Unless you have been living under a rock, it has been impossible to escape the ludicrous antics of mining billionaire, Clive Palmer. Single-handedly the big fella has ripped the heart out the Gold Coast United Football Club, by ignorantly thinking that his huge fortune has gifted him brains to go with his helicopter........wrong!
Time and time again we see high rolling saviours swan in and flash their cash around a footy club, but rather than being a supporter and silent force in the background, they let their mammoth egos run wild and try to take over the joint.....wrong again.
Palmer is a miner and a very good one, but this doesn't make him an authority on running a football club. Right from the word go, the Gold Coast was set to fail. They over charged fans to attend early friendlies at a time when they had the opportunity to win over public support and enthusiam.
Palmer treated the club like a business, which it was, but it was a business that would only thrive with the support and love of it's fans. The club had fans....all 5000 of them. Nowhere near enough for a national team. The clubs marketing was pathetic, you'd struggle to know they existed. The interaction in the community was dwarfed by the Suns and the Titans. Ironically on the pitch the team was successful in the early days, but the damage was already done.
For an outsider like myself, Clive Palmer looked like a bloke that wanted to say "Look everybody I've got my own football team.....isn't that cool!" Look at your football team now Clive....they go bye bye.
Sometimes rich blokes can bring success and hope to a team. Rusty Crowe and Nathan Tinkler (so far), are good examples. Both enjoy a hands on roll in their organisations, but both also know their football limitations. I'm sure Crowe could play a convincing coach in a rugby league blockbuster, but in real life he let's the football people handle the football.
Crowe and Tinkler also share a deep personal passion for their teams. Crowe shamelessly flies the Rabbitohs flag whenever he can and although it hasn't created a premiership, it's cemented South Sydney as an exciting and established piece in the NRL Puzzle.
Tinkler has delivered Wayne Bennett to Newcastle in the league and has made the A-league Jets a team of the future. His aim is to create a buzz around Newcastle through sport. He has dropped ticket prices for families and as a result, the Knights are packing the stands like they did when Johns, Chief and co. ruled the roost. This is good, very good.
Overseas soccer teams are riddled with Russian billionaires, Texan oil magnates and 15 year old Arabian Sheiks - buying up soccer clubs, spending shitloads on players and then driving their century year old institutions into debt. Fans are left devastated and angry, while these rich pricks skip off to their next big splurge.....maybe a small country?
Who could forget Geoffrey Eddleston, the nutty doctor that purchased the Sydney Swans in the '80's. It was an explosion of fanfare in the form of helicopters, pink cars, the Swanettes and Warrick Capper's testicles dangling out of his shorts. It gave the team attention, which is fine, but that attention later became embarrassment - totally unnecessary.
In this day and age, sporting clubs need outside dollars to survive and remain competitive, but they don't need overpaid nut bags hooking them up to their limos and dragging their good names through a giant paddock of cow dung. When will they learn? Football teams are not toys!.....Tragic.
Such a pity that professional sport is like a strip bar ... you understand they need to get paid, but you just want them to perform for the love of it.
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