Gold Coast United coach Miron Bleiberg has been named the 2009/10 tribalfootball.comA-League Coach of the Year. The Israeli-born tactician has guided the A-League club into the finals in just their first season with a record of 13 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses from 26 matches (with one round to go).
Gold Coast had high hopes at the beginning of the season and although they did not get their owner Clive Palmer's wish of going through the campaign undefeated, they have done a remarkable job in getting themselves to third position with the opportunity to finish second on the table if results go their way this weekend.
tribalfootball.com caught up with Miron to discuss his first season as head coach of a brand new A-League franchise.
"With the team we assembled we were quite confident going into the season and the top-four was always a target so we are happy that we achieved that," Bleiberg said.
"It's always good to be part of success, it's the essence of coaching football. I read somewhere that Wellington Phoenix had achieved a three-year plan in making the finals but it makes me think that we are three-times smarter than them for making the finals in our first season."
A win against North Queensland Fury on Saturday will take Gold Coast to second on the table and then it's just a waiting game to see what happens on Sunday with the top-of-the-table clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. Bleiberg was hoping for a top-two finish but said even if they happened to end up third, he is confident the club can go all the way after having a brilliant end to the season.
"We won't know about second place until Sunday so that's another matter," he added.
"But although it was our first year everything went well with a good start, a dip in form mid-season and a good end which is what every coach dreams of.
"We have come in injury-free and did well with our recruits in Charlie (Miller) and Dino (Djulbic) so from all points of view we are looking good.
"If it's 2nd (finish) then that's good and if it's 3rd it's a knockout which you don't want because anything can happen like it did last week (penalty against Wellington) but even if we do finish 3rd, we definitely can go all the way.
"I would like to thank tribalfootball for naming me for this award and choosing the right person."
The team at tribalfootball.com would like to congratulate Miron for being voted as the A-League Coach of the Year.
