Lyall Gorman - Changes to squad

[midfielder]

I realise we have a squad discussion thread ... However its not everyday our Chairman discusses the squad so openly in the press, so through this was worth a thread of its own.

Lyall says we have five or six spots open...

Good to see  this is happening ...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/mariners-admit-its-time-to-change-tack/2009/04/22/1240079730537.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Mariners admit it's time to change tack

FOOTBALL Michael Cockerill

April 23, 2009


   
CENTRAL Coast Mariners executive chairman Lyall Gorman has moved to reassure disgruntled fans that the club remains "incredibly driven" to succeed despite a disappointing Asian Champions League campaign - confirming the squad was likely to be overhauled before the next A-League season.

The Mariners have only a slim chance of progressing beyond the group stage of the ACL after Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to Kawasaki Frontale in Tokyo, and Gorman conceded the squad needed "refreshing" to remain competitive when the next domestic competition begins in August.

In the first four years of the A-League, Central Coast arguably overachieved - making two grand finals and claiming one minor premiership - but Gorman believes the time to rebuild has come.

"I think 12 of our players have been there since day one, which is probably the highest of any club in the competition, and there's no doubt it's time to refresh things," he said.

"That's not to say anything about the existing players, but I'm convinced the competition [A-League] will be stronger than ever next season, and we have to keep pace. We've got five or six spots available, and I'll be sitting down with Lawrie [McKinna, coach] when he gets back on Friday to start a review.

"We're not flush, we're not talking about going out and getting a million-dollar player, but we do have enough to attract some quality. One of the things that has been missing since Tony Vidmar and John Aloi$i left the club is a bit of experience, and you need that hard-headedness in our league. That's probably what we'll be concentrating on."

Asked whether he sensed the fans were becoming increasingly agitated by the string of poor results, Gorman replied: "Definitely. It's fair to say we delivered beyond expectations for four years, but now things have dropped off a bit. In those four years, the fans have become far more knowledgeable, far more informed, and their expectations have risen accordingly. They're more critical, but we don't have a problem with that. We know we haven't been reaching the standards we've set for ourselves, so the pressure is on. But I can assure them [fans] that we haven't lost our ambition, we're incredibly driven to be successful, and that's why we're about to go back into the marketplace and look for new players. I wouldn't say the wheels have fallen off, but we know we have to do better."

The Mariners' first signing is likely to be 22-year-old English midfielder Nicky Travis, who recently trialled in Gosford as part of the club's relationship with Sheffield United, and two more players from Europe are due to arrive in the next fortnight.

Pressed on whether the Mariners were about to ditch their policy of relying only on homegrown talent, Gorman admitted: "It might be time to look at that."

 

[Sean]

Good to see a boardroom response to our state.

As a side note, we havent really relied on home grown talent?!
If we have, we wouldve signed James Holland and Payne, played Brady Smith and Sherlock.
We've only persisted with Simon and Porter.

 

[promdi442]

Well done Lyall. Overdue but at least it is out there now and it will be up to you and Lawrie to satisfy our craving for a better performance on the field from our team.
Nicky Travis doesnt mean too much to me at this stage. He definitely wont sell me on taking up my members ticket again for next year. It remains to be seen who the other two players from Europe will be and how they will uplift our sagging performances of late.
Lets hope there will be two "mongrels" among them. One at the back, and one for the midfield.
I know there was a list of players still with contract and those who will be departing but I have forgotten exactly where it is. Is it possible to have that list posted in here so that we can see just who is and who isnt (and some who should be, if they werent on contract) going.   

 

[priorpeter]

As a side note, we havent really relied on home grown talent?!
If we have, we wouldve signed James Holland and Payne, played Brady Smith and Sherlock.
We've only persisted with Simon and Porter.

I think by 'homegrown talent', it's referring moreso to the fact that we haven't gone out and signed a bunch of Brazilians etc, as opposed to 'Central Coast born & bred' players.

 

[Marquee]

Top stuff!!!!!

Very pleased to see the club directly answering the fans concerns.

Interesting when he says "we do have enough to attract some quality". Wonder if that means some funds have be found or they have been there all along.

Now to wait and see what they can deliver.

 

[FFC Mariner]

I wouldn't say the wheels have fallen off, but we know we have to do better."

LOL - CEO talk for "oh shit"

Fair play to the guy, he sees what we see and it will be very interesting to see whether we have the confidence in our own leadership abilities to ditch the no DH rule and buy from overseas.

Spot on, complete asshole mongrel defender and a tall CM please.

 

[Bex]

 

[Sym]

May I ask why a tall CM ?

 

[Jesus]

I am hopeful this does not mean they are gettin rid of gumps. But lawrie does seem to not fabour him, IMO because gumps has the same qualifications, and if i read right, is doing higher qualifications for coaching.

According to syd forum these are the guys off contract.
#2) Andre Gumprecht
#3) Paul O'Grady - assume gone
#9) Nik Mrdja - probably stay?
#12) Greg Owens - surely gone
#15) Andrew Clark - has to stay after tues, i still think he has the fitness and the drive
#30) Andrew Redmayne (GK)

Osman obviously gone too. And sash and jedi

 

[FFC Mariner]

May I ask why a tall CM ?

Our MF is relatively short and that means that at corners, we have 2 CB's and the 2 strikers marking. If they have 1 more tall player, we are screwed, also, we cant then leave a forward upfield and the ball is given straight back to the other side when cleared.

I'd say Redders is likely to be the only one of those we keep (Clarkie kicked upstairs to a coaching role??)

 

[Sacko]

Fabour him - is that some Scottish pre-match ritual?

Gumpie - Keep an option open in case we can't find better replacement
O'Grady - Nice bloke but shouldn't be in the squad for next season
Mrdja - Same as Gumpie
Owens - Who!!!! Looked a reasonable squad member in v3 but I'm sure we can do better
Clark - Keep for a squad spot 
Redmayne - Keep as back-up for when Danny gets a red

 

[dibo]

replacing all of those players depends on finding better people who fit in the cap. still, a few of those players are getting older or their stocks have fallen since their last contracts, so for equivalent money we might do better. on the fli side, the market is inflated because of the new teams and competition for signatures from overseas.

all the same, if other teams can put competitive squads together under the cap, then so should we. it's a level playing field.

i'm pleased to see LG get in the paper and actually say this. a bit of acknowledgment that there's a serious problem is good, and he hasn't done it in a con-style 'the fans know nothing, i run the team and that's all there is to it' way.

i take it from the article that the chequebook is opening. i'll assume we've been spending our full cap so far, so we'll spend the full cap again. on top of this we can sign an u-23 (aussie) marquee (salary limited to $150k) and then a full marquee. i gather we're not going to spend buckets. even that frees us up a bit though, as we'll be able to spend the cap on just 21 players rather than splitting it 23 ways.

fox sports is reporting today that the salary cap has hit $2.1 million. that's an average salary of $100k. if ASAs go on top of that, add 25% - $2.65 million (or $125k per player).

u-23: bozanic? might be too expensive otherwise but might be a goer this way.

marquee: presumably someone from the sheffield utd links, be they from the blades themselves or chengdu, sao paulo, ferencvaros...

if we're super keen we could add a guest player for 7 matches - the obvious time is the string of matches around christmas from the melbourne game to the gold coast game. 5 home matches out of 7 in the time we do best for crowds.

unfortunately this AFC CL campaign has been muffed. with luck and some judicious shopping, we'll be in shape to make a go of qualifying again after this domestic season.

 

[Bear]

im 99% sure that during the game on tuesday night 1 of the commentators said gumps had been offered another year contract

 

[Jesus]

im 99% sure that during the game on tuesday night 1 of the commentators said gumps had been offered another year contract

That would be great. Though i thought i heard he was offered a contract up the road with the scum.

Hopefully that was just a bad dream

 

[dibo]

im 99% sure that during the game on tuesday night 1 of the commentators said gumps had been offered another year contract

*groans*

why not sort these things after we've had a look around? for all the claims of other people being passengers and only being re-signed because they're in LM's good books, here's someone who may not exactly be in the good books but isn't exactly lighting the world on fire on the park either.

must be on reduced $$$ (to reflect that at best he'll be a bit-part player) so we can firm up the numbers to offer others.

 

[marinermick]

im 99% sure that during the game on tuesday night 1 of the commentators said gumps had been offered another year contract

i thought they said he was in talks with newcastle

 

[dibo]

i don't like that either...

 

[Jesus]

im 99% sure that during the game on tuesday night 1 of the commentators said gumps had been offered another year contract

*groans*

why not sort these things after we've had a look around? for all the claims of other people being passengers and only being re-signed because they're in LM's good books, here's someone who may not exactly be in the good books but isn't exactly lighting the world on fire on the park either.

must be on reduced $$$ (to reflect that at best he'll be a bit-part player) so we can firm up the numbers to offer others.

He did more than hutch and especially osman the other night. For him to be back to bitpart, they need huke to step up to cover jedi, then someone to cover osman, then hutch to stay in front of him.

Personally I would like to see porter and a tall dm in the middle. Bring in a specialist rb with some height and pace.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Bojic is supposed to be a RB isnt he?

Agree - Porter to MF (Osman is going, we are out of the ACL so lets start pre season early)

 

[Jesus]

Bojic is supposed to be a RB isnt he?

Agree - Porter to MF (Osman is going, we are out of the ACL so lets start pre season early)

If bojic goes to rb, which he can, i think we need a new LB. Heff has the height and pace, and is great going forward, but without bojic behind him he looks very poor. I think he is more a mid now than defender, and probably always was.