Soccer: Phoenix eyes Gold Coast

Gold Coast striker Joel Porter. Photo / Getty Images

The Wellington Phoenix will target Gold Coast's players if the club is out of the A-League next season but any transfers are unlikely to include Shane Smeltz.

Reports suggest Gold Coast will fold because owner Clive Palmer is withdrawing his funding.

The iron ore billionaire has had a testy relationship with Football Federation Australia during the club's one-year existence.

The FFA reportedly won't bail out United as they did North Queensland Fury and Adelaide.

However, FFA are looking for alternative investors. If Gold Coast did withdraw, the competition would remain at 10 teams because of newcomers Melbourne Heart.

Gold Coast had an excellent debut, finishing third in the regular season before being knocked out of the playoffs by Newcastle.

They have a number of good players, notably All Whites striker Smeltz, Socceroo Jason Culina and fellow striker Joel Porter.

It's debatable if Wellington would chase Smeltz, who was a key player in their first two seasons, or that Smeltz would want to return. The 28-year-old scored 21 goals in 39 games for the Phoenix.

The 2008/09 A-League Player of the Year has been linked with in Turkey, Qatar, Japan and China.

Culina would also be too expensive for the Phoenix but might be tempted to renew their interest in Porter who they chased vigorously before he joined Gold Coast. .

They might also be interested in young striker Tahj Minniecon and Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite.

Wellington chief executive Tony Pignata said they were monitoring the situation.

"We will just let the club, FFA and PFA [Professional Footballers' Association] sort it out. If players become available after that, we would definitely look at it. They have a very, very good squad and had a fantastic year."

Wellington have 16 players contracted for next season. Each club can carry 23, including three under-20 players, but if the Phoenix can't get a reserve team in the NZFC they aren't likely to have any more than 20 on their books.

That means they will first seek a striker and a creative midfielder as well as two under-age players.

"We haven't really gone out into the market yet," Pignata said. "We have identified some players overseas but we want to take our time.

"We have 16 settled players on our books and we had a great year, which means we can afford to pick and choose. who we want."

Pignata said Gold Coast's predicament highlighted that A-League clubs were haemorrhaging money.

"The FFA can't keep bailing clubs out and they need to look at the model of the A-League," he said. "It's not a good look when Adelaide, Brisbane, North Queensland and now the Gold Coast are in a dire situation.

"The league is going forward in leaps and bounds but club are bleeding money at the moment. We are just lucky we have Terry Serepisos.

"We were told it would take three years to make a profit but we're really only just breaking even. It's not sustainable. The model that Melbourne Victory and Heart have with five or six investors looks the best."