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The appointment of 17 year-old debutant Mitch Cooper as captain of Gold Coast United at tonight’s A-League fixture put coach Miron Bleiberg in some hot water with the boss yesterday.
It has also unfairly placed the youngster right in the centre of yet another controversial club decision.
From day one, Clive Palmer has made it his mission to be involved as much as possible in the running of Gold Coast United.
Though his decisions sometimes shock and confuse, and earn the ire of Australian football fans, for the most part you can tell Palmer loves his club and desperately wants it to succeed.
His latest audacious move was instructing Bleiberg to give the captain’s armband to National Youth League regular Mitch Cooper, while their skipper Michael Thwaite is out suspended.
This will make Cooper the youngest ever player to captain a side in the A-League.
Palmer prefaced the decision as just another example of the commitment the club has to giving greater exposure to their younger players, by allowing them to play alongside the big boys.
Bleiberg’s comments after the announcement, however, were far less rosey.
“He will toss the coin. Then he will ask Kristian Rees which way to go, and then Kristian will tell him what to do during the game.
“He will do the ceremony,” Bleiberg said.
“It’s a nice gesture from Clive Palmer and the club to make him captain for the day.”
This blunt response from Bleiberg wasn’t well received by Palmer and earned the head coach a one game club suspension, leaving assistant Mike Mulvey to take his place for the game against Melbourne Heart.
Rees, along with a handful of other more experienced players, would appear the more logical choice for captain in Thwaite’s absence. But despite his young age, Mitch Cooper has proven he can handle himself on the big stage.
I’ve been lucky to have followed Cooper’s rise to prominence in recent years, while covering the Queensland State League.
Cooper was consistently a stand-out on the pitch, playing for the Queensland Academy of Sport. Not long into the season mid-last year, he was selected to play for the U-17 Joeys at the last FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico, where he bagged a man-of-the-match award against trailblazers, Brazil.
Instrumental playing for Gold Coast United in the National Youth League, Cooper’s talent continues to blossom.
As a menacing and versatile attacking midfielder, he’s scored six goals so far this season. Joined in the team by other rising stars and fellow QAS reps, unlike their senior counterparts, the youth side are actually doing exceptionally well in fourth spot on the NYL ladder.
So you cannot doubt Cooper’s quality.
Still, with their apparent refusal to sign experienced players, the selection of Cooper as captain on debut is one that will baffle many, and reinforce Gold Coast United’s growing reputation as the joke of the A-League.
There’s already been an overwhelmingly negative response from football fans.
But while we begin the fierce debate over whether or not this was the right or wrong move for the club, let’s not forget there’s a young man involved with a very bright future ahead of him, about to face a significant moment in his footballing career.
For him, his family and friends.
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