only a partially relevant thread for this but plenty of talking points:
Central Coast Mariners try to
navigate way out of danger after
hitting choppy waters
The Central Coast Mariners' title defence looked to
have begun all too smoothly. Their disciplined defence
and free-flowing possession-based attack of last
season carried into their first game and, when Mitchell
Duke scored to give them a deserved lead against
Western Sydney Wanderers in round one, another
successful year appeared a certainty. But a late
equaliser by Tomi Juric dashed hopes of a winning
start and provided a snapshot of the rocky road that
was to come.
Four games later and their inspirational coach, Graham
Arnold, left for Japan along with the highly regarded
conditioning coach Andrew Clark. As the club was still
reeling from that loss, former chairman, chief executive
and majority owner Peter Turnbull was relieved of his
post, leaving new owner Mike Charlesworth the sole
decision maker and, in the space of six months, the
most tactically advanced team in the competition had
slumped to one of the most inconsistent performers.
Sitting in sixth place approaching the halfway stage of
the season is an unusual situation for a club that has
spent three seasons hovering around the summit of the
A-League. Despite the unease, those who are part of
the Mariners' framework are not surprised to see the
class of 2013-14 struggling to replicate the feats of
those before.
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''It was just two different teams,'' captain John
Hutchinson said. ''We lost a lot of players in the off-
season and, if you take away the amount of players we
lost, we were going to find it hard to defend the title.''
The defensive midfielder has been at the club since its
inception and is one of just two players who have
witnessed their gradual transformation from minnows to
champions. There is a belief within the camp that eight
years of labour - three under Arnold's tutelage - forged
last season's team into the competition's best and
there was an air of invincibility about them.
''We were so confident we would win games, it was an
eerie feeling,'' coach Phil Moss said.
A nosedive back into mediocrity followed, with the
departure of five players who started in the 2013 grand
final as well as Arnold.
''We believe that last year we were one of the best
team's the A-League has ever seen,'' Hutchinson said.
''When we lost all those players and the coach got a
great offer from Japan that he couldn't refuse, the
fitness coach goes away and he also takes what I
would say is the best player in the league, Mike
McGlinchey, we were up against it.''
The turbulence did not end with the playing and
coaching staff. After six years as an investor, three of
which as a majority owner and chairman, Turnbull was
dismissed by Charlesworth. The club he helped forge
was out of his hands and, while the finances were in a
more secure state, a new era of turmoil began. Talk of
a partial relocation to North Sydney Oval surfaced and
were promoted by the owner himself.
''Now that Mike's in charge, he has to mould the club
to a sustainable form that Mike's happy with and that
might take a bit of pain and time but, at the end of the
day, Mike's put the money in and he has to have the
freedom to do what he [sees] fit,'' Turnbull said.
The club had registered a record of more than 5600
members after breaking its grand final hoodoo but that
was not enough to convince Charlesworth that the club
had a permanent and viable future on the Central Coast
alone. With a supporter base in limbo as a result of
plans to move games away from the club's spiritual
base, and a new board likely to feature representation
from Sydney's Northern Suburbs Football Association,
there are fears that the Mariners could be facing an end
of an era.
''It will be a shame if the foundations that created a
club that was envied around the country isn't
maintained,'' Turnbull said.
''We showed how it could be done with such a small
budget that it would be a shame if those weren't
honoured.''
Players and coaching staff put on a brave face when
forced to discuss plans to move games away from
Gosford but it is understood that the prospect of
insurrection disrupted on-field performances.
The Mariners have not put in a consistent 90-minute
performance this season. There remains a degree of
conviction that the fighting spirit of the league's
smallest club remains while so many key figures have
not. The opening day of the Mariners' title defence
ended in a stalemate and, despite the drama and
upheaval that has occurred at the club since, there is
still a belief that this season, unlike that promising day,
will not end in a blank.
''Coaches, players and chairmen come and go but the
club remains and the team remains,'' Moss said.
''We're not looking for any excuses and we're not
looking for any sympathy. We've got the quality, it's in
the dressing room, the structures are in place but it's
just a matter of everyone performing to the best of their
ability to bring back the consistency and
performances.''
smh.com.au/sport/soccer/central-coast-mariners-try-to-navigate-way-out-of-danger-after-hitting-choppy-waters-20131227-2zzlx.html
