Sydney: Where art thou?

10,700 turned up in Sydney last night to watch a crucial A-League game between Sydney and Newcastle Jets. Everyone else had spent their money watching David Beckham last week.

It could have been worse..


In fact given Sydney had a belated 2 for 1 ticket offer after the Galaxy game, who knows how many would have turned up without it!

The weather, no trains, poor football, poor location, Sydney people are fickle, are just a few of the reasons given why crowds are so poor.

Whatever the reason the crowd is concerning, very concerning at Sydney FC, given we are three years in, the game was a local derby, and of course 80,000 plus watch Sydney's Beckham friendly the other day.

Did the entertainment game actually devalue the A-League in the eyes of supporters?

Either way, worrying times in Sydney and for the rest of the football community.

What is to be done?

Whatever is to be done, it's going to be a slow slow build.

What Sydney would give for a first season 25,000 crowd against Melbourne, Adelaide or the Central Coast!

Perhaps the strong first season crowds saw Dwight Yorke shunted and a winning coach in Pierre Littbarski booted. And with that the new fragile supporter base was lost.

Imagine building a winning side, in your very first season, and removing the winners, the one man marketing machine in Yorke, and the winning coach Littbarski.

Littbarski even thanked the crowd for their loyalty with a banner before the final game. Big deal? I think so.

How does a club build loyalty. Don't know, but Sydney seemed to lose it the minute they released these two.

It's a long, but not impossible, way back. The whole club, the manager, the players and the supporter base have to continue to do their bit, and someone somewhere has to find the key.

It's there, somewhere, Sydney just have to find it.

What's the alternative? How much lower can Sydney go? Let's not go there...just yet!