Miron Bleiberg () is an Israeli-Australian football (soccer) manager.

Biography

Bleiberg was educated at the

Hebrew Reali School The Hebrew Reali School of Haifa (), located in Haifa, Israel, is one of the country's oldest private schools.Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Israel. A former captain in the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

, Bleiberg commanded

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s and

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

s, covering the coastline from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

to Sinai and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

.Gold Coast Utd fresh air
/ref> In Israel, he coached Hapoel HaTzair Kiryat Haim, which at the time played in

Liga Bet Liga Bet () is the fourth tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into four regional divisions. History League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. However, the financial ...

, the fourth tier of

Israeli football league system The Israeli football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Israel. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream ...

.Football union in Haifa (Page 4)
Hadshot HaSport, 1 July 1981, archive.football.co.il After moving to Australia, he coached

Melbourne Croatia Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

for the 1985 and 1986 NSL seasons.OzFootball Profile
/ref> The following year he coached Maribyrnong Polonia for the initial 12 rounds, until the club fell into financial difficulties. The team eventually went on to win the 1987

Victorian State League The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

title. This was followed by stints at Croydon City,

Heidelberg United Heidelberg United Alexander Football Club (founded as Alexander the Great-Melbourne Soccer Club) established in 1958 is a football (soccer) club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia. The team currently ...

and the

Brisbane Strikers Brisbane Strikers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1991 as Brisbane United, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 2003–04 season. Brisbane Strikers ...

, before going on to secure a string of successes in the Queensland Premier League with

NorthStar Northstar may refer to: * Polaris, a star Arts and entertainment * Northstar (band), an emo band from Alabama * Northstar (rap group), a rap group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan * "Northstar", a 2019 song by XXXTentacion from the album '' Bad ...

and Queensland Lions.

Queensland Roar

Appointed the coach of the

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional Association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's Australian soccer league system ...

for the inaugural season of the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

, the Roar missed the finals, although the side's entertaining style of football won plaudits from the media and supporters. Bleiberg's outspoken views and colourful quotes in the style of Jose Mourinho has made many headlines. After the Roar slipped from an auspicious start to the 2006/7 season to fourth position following Round 15, Bleiberg resigned as coachMiron quits as coach
/ref> and was replaced by former Socceroos coach

Frank Farina Frank Farina Order of Australia, OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian Association football, football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belg ...

.Roar set to announce Farina as new coach
/ref>

Gold Coast United FC

Bleiberg had backed a new

club Gold Coast Galaxy, to be based on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

. Ultimately, the Galaxy consortium led by real estate magnate Fred Taplin, was trumped by a rival bid from mining billionaire

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

. Upon receiving expansion approval from the FFA, Palmer appointed Bleiberg as head coach and football director for Gold Coast United.Bleiberg set to rejoin A-League ranks
In their first two seasons, Gold Coast made the finals, finishing an impressive 3rd in their debut season. In what was a world's first for football, Bleiberg was miked-up during the game against Wellington Phoenix in round 15 on 15 January 2012, providing insight into a head coach on game day. During the week preceding the game with

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

on 18 February 2012, Gold Coast owner

announced that he would be giving 17-year-old Mitch Cooper the

Captaincy A captaincy ( , , ) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish colonies, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule admin ...

on his A-League debut, replacing suspended skipper

Michael Thwaite Michael Errol Thwaite (born 2 May 1983) is an Australian former professional soccer player. Education He has a Bachelor of Human Movement Science degree from CQUniversity Australia. Michael also is a certified AFC B-Licence coach. Club career ...

. In response to the announcement, Bleiberg claimed that the appointment was a merely ceremonial move, allowing him to take the coin toss, then allow

Kristian Rees Kristian Rees (born 6 January 1980 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian soccer player who plays as a Defender (football), central defender. Club career He made his National Soccer League, NSL debut playing for Adelaide City. He was ...

to take over the on-field captaining. However, Clive Palmer suspended Bleiberg for the game against Heart, unhappy with Bleibergs comments over the move. The suspension was soon made indefinite, with Gold Coast CEO Clive Mensink claiming it was inappropriate for Bleiberg not to take the appointment seriously. and that the comments made were disrespectful to Cooper and Palmer. On Sunday, 19 February, Bleiberg walked out on the club, claiming that Palmer took away his dignity and had been deeply offended by the move to suspend him.

Oakleigh Cannons FC

Bleiberg joined

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

club

Oakleigh Cannons FC Oakleigh Cannons Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in the south-east Melbourne suburb Oakleigh, Victoria, Oakleigh. As of 2025, the club competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria). History South Oakleigh Soc ...

five rounds into the 2013 season, after Oakleigh parted ways with former manager Bill Theodoropoulos. In April 2015, Bleiberg departed the Cannons, being replaced by Arthur Papas.

Managerial statistics

Honours

*NSL Cup **1986 (Melbourne Croatia) *Victoria State League **1987 (Maribyrnong Polonia) *Queensland Premier League and Grand Final **1994 (North Star) **1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 (Brisbane/QLD Lions)

References

External links

Gold Coast United profile

Jerusalem Post feature article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleiberg, Miron 1955 births Israeli Jews Living people Australian Jews Israeli men's footballers Australian men's soccer players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Israeli football managers Israeli emigrants to Australia Brisbane Roar FC managers Gold Coast United FC managers Expatriate soccer managers in Australia A-League Men managers Oakleigh Cannons FC managers Sportspeople from Haifa Australian people of Israeli descent Western Eagles FC managers Men's association football players not categorized by position Brisbane Strikers managers Melbourne Knights FC managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen 20th-century Israeli sportsmen