According to the Australian press, Fulham have added a game against Gold Coast United to our Australian itinerary in July.
Mark Schwarzer’s Cottagers, currently seventh in the Premier League, will complete their Australian itinerary two days later with a clash against A-League champions Melbourne Victory.
Gold Coast hope to recoup a large slice of an estimated $300,000 outlay by attracting a 20,000-plus crowd to their 27,000-capacity crucible.
United CEO Clive Mensink confirmed the clash would go ahead when he told The World Game: “We have agreed in principal to play Fulham. It’s going to be a tremendous way for us to introduce ourselves to our supporters on home soil.
“We hope they will come in droves to watch two very good teams and enjoy Socceroos team-mates Jason Culina and Mark Schwarzer facing off against each other.”
I do fear disappointment for our blossoming fan base in Australia if we make Europe though. An early start in the Europa Cup might put a pin in our Down Under tour.
There was another story of us playing Celtic an Perth Glory in Perth in a round robin, then games in Melbourne and Sydney.
I went to the Fans Forum at the Cottage on Wednesday and asked if the rumor was true (I am Australian) – and there was a lot of silence and people looking at each other until Alister said, ‘yes, there are rumors’. My read on it was they were looking at each other to get permission to speak about it.
Interesting Geoff. Cheers for that.