A MODERATE crowd of 10,000 and a 0-0 draw against the Central Coast Mariners was the inauspicious start to the Western Sydney Wanderers’ odyssey four years ago, but how far the club has come since then.

One Premier’s Plate, two grand final appearances and an epic Asian Champions League victory later, coupled with sell-out crowds that create an atmosphere unrivalled in Australian sport, and the Wanderers are flying.

Sydney FC like to say that Sydney is ‘Sky Blue’, but the reality is that since 2012-13 the Harbour City has been all about red sunsets and black nights.

I will never forget the then CEO of Football Federation Australia Ben Buckley and Lyall Gorman, the inaugural chairman of the Wanderers, asking me several times to join the board of the newly formed Western Sydney club.

Doing so would have been a conflict of interests with my role at Fox Sports and in any case I told them they really didn’t need me, nor did they need any gimmick to make it work.

All they needed to do was listen to the people of Western Sydney, which they did.

I was then given the honour of making the opening speech at the the first forum at Mounties (Mt Pritchard Club), where I told the fans the same thing: ‘This will be your club, hence it’s what you the fans want that is the most important, not me or anyone else.’ By and large the powers that be have listened to the fans and just look at what has been achieved in such a short space of time.

Since Paul Lederer has taken over as chairman of the club we have seen the ambitions reach even greater heights. The high performance training complex is being developed and of course the rebuilding of Pirtek Stadium will soon be under way.

Who would have thought that four years ago the Wanderers would be the stadium’s biggest tenant.

On Sunday it will be farewell to the Wanderers playing at Pirtek Stadium as we know it.

Their stay was short, but very sweet, and of course it will never be forgotten.

The Wanderers will want to end on a high and Tony Popovic’s team are favourites to do just that against Brisbane Roar, but they will be wary. They’re up against the team that beat them twice during the regular season and in both those games the Wanderers were disappointing.

Yes, the Roar didn’t play to their full potential last weekend, but it’s a sign of a good team that they managed to pull off a win when they didn’t deserve to.

John Aloisi has done a remarkable job since taking over a club that had issues both on and off the field and in truth they were unlucky not to win the Premier’s Plate.

The Wanderers have changed their style to a more possession-based game and it will be interesting to see how that serves them in a one-off match. Still, the home support, added to the fact that it will be their last ever game at the venue, should be enough to see them through to their third grand final.