The drama at Gold Coast United has taken another bizarre turn, with chief executive Clive Mensink insisting that Miron Bleiberg has been sacked – pre-empting his expected resignation.
The drama at Gold Coast United has taken another bizarre turn, with chief executive Clive Mensink insisting that Miron Bleiberg has been sacked – pre-empting his expected resignation.
Late on Sunday night, reports began to surface that Bleiberg had decided to quit the club following the controversial one-match suspension handed to him by owner Clive Palmer.
Once close friends, Palmer and Bleiberg have spectacularly fallen out over the mining magnate’s decision to hand 17-year-old debutant Mitch Cooper the captain’s armband for their 1-0 loss to Melbourne Heart on Friday.
The Israeli-born coach described it as a ‘ceremonial’ gesture, but Palmer disagreed and slapped him with the suspension, which Bleiberg said had personally hurt him.
But Mensink confirmed to a massive media pack on Monday afternoon that the club had decided to part ways with Bleiberg – not the other way around.
“At 6am today, no resignation letter had been received by the club,” he said.
“We were scheduled to have lunch today but given some of the comments made over the weekend, it was (clear) Miron wasn’t going to come back.”
“As a result the club has dismissed Miron from his position effective immediately.”
Bleiberg’s former assistant, youth team coach Mike Mulvey, has been appointed as caretaker coach for the rest of the season.
But what happens to the club beyond that point is extremely unclear – particularly in the wake of Palmer’s verbal assault on football in Queensland’s Sunday Mail.
Palmer said he didn’t even like football as a sport, preferring rugby league.
Mensink defended the billionaire, essentially accusing the newspaper of misquoting him.
“I was surprised at how it was reported. Whether or not they were the actual quotes, I can’t tell you,” he said.
“From talking to Clive last night and this morning (those quotes) were not (presented) in the context that they were put forward.”
Bleiberg, who had always described his coaching terms with the club as a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’, will be paid the remainder of his contract in a ‘civil and appropriate’ manner, according to Mensink.
“We appreciate what Miron has achieved, he got us off and running in our first season,” he said.
“It’s football, things happen. He’s interpreted things one way, we’ve interpreted things another way. It’s just now time for us all to move on.”
“These things happen. Whether it’s right or wrong, we’ve all got our own opinions.”
