Blog: Stop Embarrassing Your Fans!

I'M ANGRY. I'm angry for two reasons.

The first reason is that I just watched highlights of the match between North Queensland Limes and Brisbane Road Workers and all the fluorescent kits have given me a massive headache. But the second is a little more serious. I've just read the latest story on Gold Coast United and again it involves Miron Bleiberg getting on everyone's wrong side.

Apparently, Bleiberg is refusing to partake in any promotional activities relating to the season opener against Brisbane Roar. The reason? He's protesting that the game isn't being played at Skilled Stadium.

For me, this is the latest case of GC United acting like it's bigger than the league, the FFA and indeed the game itself. We've already had complaints about the salary cap, talk about winning the league undefeated, problems with Fury over the scheduling of a pre-season game in Cairns, a refusal by the coach to obtain the proper coaching licence, gloating about pre-season success and a club-versus-country row over Tahj Minniecon. How can a club create so much controversy before it has even played a single competitive match?

I'm certainly willing to admit that in many of these instances the Gold Coast side of the argument might well have a point. I think it's daft that any new club should be denied the chance to debut in front of a home crowd. I also think it's daft to schedule the first South Queensland derby in round 1 of the season. But it's not the first time an A-League club has been slighted by FFA policy and other clubs have been willing to take it on the chin. It only seems to be Miron who has decided he has to go out of his way to make a point.

The greater problem, for me, is that Miron's actions are actually to the detriment of the club. For the sake of retaliating against the perceived offence, Bleiberg is not only harming relations with the FFA but also with the many potential fans who, if they are like me, are now starting to cringe every time he opens his mouth.

I was happy to get on board the GC United bandwagon when the club started up. The prospect of a good team playing good football was appealing. The promise of taking our game to a new frontier and representing a region of which I am quite fond was exciting. The hope that a new big player in the A-League would be just the revitalising factor that a league that was beginning to stagnate needed was overwhelming.

But at this stage when I should be quietly confident that my side can give the league a real shake based on the squad and pre-season form, I'm left wondering if I really want United to succeed at all.

All it would take for GC United to guarantee itself the full support of the local (and quite potentially wider) footballing community is a little humility. Perhaps with Palmer and Bleiberg at the helm that's asking too much.