Coast cap scrapped after fans' protest

Gold Coast United fans will be celebrating after news billionaire owner Clive Palmer
will lift his crowd cap following talks with the Football Federation Australia on
Monday.
United fans vented their spleen at Palmer's cost-cutting move last Saturday night,
sending the coal mining magnate a clear message they wanted their stadium open to
all-comers before this weekend's A-League blockbuster with Sydney FC.
After talks between Queensland's richest man and the FFA it was determined the 5,000
crowd limit would be lifted with ticket prices to be restructured.
The aim is to attract more fans with FFA chief executive Ben Buckley saying a
campaign aimed at building support in the local community would begin soon.
"We have always believed the fans are there and this move will help Gold Coast
United get back in touch with its supporters and endeavour to build support and
create new fans for the future," he said in a release.
"We are committed to supporting the Gold Coast and we are delighted to reach a
constructive agreement with Clive and his team.
"This is the first stage of winning the fans back and building strong community
support for what is a very good football team."
United chief executive Clive Mensink said the club had listened to fans views about
the crowd cap that had allowed the club to host matches with a $100,000 reduction in
operating coasts.
"We've listened to the fans and the community and they have told us that they want
the stadium opened up and there are some issues around pricing," he said.
"I have heard them loud and clear."
Only 2,616 fans - the club's lowest attendance and one of the smallest crowds in the
competition's five-year history - turned out last Saturday as North Queensland's
former Liverpool star Robbie Fowler banged home a second half double to exacerbate
the Coast's recent woes.
The club's supporters group "The Beach" carried banners declaring the 'Cap is Crap',
'Want fans not dollars' and 'Scrap the Cap' and turned their backs on the game at
one stage to get their protest across.
After the game United captain Jason Culina took the unusual action of approaching
fans to apologise.
"I basically apologised to them and told them that we're going to put things right,"
the club's marquee signing said.
"I couldn't sleep on Saturday night, I was just tossing and turning, going over in
my mind the performance and what we need to do to fix things.
"A percentage of the way we've been playing is down to everything that's going on.
"Sometimes it's hard to get motivated for games."
The Gold Coast will get to gauge the reaction to the announcement this weekend when
they play top of the table Sydney FC at Skilled Park on Saturday night.
It wasn't all good news on Monday though with Brazilian import Robson facing six to
eight weeks out with a serious knee injury.