Looks like we all got it wrong. Since the A-League kicked off 12 seasons ago, the assumption has been that winning and entertaining football would bring the crowds flocking in for Sydney FC. Yet as skipper Alex Brosque prepares to lift the Premier's Plate on the back of a record-breaking season, the turnstiles have barely moved. It's been a sobering dose of reality.

If the Sky Blues best-ever team can't crack the toughest sporting marketplace on earth, what's the solution? Difficult as it may be for David Traktovenko to be pondering the tough questions just as the celebrations are kicking off, the Russian billionaire must be wondering what else he can do. No owner has ploughed more into an A-League club – unflinchingly and often unquestioningly. But are Sydney FC a bigger club than when he started? On the measure of public support – still one of the key benchmarks of any professional sporting club – the answer is no.

Revelation: Milos Ninkovic has been sensational for the Sky Blues. Credit:Getty Images

Ahead of Saturday afternoon's final league match against Newcastle Jets, the Sky Blues have averaged crowds of 16,021. That may be the third-highest in the competition (behind Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers), but the real comparison is damning. Depending on the attendance against the Jets, average crowds may end up being just the seventh-best in their history. Or – if your glass is half-empty – there's been only five seasons when crowds have been worse.

It's no wonder then, and no surprise, that the Sky Blues are ready to come out with all guns blazing as they attempt to shoot down plans for a third "Sydney" team (incorporating Wollongong) in what they insist is their own backyard. A Chinese-backed consortium fronted by SBS personalities Les Murray and Craig Foster wants to create a club anchored in the St George and Sutherland districts. Given their ongoing struggles to build crowds, the Sky Blues won't be taking the incursion lying down.