on the Yellow Fever site summed up his frustration over the team’s sudden, and seemingly irretrievable, season slump.

“If in my job, I delivered poor service and took 2 hours to get someone's food out to them and a customer complained, could I call them pathetic and explain to them that their reaction is pathetic because we are trialling a new kitchen system and in five years it’ll be better? No. They'd be rightfully pissed off,” he  wrote.

But Smith said there was general support for changing the way the team plays and the level of concern about recent performances was understandable.

“Genuinely I think if you speak to fans, as pathetic and unsophisticated as we may be, we would love to see Phoenix playing possession-based football which Gareth Morgan has incorrectly labelled total football,” he said

“We would love to see Phoenix keeping the ball on the deck, nudging it around, being exciting with the ball. That’s cool and if that’s where the club’s heading then great.”

It’s not the first suggestion of a disconnect between the fans and the new owners. In December au.fourfourtwo.com revealed the unique fan-funded scholarship responsible for introducing Marco Rojas to the A-League had been scrapped due to a lack of interest.

At the time, Smith said the initiative no longer fitted within the club’s plans.

“There wasn’t the same enthusiasm for it from their side that there had been in the past,” he said.

“They certainly weren’t going to stop us doing it but they certainly weren’t endorsing it in the same way they had done.”