I was thinking along similar lines rejecting the nuclear option.
Nothing in sport would have the same impact as, yes I am going to use it in serious context, "making us great again".
There were plenty of Roar fans who showed up to games early on and plenty who were there at our peak. Most of those are probably still around and I doubt they have shifted to another aleague club. They may have gotten into their local or community team, or I think more likely just dropped professional football as entertainment or interest.
Many will still be fans of the club without having the desire to spend money or turn up when they do not like the owner, the squad, the results, the playing style, or the BS that has gone on. But they will still have the Roar as their club if they had to make a declaration or die.
Goodwill and bad feelings are both relevant marketing levers if marketing and numbers is what tells you that a club is a club.
It would be a pointless loss to wipe the Roar out and just put one or two other teams in place.
Far better would be to have a second club in Queensland, if not directly in SE Queensland, start up to take on fresh fans, jaded fans, and those with open hostility for the Roar. Perfect way to start a rivalry with genuine feeling - especially if it can incorporate the existing fans and memories of the Gold Coast opposition too.
Those who have been around a reasonable amount of time will no doubt recall the passion of GazColdToast and his weekly writeups.
The basis is there for both a massive comeback and supporter return, and for a rivalry to equal any other aleague rivalry.
The name, as I have said before, is a nonsense argument against a club's identity and existence. When you take a club to heart you don't give a stuff about it's name - you become a part of it. How many people would say "I would follow South Melbourne but I don't like the Hellas so I won't". We have brumbies in Australia, but there will be plenty of anti-US supporters who follow the Broncos. You are either in or out and if the name is enough to sway you then you are plastic enough to simply pick another club with a name you like. Nothing wrong with that if it floats your boat - some punters win on the colour of the jockey's shirt in The Cup.
Roar works for us and it is our identity - so the name should stay. It belongs to us and is part of the aleague landscape now - history, warts and all. The club addressed the Mickey Mouse aspect of the name when we changed our logo from the cartoon version - which I am still proud to display when I wear my old strip or jacket. Because that is part of our life as a club; it includes where we came from and who we are now.
I doubt you would get any objections to another Queensland club, or best of all, another South East Queensland team, from anyone who did not directly benefit from us being a unique commodity in the State. I would love having State opposition again - even if it came at the cost of them whooping our butts and lording it over us like Gold Coast often did.
How good when you start to get it back over them!
Baby and bathwater is not the answer in my books. Change - certainly. Overthrow - waste.
And I still say that Valkanis may pull something out this season once he has the players together long enough to learn how he wants it played. We are one good season away from credibility. Anyone saying otherwise is speaking from fear of what we will become again
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And I forgot to mention earlier - thanks to NoMates for both starting the discussion, and for having the decency not to include it in our Roar thread. Genuine respect for that mate.
