Sydney FC hoping for season-best crowd

Sydney FC chief executive Edwin Lugt predicts this Sunday's A-League premiership
showdown against Melbourne will be one of the biggest games in the club's history.
With top spot on the ladder on the line, the Sky Blues are hoping for a crowd in
excess of 20,000.
It would blow their season average at the Sydney Football Stadium of 12,149 out of
the water, and remind fans of the A-League's inaugural season when Sydney regularly
attracted a great atmosphere at home games.
Lugt said a long-term strategy is under way at the club to increase their average
attendance, and hopes the ball will start rolling with victory over Melbourne.
"There's really something developing big in Sydney this week, that's what we feel,"
Lugt told AAP.
"Certainly from what I understand from people who have been around longer and also
our fans, they actually consider this probably one of the biggest if not the biggest
games for Sydney FC since season one.
"As long as the weather holds up, we're certainly going to go for the biggest crowd
of the season, no doubt.
"If we had 20,000 that would be absolutely great."
Finishing top of the table would be a great reward for the Sky Blues, who have come
full circle since the glorious first year which delivered a championship win.
In 2006, their grand final against the Central Coast Mariners saw 41,941 fans flock
to the SFS, and similar scenes could unfold in a month's time if they can conquer
the defending champions, Melbourne in the final round of the A-League.
And Lugt says he's keen to re-establish that first season atmosphere for the club.
"I think it could (be similar). I wasn't here at that time, but what I understand
from it, the average crowds in the first year were certainly higher than they are
now," said Lugt.
"We are building crowds again now and obviously the fact that we are playing the
last game against our big rivals, the premiers is a big one. What we already see is
our fans are regular fans, and it's really picked up very well.
"Our challenge is to build crowds in our stadium and we have a whole saturated in
place to step by step grow those crowds and we hope over the next month or so we
will come up with some new initiatives on that front.
"You see this year Sydney FC have been able to turn it around and there's a lot of
positive noise surrounding the club."
On the playing front, Sydney FC are still monitoring the future of last week's
two-goal hero, John Aloisi.
Aloisi's future at the club is in doubt, with his marquee deal concluding at the end
of this season.