Former Socceroos' captain Paul Okon has warned the Football Federation of Australia to learn from the Gold Coast experience and proceed cautiously in its bold bid to eventually expand the Hyundai A-League to 14 teams and possibly even a second division.
Okon, the assistant coach at Gold Coast, was speaking after his elevation alongside former national teammate Tony Vidmar and the country's most capped female player Cheryl Salisbury into the FFA's Hall of Fame on Thursday.
The 37-year-old - who was one of the first Australian players to forge a successful club career in Europe in the early 1990's when he starred for Belgian team Club Brugge before becoming one of the first Australians to play in Italy's prestigious Serie A with Lazio - represented the Socceroos on 28 occasions in an injury-plagued career which ended only in 2007 with the Newcastle Jets in the A-League.
But Okon is now part of Miron Bleiberg's coaching team at league newcomers Gold Coast United and has observed from close quarters at how the competition's new glamour club has consistently failed to attract decent crowds despite sitting on top of the ladder after 11 rounds.
In five home games so far Gold Coast's biggest crowd has been just 7,526 for their opening home game against North Queensland (although the club did draw a bigger crowd in pre-season against English Premier League club Fulham) while in its past two home games it has failed to draw 5,000 fans.
In contrast the National Rugby League club Gold Coast Titans often drew in excess of 20,000 to the 27,400 capacity Skilled Park they share with United, this season with their smallest crowd being 14,000.
Okon, speaking a day after FFA chairman Frank Lowy expressed his desire to expand to a 14 team competition and then possibly even an A-League second division, said the existing clubs such as Gold Coast should be nurtured first before any further expansion is considered.
"Frank Lowy has said that it will be a gradual process but first of all the main focus should be on clubs breaking even and making a profit before we can start thinking about having a second tier competition where there is relegation and promotion," Okon said in Melbourne on Thursday.
Of the current ten A-League clubs only competition powerhouse Melbourne Victory and
the Central Coast Mariners are running at a profit with the rest struggling financially.
Yet another Melbourne team is scheduled to join the A-League next season with a second Sydney team to follow the year after while Canberra and Tasmania have also been mooted as possible locations for future teams.
Okon said he can understand Lowy's passion for a competition that features promotion and relegation - as happens with nearly every major football competition in the world - but believes the FFA faces a huge task to pull it off.
"I do understand the need for it because it happens everywhere in the world with football," he said.
"Hopefully one day it will be part of the game but I think in the near future it will be difficult because of the way things are going."
Only Perth and Adelaide have enjoyed an increase in crowds this season as average attendances in the A-League have plummeted but Okon is hoping the Gold Coast's crowds will pick up during the summer holiday period when football fans from other