Titans add to Gold Coast woes

The Gold Coast Titans roll into town this weekend to face the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium but despite the visitor's lackluster start to the 2012 campaign the focus for many has been the clubs growing concerns off the field. Rival NRL clubs are deeply concerned by Gold Coast's financial plight with some fearing the club could "fall over" unless the ARL Commission steps in and examines it's viability. Alarmed chief executives, who did not wished to be named, want the game's newly appointed ARL Commission to urgently carry out its own probe into the Titans amid talk the club is battling massive debts. The news adds to a bad month for sport on the Gold Coast after Football Federation Australia revoked owner Clive Palmer's Gold Coast United A-League license at the end of February and has left the club searching for a new owner to keep the club afloat. While the two franchises' issues are not financially linked, there is concern over both sides sliding attendance numbers and disappointing recent on-field performances. The average NRL crowd size at Skilled Park has fallen from 21,618 in 2008 to 15,428 last year, in a season where the side only won six games to finish bottom of the table. Just over 11,000 fans have turned up to their opening two home games of the season - both heavy defeats to the Raiders and the Storm. However heavy rain last Saturday may have turned fans away and those numbers still put them ahead of North Queensland, Cronulla, Canberra and Penrith in attracting fans over the first four rounds. Gold Coast United - who are in negotiations with a new business consortium interested in keeping the club afloat - have been constantly criticised about their attendance and averaged just 3,216 fans to their 12 home games this season where they lie bottom of the table. The Titans go back to court on Friday, this time to battle Reed Constructions, who are seeking $1.4 million for completing work on the $20 million centre of excellence at Robina. Titans chief executive Michael Searle insists the club's property arm is totally separate from its rugby league operations, and that the football club is not in strife. Searle called the players together late last week to update them on the club's situation. There are growing concern within the NRL fraternity that the Titans are on shaky ground with creditors closing in. "There's a great deal of concern and even fear among NRL clubs that the Gold Coast are going to collapse financially because of widespread debts," one chief executive told AAP. Apart from the $1.4 million Reed Construction claim, the Titans are also in dispute with the centre's original builder Simcorp which says it's owed $4.2 million from work it carried out in 2010 on the multi-level building. Searle insists that debt has been paid. In recent months the club has splashed out millions recruiting stars Jamal Idris, Nate Myles and Beau Champion on multi-year deals. This week they splurged close to $2 million to lure South Sydney giant Dave Taylor to the club next season, and they are rumoured to be already working on their next target, Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk. "They need to operate the footy club in the normal course - and the normal course includes recruiting players as long as they're within the salary cap rules," said Gallop. "At this stage we don't intend to interfere." But the Titans' massive spending doesn't sit well with a lot of NRL clubs hearing they are being propped up financially. "They (Titans) just keep signing marquee players while the vultures (creditors) are circling," said a concerned club official.