Gold Coast United - The Peoples Team
In todays Gold Coast Bulletin there is a great article on Gold Coast United and their plans for the future of Football not only here on the Gold Coast but in Australia.
CEO Clive Mensink said he aims to turn the Gold Coast side into the ‘peoples’ team and will court the support of the community with several roadshows spruiking the brand.
After the stalled bid of Gold Coast Galaxy and Townsville earlier in the year there are a few cynics out there in the Football world who doubt that Clive Palmer is serious about Football. I believe he is saying the right things and sincerely hope that he follows through on his commitments to the A League and to the Gold Coast.
It is my view that the A League needs more benefactors here in Australia to take clubs into the future of Football. It is the World Game and is the future of Australian Sport. There is no doubt in my mind that Football has all the ingredients to succeed here in Australia as long as we do it methodically and responsibly.
I am a sports fan and do not wish any bad feelings to the Other Football codes here in Australia. I will support my code to the hilt and will support a GCU bid for the A League in 09-10 season.
A Cynic is someone who is prematurely disappointed in the future.
Cheers
Terry
July 12 2008 | A-League | No Comments »
Gold Coast United
Today a ninth A League Franchise was granted to the “Gold Coast United” team. This is a bid team bankrolled by Queensland’s richest man, Clive Palmer.
I am a conservative person by nature and have expressed opinions on Football forums about the need to have financially viable clubs involved in any expansion of the A-League. We just cannot afford to expand for the sake of it.
In this case we have a benefactor worth in excess of $2.5 Billion. He has done in 8 days what the “Galaxy” bid could not do in 10 months. And that was to come up with $5 Million start up capital. Here we have a benefactor with $2.5 billion behind him who knows what it means to be part of Asia. This guy is a self made Millionaire through property, but is a Billionaire because of China. He does not have to rely on anyone else to support his finances. As long as Iron Ore is required for steel making, he has 300 million tonnes of it to sell.
How good will the facilities be? I can see top class training facilities and equipment, coaching staff and consultants. Not to mention the private jet to ferry the team around Australia and Asia. Along with a marquee player to and guest appearances, GCU will certainly get tongues wagging. He has high ambitions to win the A-League in the first season followed by Asian Champions League success. And that is where his motivation lays. Asia. He is a business man, and business men are in the business of making money. His business is growing in Asia, particularly China, and Asia supports Football very well and is a growing region for FIFA.
Clive Palmer is a Gold Coaster and having a local as the driving force in this is an essential ingredient for success. Now he needs to get the local Football community behind him and the team. He needs to involve the local Football community in the franchise. there are many of us who have travelled to Brisbane to follow the Roar. Many of those will jump ship to follow Gold Coast United including me. Skilled Park is an excellent ground and the Gold Coast community is an eclectic mix of people from all over Australia. Most of us have moved here as a lifestyle choice, and we have many different tastes. Take Football to the people Clive and you will never look back.
Move over Bling FC, GCU has arrived.
Cheers
Terry
June 06 2008 | A-League | No Comments »
