From the Editor: Gold Coast United should've stayed

What was so simple to me a few weeks ago when I first began writing this piece has now become an impossibility, with Football Federation Australia confirming this morning the axing of Gold Coast United. 

Julia Gillard a white knight for football.

One of my character traits is that I don't suffer fools. A sticking point in football in Australia is the constant barrage of criticism FFA come under to govern the game at a level satisfactory to those that love it.

The question was posed to me last night as to how I measure our governing body's love for football. It's a valid thought - how is love quantifiable?

Troubadours will sing, kings win battles, knights will joust. It's their competency in these chivalrous acts that allows their love to be measured. My realization was that FFA's love for the game is determined by how successful they are in running the game.

Western Sydney has been introduced and it's certainly a positive move for the Hyundai A-League to bring in the fledgling club. The timing however is an issue. It's a subject being danced around in the media as we all inherently want the league to succeed and, now that it's been officially announced, tearing the club's establishment to shreds is not in the best interest of the game we adore. But it can be accepted that it was too early to bring in the Western Sydney bid. Especially in replace of Gold Coast.

The existing franchise Gold Coast United, now cut clean of it's cancerous owner, could still have been a success. A community owned model was there; a team was there. Fans - I believe - were there. A fresh start for GCU could have nourished the club and transformed it from a private jet flying glamour club into a locally focused team that cared. If FFA had given it a year's worth of funding, far far less than they're expected to throw at the second club in Sydney, it could have made all the difference.

Not only would it have provided time for the Gold Coast to dramatically boost memberships and crowd attendances, it would have allowed FFA to properly search for independent financial backers for the yet to be named western Sydney club. Personally, I'm happy that they've announced it's establishment, but I'd much rather the club enter the competition in the 2013/14 season.

Court jesters juggle, misguidedly entertaining the masses by making fools of themselves. If it's a balancing act between maintaining ten teams in the competition, it's hard to comprehend. One team is dropped, another quickly thrown in.

Sure, a crowd will clap louder the longer you juggle, but if you truly love football, you wouldn't be juggling in the first place.