bulldogmariner said:
Mick is ur mail confirmed yet on adam griffiths?
THE magnetic lure of Gold Coast United has attracted yet another accomplished name with some-time Socceroo Adam Griffiths agreeing to a two-year deal with the A-League expansion club.
The Newcastle Jets defender, who can also play in midfield or as a full-back, becomes the 12th player snapped up by the outfit backed by gregarious billionaire Clive Palmer.
But only eight of those names are in the public domain with United boss Miron Bleiberg keeping a veil of secrecy over his signings to protect players from a possible backlash from their club coaches and their own fans.
"I can't confirm any signings of current A-league players because it's not fair to them," said Bleiberg.
"I want to let them concentrate on their own seasons and not have any undue pressure placed on them. If I want them to succeed and justify my signing them, why do I have to make them look bad (by revealing their identities)."
It is believed Bleiberg plans to team Griffiths with Socceroos defender Chris Coyne, who he hopes to bring back from England where he is struggling to get a start with third tier Colchester United.
Griffiths, whose twin brother Joel has recently inked a lucrative new Jets deal, has a list of credits including Oostende in Belgium and Watford, Bournmouth and Brantford in English footballer's lower levels.
He recently turned 29 and is positioning himself as a multi-media personality in the form of a bonsai-sized David Beckham with a line of fashion wear decorated by his own artistic motifs.
An abstract painter of growing renown, he is a combative presence on the field capable of brushing off the attentions of most strikers. He even has a celebrity fiancee in the form of glamorous English actress Lilly Brown.
With Gold Coast the self-styled Tinseltown team the coming of Griffiths, who has two Socceroos caps, could be a marriage made in football and marketing heaven.
Bleiberg, though, remained unforthcoming about his secret signings.
"Usually the transfer market is in January in the A-League, but we're still in October and there is two thirds of the season to go," he said.
"Look at the reaction last year when (Perth Glory) fans booed Simon Colosimo and (Newcastle supporters) jeered Mark Bridge when they learned they had signed for Sydney FC. For these reasons I cannot say who I have got."
Another Bleiberg capture, Central Coast midfielder Matt Osman, falls into that category, although Bleiberg is happy to acknowledge the arrival of former Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix defender Kristian Rees as a squad player.
Another in that mould is Daniel Piorkowski, the former Melbourne Victory centre back who is approaching the end of a stop-gap stint with the Jets and is bound for Skilled Park also.
While he will be at top end of the club's food chain, Bleiberg has also offered an olive branch to what he describes as 'blue collar' players.
Rees, who played 35 times for the Reds, is one of them,
goldcoast.com.au
