Lee's Twin Peaks

Sign-offs don't come much better than this.

After just a season in charge of Broadbeach United, 31-year-old coach and occasional player Lee Vernon steered his side to the ‘double’ on Saturday night, then announced he was quitting.

Vernon is bowing out with his flag firmly planted at Gold Coast Soccer's Premier League summit after deciding to resurrect his playing career, despite undergoing three serious knee operations in the past two-and-a-half years.

The joy of piloting the Dolphins to the minor premiership from the bench, followed by a 2-0 grand final victory over Coomera at Broadbeach Oval, cannot in Vernon's mind compete with the satisfaction of being in the thick of the combat zone.

Seconds after Luke Glanz had provided a searing 87th-minute sequel to United's spectacular 80th-minute opener from Japanese import Nori Uchimura, Vernon confirmed: “I won't be coaching next year. It's been a great experience but I want to be a player again.

“We've become only the third team in 11 years to win the ‘double’ but I miss playing. I've come off the bench and been lucky enough to score a couple of goals in the last few weeks of the season and the hunger is there again.

“They say you're a long-time retired and I feel I still have something to contribute.

“The knee is OK now and whether it's with the first team or the reserves, I've been given the all-clear by doctors and just want to play again.”

Vernon's will be a hard act to follow after taking a team consisting more of toilers than technicians to the minor premiership — a point clear of Palm Beach — and then into a grand final which they won with something to spare, thanks to goals of rare quality from substitute Glanz and Uchimura.

The result was all the more commendable since it was achieved on a perforated pitch more suited to the cultivation of potatoes than precise-passing football.

“It's been a fairytale season,” said Vernon. “We were undefeated away from home, which gave me a lot of pleasure, and only lost three out of 25 games all up.

“Both goals were excellent, especially on that pitch, and I can hand over the reins now with a job pretty well accomplished.

“I've enjoyed my little bits of action this year and I'm looking forward to next season already.”

How to replace him is now the headache facing Broadbeach president Micky Doyle, who may well target Burleigh's decorated mentor Colin Phelan.

David Lewis, Gold Coast Bulletin
21 September 2009

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