Responding to Clayton's question with a little history

'Your posts fill my head with random questions. What was Oudendyke like? Who are the board members still involved? Are Queensland Lions still involved with the Roar?'

There is so much that could be said. My feelings about how poorly the club is being run demonstrate, to me at least, that I still care. The Chair appeared to blame the players today (people aren't coming become the team is losing - yes but why and how did that happen?) Craig Moore said the Roar couldn't score because it didn't have Charlie Miller. Most agreed. Ange gave awkward answered in the post match and had a go at 'former coaches and players'.

Re: Lawrence. He was tall and could appear aloof. The Board tried to blame him for the club's position but that was in the pre-season when things were still OK. He was tough and people like Reddy seemed scared of him. In retrospect, the Roar was happier place with him as Executive Chair. In ousting Lawrence it was reported the Board said you can't have a CEO who is chair. When he was gone, they said now we are going to be more active in operations.

The key Board members seem to be the 2 brothers who own Luxury Paints. They are from the Lions days. And clearly love the club. And others the 2 founders of the coffee club. The coffee club came in season 3 I think, first as sponsor then as shareholders. According to the Courier Mail, the Luxury Paints wanted the FFA in at the start of the year, but the Coffee Club guys only wanted small investors.

The Lions 'sold' out after season 1. The losses were way more than their business plan. And the club was reported to have been totally restructured (it used to own three other Brisbane based soccer clubs).

It seems every year the Roar goes through restructuring to keep going. Is there a point where it would be better for someone else to have a go?

My view is that they missed a massive opportunity in season one. I think this was their biggest year. The Brisbane community got behind them. But it was Miron who claimed that the Board would not even let him spend the salary cap. As a result, they had an exciting, youthful side with limited experience who could not score goals - particularly against the very experienced teams from Adelaide and Central Coast. Then as now, but now the base is much lower, the fans go sick of watching their team dominate possession but not be able to get close enough to score. In that first year, the Roar could have had great players. And then the stage would have been set for a powerhouse club in fortress Suncorp.

Frank Farina changed the experience gap. First bringing the goal scoring - highly experienced - Damien Mori to the team. Then Craig Moore. Craig Moore and Frank Farina gave Brisbane the credibility for a host of great experienced players to come to Brisbane. They missed out - thanks to Adelaide - 2 years in a row on Asia. Then they gaffed in buying Bob Malcolm.

A change in Coach for anything but performance reasons, has reversed all that. And the Roar looks about what it did in season one.