GCU arrogance is contagious

INSTANT hype, instant success. Week one delivered the goods for Gold Coast United, but now comes the hard part. Big names, big ambitions, and big personalities make a compelling case. But does anyone care?

On Saturday evening, Gold Coast host North Queensland Fury in their first A-League match at Robina. There are many reasons to hope for a decent crowd. In a nomadic pre-season, they played just twice at their own stadium, so there's the novelty factor. There's also the feelgood factor after their opening win in the derby against Brisbane Roar. And, of course, there is the Robbie Fowler factor.

The league's poster boy justified the hype last weekend and arrives on the Glitter Strip with a supporting cast that showed against Sydney FC that it might yet dish out a few slices of humble pie. Fowler versus Culina is a marketing dream and shouldn't be too hard to sell even at $29 a ticket. Should it?

Strangely, it seems it is. Gold Coast chairman Clive Palmer isn't exactly renowned for his modesty, but this time he's doing his best to hose down expectations. Big Clive reckons his team will do well to average gates of around 6000 to 7000 in their inaugural season. Say what?

Palmer claims that, on a per-capita basis, crowds of 7000 at Skilled Park would be as good as Melbourne Victory getting 120,000 to their games. It's hard to question a billionaire's mathematics, but those sums don't add up. If the Titans can average around 15,000 per game in the NRL, why can't GCU attract the same in the A-League? Instead, Palmer is aiming low - and he doesn't expect things to change much for the next few seasons.

Talk about an anticlimax. With a star-spangled squad, realistic title ambitions and the local media hanging off every word from Palmer and his quotable coach, Miron Bleiberg, there is a perfect storm gathering to get the turnstiles clicking. All that's needed is the value add. The membership drives, the coaching clinics, the community work. The club is on to it, right?

Maybe not. Perhaps Palmer's estimate is an admission of sorts. The word from HQ is that Gold Coast haven't been anywhere near as proactive as they should have been in building links with the grassroots.

Six thousand registered players in their immediate backyard and the same number again in northern NSW, which has the potential to become their catchment. Most of these people would have heard of the club by now, but not enough of them have heard from the club.

Just ask Sydney FC, who have only just realised that bling doesn't sell - at least in the long term. Only now are the Sky Blues seriously addressing the oversight, and hopefully they'll get a dividend when they also play their first home game of the season this weekend. As the Central Coast Mariners have demonstrated so admirably, proper clubs are built from the ground up.

Palmer is lucky. He can have it both ways - the fanfare, and the fans. He's got a perfect stadium, a brilliant team and a clever coach. My tip, for what it's worth, is that Gold Coast will win the title in their debut season. And they'll generate a torrent of publicity along the way. It would be a pity, then, if their fans were to be outnumbered by the empty seats, and the players were robbed of a crucial ingredient - atmosphere. The early signs are sobering - membership sales hovering around 2000, and no sign yet of an organised supporters group, though there is talk of the ''White Shoe Brigade'' coming out of the closet this weekend.

Gate takings won't register a blip on Palmer's bank balance, but crowds will help define his club. In a white-hot market soon to be joined by the AFL and perhaps Super 15 rugby, the mining magnate needs to put a stake in the ground.

That's where the real gold is. It's just a matter of digging deep enough.