Gold Coast not interested!

Interesting interview with Clive Palmer

Three years after he created Gold Coast United, boasting he was going to turn the A-League upside down, Queensland's richest man, Clive Palmer, has mellowed. After years of battling head office, he seems settled in for the long haul. Michael Cockerill reports.

Are you a believer in the future of the A-League?

I am. I really am. It's an exciting game but we've just got to make sure we get that out to the people, and the people have access to it.

So what exactly is the future?

But money can come from various sources. Is it true you went to [Football Federation Australia president] Frank Lowy at one stage and said you're willing to help underwrite the league?

No, that didn't happen, but Frank knows I'm there to support him. Frank's done a good job. Sure, he's got to be a bit direct at times to get people moving, but if he doesn't do that he knows what the consequences are.

You've had disagreements with Frank Lowy in the past. How is your relationship these days?

I admire Frank. Frank is a great Australian. He's gone up the hard way, he knows what it's like to be a refugee, and even at his age [80] he's still giving service to the community.

Frank Lowy is up for re-election in October. Is he the right man for the job for the next four years?

In terms of the ones [candidates] that are on offer, he's the right guy.

Are you interested in being the FFA chairman down the track?

I'm not interested from an egocentric point of view. But if there's a job to be done, I'm happy to support whoever's doing it or do it myself. There's a big obligation to keep the code going and not let it go back to the years when things weren't as good as they are now.

It's three years since you started Gold Coast United. Is football getting into your blood?

It gets more exciting as the years go on. You understand the rules better, you understand the teams, the players. This year for us is very exciting. I believe we have our best-ever team. A lot of our squad is made up of youth players who wouldn't otherwise get the opportunity. They might have been lost to the code. So I get pleasure out of that.

A lot of your players are on one-year contracts, which has raised speculation about the long-term future of the club. Are you going to roll up Gold Coast United at the end of the season?

I would only roll it up to expand it. As for the one-year deals, I would recommend them as the best way to motivate players. We had a guy, I won't say who he was, working for us in the first year, who told some of our players ''play a couple of good games, get a contract, run dead for a couple of years and then make sure your third year is a good one so you can get another deal''. That's what a lot of pro footballers have been doing, and it's despicable. One-year contracts, you either perform or you're out.

What about your backing for the club. It's not a one-year contract, is it?

No, it isn't. I have a five-year contract [the licence runs to 2014]. That's down in writing. That's what it is.

Have there been times when you've thought about getting out early?

It's been disappointing in the times when we've done things to get the club on an even keel and it just gets interpreted as we're only trying to save money. We want to get the club to operate on a balanced budget, so it's not so crucial whether I'm there or not. That's the ultimate for all the clubs � This year we've saved about $2 million on player contracts, yet we've got better players and they're more motivated. Which shows money is not the be-all and end-all.

You're intimating that sometimes the criticism has got to you. Has the reaction from your own community - you were brought up on the Gold Coast - been hurtful?

The criticism about us not doing enough in the community is a beat-up. We have our breast cancer fund-raisers, we supported a benefit recently for a local detective who was killed, we're sponsoring the local league, the players are out there every day. [The club claims it has connected directly with 75,000 people in the past year.] The people who know the efforts we make in the community are the people who need it. They're the ones who we care about, not the journos doing a beat-up.

What about the crowd cap issues at Skilled Park, and the suggestion you don't want the locals to turn up.

The facts are we've paid $150,000 to $200,000 for a match, and we've had 5000 people turn up. Yet if we nominate 5000 people before the match, we only pay $30,000. That's a hell of a difference to the club, yet we get hammered for that. That is disappointing.

It seems a lot of your focus is on budgets. What happened to the superstar players, going through the season undefeated and the private jet? Has the glitz gone for good?

Not really. All of our players are superstars these days, not just one or two. We've still got the jet.

Is it time the owners had more of a say in running the league?

The Crawford report [2002] talked about a management team of the owners getting together to run the league. Ultimately that's what we need to happen because then everybody gets a fair say. But there's good reasons why that hasn't happened yet here in Australia. A lot of our clubs aren't community-based - they were just created out of nothing. So until we can get more established, it's hard to see how [separate management from the FFA] can happen.

What is the mood of the owners at the moment? How critical are the next couple of years, and are they going to stick?

They're very concerned because the don't want to lose larger and larger amounts of money. We lost about $4 million last year, and I decided that was too much. We've reviewed our operations, pared them back and we'll probably lose about $1 million to $1.5 million this year. A lot of people reckon we won't be able to do that successfully, but I'm sure we can prove them wrong. The owners are hoping we're right.

The owners seem to think the next TV deal in 2013 is going to be the panacea. How much do you think it is worth?

I would have a different approach [to negotiations]. In business, you've got to be prepared to lose to win sometimes. You've got to back yourself. So I would market the Socceroos as a premium product and make the A-League separate to that. I would also have a free-to-air component, which is fundamental if the game is going to get ahead. We need one free-to-air game a week. I'd also like to see an interstate series, maybe three games a year, and you broadcast that as well. That way you get more diversity for your product. Do all that and you could get around $40 million a year for the A-League, and for the Socceroos maybe $25 million to $30 million.

Are you happy with a 10-team league for the next two years?

I'm not in there running it so I don't want to criticise those who are. Now's probably a good time to consolidate.

You're in an industry [mining] which has obvious connections with Asia. There's a view that owning an A-League club helps open doors in Asia for business opportunities. Is that your experience?

I think it's fiction, to be honest. A lot of businesses in Japan and China own and run the clubs, and there's a couple we know like that. People are going to do business with you because of business, not just because you own a club.

Finally, it's been a roller-coaster three years in football. Any regrets?

No, none at all. I'd recommend it to anyone [laughs].