New Mariners Coach?

[Jazzie]

Well done Julia, good summation

hopefully, someone at CCM will take note

+1 ... Julia is stating the bleeding obvious in a well thought out post.

 

[~Floss~]

+1
Says it all really

 

[Bladesman]

With everything that is going on, promises of big things like the academy, big name signings, lack of investment in team, selling off our best players at key times, turmoil between manager,fans and board we are sounding more and more like Sheffield United evey day.  All we need now is a couple of board directors to get locked up for various frauds and we will be there.

 

[Ursus]

(the 442 article)
Well put together.
Thank you Chris.

 

[clarence]

(the 442 article)
Well put together.
Thank you Chris.

Fark, for once I agree with Ursus!!!!!!!! lol  ;D

Simply put, Lawrie does deserve a better run this season than the 'leaked news report' strategy that the club may have adopted here. I will give Lawrie a heap of credit for getting the club up and running and being an over achiever by miles, in these first seasons of the A-League.

However, Lawrie himself does run the gauntlet of criticism with some of his game strategies (75+ minute subs and sitting some players on the bench indefinitely, for example) and playing out of form players at times with no communication to the public as to why he's doing it.

No doubt the upcoming Mariners matches might be some crackers, as I can expect the players wanting to do all they can for Lawrie and keep the spectre of Arnold as far away from the Mariners Dressing Room as possible! 

 

[Wombat]

One day Arnold might make a decent HAL coach but i'd rather we were not the guinea pigs to see if he's actually learnt anything over the last two years.
I'd rather have McKinna than Arnold (I think) but we really need a proper hands on coach like Ferguson to help Lawrie or we will be left behind this season.

 

[striker]

Hickman was good.. he had shit players that made him look bad...

He had good players, Foster was captain.  ;D

hehehehe..... you are joking me

 

[nikko]

Well done Julia, good summation

hopefully, someone at CCM will take note

foward it to Gorman@mariners.com.au

 

[midfielder]

Another view - it gets a little hothouse in here, from a 442 Blogger:

"Blog: Stand By Me
   
Julia de Meyrick
Jun 22 2009 02:42

Whether you love him or hate him theres one thing you can say for sure about Lawrie McKinna: he is the heart and soul of the Central Coast Mariners.

If or when he leaves, it will be an exceptionally sad day for the club and he will leave a legacy that few other Australian football coaches can match.

While Lawrie is known to be uncomfortable with praise, after this week's revelation about his tenuous position as coach, it is crucial to remember that so much of what the Mariners have achieved is due to his efforts.

To say McKinna is a dedicated and highly qualified coach who has taken his squad to three out of four Finals Series playoffs, two Grand Finals, and a Premiership is only a small part of the story.

This is a man who reportedly worked for a year without pay to help set up the Mariners after the financially crippling experience he had at Northern Spirit. In every way possible, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to establishing and promoting a genuine football-loving community on the Central Coast. The stability and strength of character he has brought to the team itself can never be underestimated.

And while we are all painfully aware of the team's poor results in the past six months, it is surely McKinna's stability and leadership that offered hope for the team to revive its fortunes again in season five. Lawrie's track record rather than sentimentality should surely be enough to ensure his place as coach next season and beyond.

Sure, some Mariners fans have been critical of McKinna's recent performance, but the revelation this week that club officials were seriously considering replacing Lawrie with Arnie has been greeted with universal fan disapproval. According to the Marinators, Arnie rates only marginally above a certain football-hating journo as "the very last person who should ever be involved with CCM". Indeed, The Anti-Arnie Army (AAA) have already created a whole songbook of colourful chants which good taste prevents me from repeating.

Football is a cruel game, but with all due respect to Arnie, what on earth did the club hope to gain by replacing McKinna in this undignified fashion ?

Doesn't McKinna deserve better ? Don't the fans deserve better ?

Now I'm no Arnie-hater, but the fact that the club is said to be considering bringing in Arnie after the end of season five is, if anything, even grimmer news. What could be worse for the morale of players, fans, not to mention McKinna himself, than to have the threat of a replacement coach hanging over the season? Perhaps one of the sponsors could simply float a giant blimp over Bluetongue with Arnie's grinning face on it and the caption : "Coming soon...."

It's hard not to come to the conclusion that Lawrie is being made a scapegoat for what appears to be the club's current reluctance to spend more money on players.

A month ago, Lyall Gorman breathlessly announced : "We anticipate being in a position to announce some exciting player signings in the short term future as we step up our campaign to maintain and expand on the heights we that we have scaled with incredible consistency since our inception."

Now Chris Doig is a welcome addition (he's a big, strong, central defender - what's not to love ?) but is he "exciting" enough to bring in the casual supporters ? Is he going to help us "scale the heights" against the pumped up GCU or Fury?

Just as Newcastle did when faced with a long run of poor results, the club needs to show its commitment to the fans by buying some high quality players, and preferably a marquee player, even if this means taking financial risks.

In fact, rather than poor coaching, it could be argued that the club's failure to spend on players before the ACL was the chief reason for their disastrous campaign. Even Lawrie himself remarked "we did the best with the squad we had".

I know very little about business, but I can tell you this: if the Mariners want continued success they desperately need to rebuild goodwill from supporters which has been seriously damaged since the end of last season. Fans, and no doubt players as well, found the ACL experience demoralising. Sacking or threatening to sack the coach only adds insult to injury."

Great summary ... very true ..if LM is to go then we need someone people look up to and Arnold Out is not that person... however the broader point made about the clubs management has been noring away at me for a while... We believed we had the best management of any A-League club ... do we still feel this.. While I am not in any writing them off in fact given our recent performances looking towards a new coach would be expected ... but the leak itself plus speaking to arguably (? ? ? being kind) .... the least talented  coach performance wise I have ever seen ... shows I am not sure ... but at best the jury would be out as to whether Arnold Out is a good choice..More over cash or lack of coin appears to be driving decisions... in itself a good thing .. but Souths were the same in RL and for over 30 years were bottom dwellers... 

I am reminded of the time in the mid 80's when Manly brought Michael O'Connor from St George ... everyone asks where are you going to get the money to pay him... Arko said he will make us money .. he will add at least 5, 000 to our crowd over 11 home matches that's 55, 000 fans ... he will more than pay his way...

The same logic could do well at BT... given the leak has got out I think the board need to make some statements about our future direction... I still want to believe we have the best management team but they need to show some leadership and make it clear what they plan. Maybe I am asking to much as our management team has been very good to date ...

 

[pjennings]

Another view - it gets a little hothouse in here, from a 442 Blogger:

"Blog: Stand By Me
   
Julia de Meyrick
Jun 22 2009 02:42

....
A month ago, Lyall Gorman breathlessly announced : "We anticipate being in a position to announce some exciting player signings in the short term future as we step up our campaign to maintain and expand on the heights we that we have scaled with incredible consistency since our inception."

Now Chris Doig is a welcome addition (he's a big, strong, central defender - what's not to love ?) but is he "exciting" enough to bring in the casual supporters ? Is he going to help us "scale the heights" against the pumped up GCU or Fury?

Just as Newcastle did when faced with a long run of poor results, the club needs to show its commitment to the fans by buying some high quality players, and preferably a marquee player, even if this means taking financial risks.

In my best Rafa impersonation

Fact - we lost out way at the end of last season
Fact - we had a poor ACL compaign
Fact - in four years we have made the finals 3 years (top 4 out of 8 maybe not that great an acheivement)
Fact - we have been premiers
Fact - we have been Grand Finalists twice in four years
Fact - no-one foresaw signing of Vidmar
Fact - no-one foresaw signing of Aloi$i

I'm here for the long run and I think the management is too. I believe if they see the right marquee at the right price that is somewhere we need then money will be found. The right marquee will put bums on seats and somewhat pay for himself. The wrong one - whatever their prowess on the field - unless they continually win games for us won't.

Though yet to be proved the defence on paper is stronger. We need a good midfielder that can not only play the holding role but can also create. If we can't find the right person leave a spot open.

Lyall's comments are a normal thing to say - as were his comments on 442. The board and his job is to constantly look at improving the club. The total honing in on Arnold and the speculation that Lawrie was to be axed for Arnie was the reporter - not Lyall.

Lawrie's not perfect - but I can't think of anyone I would prefer in Australia for the role he is doing.   

       

 

[goingtoadisco]

Just becouse we have acheived alot in the last few years does not meen im ready to start looseing....

 

[marinermick]

Just becouse we have acheived alot in the last few years does not meen im ready to start looseing....

I don't know. Everyone seems a bit uptight around here and we all should get a bit looser.

 

[Dutch Wives]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/808/australia/2009/06/23/1341567/exclusive-central-coast-executive-lyall-gorman-dismisses


Exclusive: Central Coast Executive Lyall Gorman Dismisses Graham Arnold Rumours
The Mariners exec. has slammed inaccurate reports about the Socceroos No. 2 as a potential addition at the Bluetongue...
23 Jun 2009 05:19:34

Rumours linking former Australia head coach Graham Arnold to Central Coast Mariners have been twisted and distorted, says club executive chairman Lyall Gorman.

Over the past week, Arnold who is currently assistant to Socceroos boss Pim Verbeek was said to have been lined up as a potential successor to Mariners manager Lawrie McKinna, with the Scot pushed up into a more senior role within the club.

Speaking exclusively with Goal.com, Gorman quashed the rumours and claimed there had been no move at all to replace McKinna, who is himself aware of the reports.

He [McKinna] was frustrated, Gorman said. Its always frustrating when things get twisted and distorted.

The good part is, Lawrie knows the facts and he knows the facts very well, him and I speak on a daily basis.

Hes part of the Mariners family and we have a tremendous loyalty towards Lawrie and a tremendous debt to him. He has been and will continue to be an integral part of our operations.

Gorman went on to explain that the club are looking at the option of filling the role vacated by current North Queensland Fury manager Ian Ferguson, who previously worked as a coach under McKinna.

His position has never been in question, according to Gorman, who pointed out that McKinna was intimately involved in the bid team that lead to the birth of a Central Coast team in the A-League.

When pressed about whether Arnold was one of those spoken to with regards to the role left vacant by Ferguson, Gorman insisted nothing had been agreed upon.

He continued, You know the football market as well as I do, theres always speculation in the football market his name has come up as a raft of other names have come up in that regard.

But its not about replacing Lawrie, no matter what name comes up in any shape or form.

Its about considering whether the right person could be there to add value to the proposition.

Re-establishing the three-tier coaching structure that had existed with the Mariners, with Alex Tobin taking on a role as an assistant, is an option only being considered by the Mariners following a disappointing A-League season.

With only two points from a possible 36 in competitive matches since the start of the year including a disappointing Asian Champions League campaign rumours about Arnold replacing McKinna appear to have been fuelled by one of the worst runs of form in the clubs short history.

However, Gorman says the reports are not a reflection on McKinna and pointed out that Arnold is still contracted to Football Federation Australia till next year.

He said, We havent even agreed we will replace the role of Ian Ferguson, all we have done so far is to look at the options and see what options there are available in the market place, if its a decision we chose to make.

Arnold is still fully contracted to the FFA until the 30th of June next year, or post-World Cup.

 

[Ursus]

Wonderful. No more to be said.

 

[mariners4ever]

hmm lyall denying something, like that hasnt happened before 

 

[FFC Mariner]

A ringing vote of confidence.

Note to LG, try not confirming reports that you have been talking to Arnoldout ("naive not to talk to him" I think was what he said) - makes denying it much harder later

 

[Marquee]

Thats fine with me as long as we definitely fill the vacant coach position. I think it is an absolute must and pretty much as important as any new players. The difference post Fergie is astounding and we need a quality assistant to replace him. End of.

 

[Arabmariner]

A ringing vote of confidence.

The dirty deed usually takes place about 2-3 weeks after the dreaded chairman's vote of confidence doesn't it ?

Regardless of all that LM has done for CCM in the past CCM haven't had a competitive win in 6 months.He has to expect flak and unrest on the board and from the punters.

There ain't too many places on the planet that would let it go that long.

 

[Jazzie]

A ringing vote of confidence.

The dirty deed usually takes place about 2-3 weeks after the dreaded chairman's vote of confidence doesn't it ?

Regardless of all that LM has done for CCM in the past CCM haven't had a competitive win in 6 months.He has to expect flak and unrest on the board and from the punters.

There ain't too many places on the planet that would let it go that long.

Definitely NOT the Bling, that's for sure.

 

[David Votoupal]

To this debate on poor form since the start of the year, I will add further points.

The Mariners showed excellent fighting spirit for most of V4, as in coming from behind to get draws in Adelaide and Sydney, as well as in a home win over Sydney (albeit through a penalty)- and hence they were up there, in the mix throughout. Has that fight really gone from the team since then, when the loss in form began???