New Gold Coast United boss Mike Mulvey has revealed a dinner date with the coaches of the three other major sporting codes in the region has affirmed his belief that the embattled A-League club has a bright future.
New Gold Coast United boss Mike Mulvey has revealed a dinner date with the coaches of the three other major sporting codes in the region has affirmed his belief that the embattled A-League club has a bright future.
Manchester-born Mulvey, whose bright start as interim coach of United continued their a brave 3-3 draw with ladder leaders Central Coast on Wednesday, has wasted little time settling into his new position.
His predecessor, Miron Bleiberg, was scheduled to engage in a meeting of the minds with the men at the helm of the Suns, the Titans and the Blaze over dinner.
But after falling out with chairman Clive Palmer, Bleiberg was out of a job and recommended Mulvey went along to catch up with Guy McKenna, John Cartwright and Joey Wright.
After a week which saw Gold Coast in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, the gathering helped Mulvey appreciate that the often-maligned club has plenty of reasons to stay in the A-League.
“We all had a shared belief that the Gold Coast is a special place, and that we all want success for our own teams,” he said.
“We also believe we can help each other, a bit of cross-fertilization of ideas. They’re all aware that Gold Coast United are a Gold Coast team.”
While United’s struggle for crowds continued with just 1141 turning up to watch the Mariners match, Mulvey was delighted that even such a modest number was ‘buying into’ the club’s youth development policy.
Midfielder Josh Brillante was named man of the match, while Ben Halloran scored a contender for goal of the season, spotlighted youngster Mitch Cooper also netted to great cheers from the fans and defender Zac Anderson had another fine evening.
“The people who were here were excited,” he said.
“This is just the start. We’re building with these players for the future.”
Mulvey warned his pacy youngsters will continue to cause problems for opposition sides, saying they thrive when instilled with a feeling of empowerment and importance.
Combined with the expected return of a number of senior players from injury, he argued there’s no reason why they can’t continue to surprise other A-League sides in the run home.
“If you give young players a sense of purpose, their ability to play will come to the fore,” he said.
“Our treatment room is getting lighter, some of the players are coming back, and I’ve promised them that performance will be rewarded.”
“I want to have a problem of who to leave out. That’s happening, right now.”
Straight-shooting chairman Palmer was in attendance, and he liked what he saw at Skilled Park.
Just a few days after dishing out $1000 bonuses to those involved with the club’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne Heart, Palmer was so taken with Gold Coast’s first-half performance that he came down from the stands to address the players at the interval.
Mulvey said he didn’t have a problem with it.
“Clive just said ‘can I quickly congratulate the boys’. He was beside himself,” he said.
“He said, ‘I’ll just say one word if I could’ and I said ‘no problem’. He just wanted to say his appreciation to the boys of their effort.”
“Then he sat in the background and listened to the technical and tactical stuff.”
