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Struggling Mariners find innovative ways to stay afloat in A-League
From their inflatable sauce bottles — barbecue, mustard or tomato, take your pick — to their dwindling crowds, lack of recent success and grim financial situation, it can be argued that the Central Coast Mariners are one of the most maligned clubs in the A-League.
At a time when the A-League is preparing for much-needed expansion, it says much about the general feeling that there are those who don’t see the Mariners as part of the future of the national competition and would rather see them booted out to make way for other franchises.
Central Coast’s 360,000 population base is not regarded as big enough to sustain an A-League club. The insistence of Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop that they have to “fish where the fish are” in relation to the next expansion areas adds fuel to the fire.
On and off the field, the past 18 months have only served to heighten the calls as this proud, family-orientated club has struggled to even stay in the wake, let alone compete on a level playing field, of the likes of Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, Sydney FC and Western Sydney.
Yet it was only a little over three years ago that the Mariners celebrated their only A-League championship success, under Graham Arnold.
Since then, it has been a downhill ride of poor results, diminishing crowds and cost-cutting measures as owner Mike Charlesworth has desperately tried to stem the tide. It reached its lowest ebb last season when the Mariners finished with the wooden spoon for the first time in their history.
Amid all of this, the club has had to try to find what it says are innovative solutions, leading to deals to play some games away from their picturesque stadium in Gosford in an attempt to galvanise support from outside the coast.
But the experiments of games at North Sydney and Canberra, while earning the club money, have fallen flat and alienated the hardcore Mariners fans while doing little to improve the Mariners brand.
To the credit of Charlesworth, an Englishman who spends most of his time back home, there have been some advances. The $100 million Centre of Excellence at Tuggerah, opened by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in March, is spectacular. It houses the superb Mariners training centre and academy, as well as a swimming centre, 10 all-weather synthetic pitches and a six-storey office block.
There are plans to incorporate a licensed premises run by the club and designed to be part of a financial flow for the club.
Yet the doubts remain.
Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp, however, remains bullish about the future of the club.
“Anyone who says we will be dead in a few years has not been to our CoE,” Mielekamp told The Weekend Australian.
“They don’t understand our vision. I wouldn’t have come to this club (he had been at the Wanderers for several years) if I didn’t believe in our long-term future.” Mielekamp has produced a five-year strategy for the club that he believes will underpin its future success.
The strategy includes:
• 12,000 members and $1.2m revenue;
• Four major partners exceeding $3m in corporate revenue;
• Spending the full salary cap and having a marquee player every three years;
• Qualifying for the Asian Champions League and winning the A-League Premiers Plate;
• Attaining 14,000 average home attendances;
• The largest academy and pathway nursery to the A-League.
“In five years’ time, I expect we will be one of the most community-minded, innovative and entertaining sports brands in Australia,” Mielekamp said.
“It is not an easy road, no one ever said it would be. It’s not going to be a traditional pathway for us to get there.
“We have to innovate and think of new ideas to achieve those goals.”
As for continuing to take games to other areas, Mielekamp said the club’s only commitment now was for another game in Canberra in February.
“We are 100 per cent committed to 11 games at Gosford as a minimum. We have had 14 games at Gosford and the difference between 11 and 14 is a case-by-case scenario,” he said.
“We’d love to find the right opportunity to grow the club — Dubbo is a region we would like to try — and are not afraid to have a go at it, but none of it is to be to the detriment of what happens here on the Central Coast.”
Financially, Mielekamp says the club is still doing it tough and are not spending the full $2.55m salary cap.
“We are still very tight and have to be extremely prudent. The long term looks great but there is a short-term reality,” he said.
“We still have to work very hard and diligently to make sure we are resourceful and make sure the tools we have today provide for more tools for tomorrow.
“We can’t be reckless and, no doubt, without the commitment of our owner we would struggle to be in existence right now.”
