Sounder-down-Under is a look at the beautiful game from the other side of the world, written by Seattle ex-pat Drew Dickson.
It is the right of every spectator to complain when the season, match, or draft pick doesn’t go how they want to. When I hear friends complain or see the internet rip into a the head office I think back to a team in the Australian state of Queensland and all the promise they had on the field and problems off it.
New owner Clive Palmer on GCU’s home turf (via The Courier Mail)
Gold Coast United started off as many expansion clubs do with lofty goals and the chance to fulfill them quickly. Their coffers were full from the generous pockets of their owner, Clive Palmer, a local mining magnet who saw the expansion of soccer in Australia as a perfect opportunity to see a return on his investments. But that was 2008, and this is a cautionary tale.
Clive Palmer was a real estate developer and member of Australia’s Liberal Party (US equivalent of being a Republican which seems odd to mention, but bear with me) political base before he bought a dwindling nickel mine. Through savvy negotiating he was able to turn the mine around in the late 1990s as Australia’s mines surged forward to become one of the driving forces within the nation’s economy. To ensure the ore would have a constant buyer, Palmer agreed to sell almost all of the production to China, one of the largest consumers of just about every raw material on the planet.
With the issues Australia’s A-League has faced with expansion, the idea of combining a trip to the Gold Coast (some of the best beaches in the country and great amusement parks) with seeing your favorite soccer team play an away fixture sounded like a great idea for the city and tourism industry. Imagine how nice it would be if you could combine a trip to Hawaii with seeing your side play and NOT have the sticker shock!
Clive Palmer was smart. Australians are mad about all things sports. As an example, I am in a Fantasy Football league with guys who have never seen an NFL game in the stadium, but they love it none the less. Palmer got into the newly revamped A-League when expansion in Queensland was the main focus.
Suntanned Gold Coast United fans
The doors opened in 2008 to games that averaged between 5,000 to 7,000 in a city that at the time did not have a professional sports team of any kind. The numbers showed everyone observing that there was a supporter base to be courted by the club and a relationship to be fostered. But the notion of enjoying a weekend on Australia’s eastern coast faded.
Palmer was used to being in charge. Owning a business has many similarities to owning a sports team, but in many ways it is completely different. An owner might have a great idea, but if the club manager and coaching staff don’t agree, the owner must face the fact that they are more in touch with the daily events at training.
But Palmer had an ego so big that the man who had never played the sport before began to dictate changes and daily club proceedings. He ignored coach Miron Bleiberg, a man who began coaching in 1982. Nearly thirty years of international coaching were no match to a billionaire with a new play thing.
Coaching since 1982, Miron Bleiberg crossed the globe from Israel to Australia (via Wikipedia)
“After three, four months he [Palmer] already thought that he invented the game …” Coach Miron Bleiberg
Internal disagreements might have been ignored as two men with different opinions, but Clive Palmer would show his disdain for anyone who did not play by his rules soon enough. When a group of teens got into a fight outside the grounds, Palmer’s response was to close a section of the stands. When this met with disapproval from the football faithful of Gold Coast, he went even further to shut down two other sections after flares were thrown from fans near a breaking point. In 2011, players like Kiwi World Cup star Shane Smeltz, Socceroo Jason Culina, and American born Australian International Bruce Djite applied for transfers, gutting the side that had been 3rd on the ladder for their first two seasons and one agonizing game away from the Grand Final.
In 2012, crowds had dwindled to just north of 3,000 and few away fans making the weekend trip. As though the circus had not been crazy enough Clive Palmer announced that for one of the mid-season matches, Mitch Cooper would be replacing suspended captain Michael Thwaite. This seems like an odd thing for an owner to announce, but even more so when you learn that Cooper was at the time 17 and had just started playing with the club on a senior level that year. Bleiberg would comment that it was more ceremonial and the youngster would take the coin toss before handing the arm band over to Kristian Rees who had been with the club since the first season in 2008 and was a more mature candidate to marshal the side. Palmer suspended Bleiberg from coaching the match for his treason and Cooper commanded the side for the entire game.
Their faces say it all. (via Fox Sport)
With few friends and fewer targets at the club, Palmer set his sights on the governing body itself, Football Federation Australia, lashing out at their attempts to steer him back to being a respectable owner and censorship of some of his more obtuse comments. Palmer saw this as an affront to ownership and changed the team kit to read “Freedom of Speech” instead of the main sponsor, Queensland Nickel. As the owner of Queensland Nickel, he was never risking the loss of the company at having their logo covered up.
GCU faithful pleaded with the FFA (via The Herald Sun)
Football Federation Australia finally stepped in. Supporters held on to hope that the club would be saved by funds from the league and national federation, but they would be left disappointed. Palmer was stood down and the club had its license revoked. In an attempt to get back at the FFA for his public shaming, Palmer tried to set up his own soccer league with no international affiliation. Football Australia lasted four months before Palmer found something else to do with his time. Gold Coast United was allowed to play out the final four games but each final whistle was like seeing a another nail hammered into their coffin.
Clive Palmer, with all his business sense could not sit back and let his investment pay itself back by letting go of the reigns to people who had the ability to lead. Gold Coast United serves as a reminder to people who do not understand sport, or understand football, that buying something is good and well, but there is a reason it is a ‘team’ sport, both on and off the field.
Gold Coast United has no remnants left to show of the four years on the park.
And Clive Palmer? Where to start …
In 2013 he announced that he would be building a 1-1 sized replica of the Titanic. Being built in China the maiden voyage was scheduled for 2016 but has been postponed to 2018. Not eccentric enough?
In 2014 he opened an animatronic dinosaur park in his resort (yes, he has his own resort) in Queensland featuring over 160 dinosaurs including a 20 meter long 3.5 meter tall T-Rex named Jeff. Sorry, the park is now closed.
And for fun, started his own political party in 2014 after the Liberal Party declined to allow him to run for Parliament (told you it would come back around). Undeterred, the Palmer United Party (yes, he named it after himself) now claims three senators and one standing Member of Parliament, Mr Palmer, who ended up winning his own home district by 7 votes. While in office he managed to make several disparaging remarks about China (the nation that buys bought all his nickel). If you were nervous about sailing on the new version of the Titanic, you have to wonder how motivated to do a stellar job all those Chinese workers are to build the ship now.
Currently he is ranked as the 30th richest Australian, down from 28 last year. So you do have to feel for the guy, having lost $550,000,000 in net worth in a 2015. This ranking will drop again next year as Queensland Nickel is going into liquidation.
A rich guy with his own plane and a political party. Sounds familiar … (via Sunshine Coast Daily)
