Ray Gatt's got our back though -
Proud Arnie loves it when critics belittle his battlers
CENTRAL Coast has twice won the Premier's Plate, been beaten in three grand finals, qualified three times for the Asian Champions League and finished in the top two of the competition for the past three seasons.
With those sort of credentials, coach Graham Arnold and his club should be lauded as one of the great stories of the A-League. While the Mariners have yet to win a championship, few clubs have had the sort of success the Gosford-based franchise has had in the competition's eight seasons.
Yet, you are more likely to hear the words "battlers" and "financially struggling" rather than "glamour" and "class" associated with the Mariners. Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC, Brisbane Roar and even new club on the block Western Sydney Wanderers are regarded as the upper class of Australian soccer and usually the focus of attention.
It's something that rightly grates with the Mariners' faithful and Arnold, who has constantly had to fight for recognition for his hardworking and proud players.
Just like tomorrow, when the Mariners play Melbourne Victory at Bluetongue Stadium in the second semi-final.
The Mariners are firm favourites with the bookmakers, but the underlying thought from most in the game is that they are more than capable of imploding and that Ange Postecoglou's Victory is headed for the championship decider tomorrow week.
Despite Central Coast being either top of the table or in second spot for much of the season and despite Melbourne having not beaten it in three games this year, the cynics keep coming up with reasons why the Mariners can't win.
There's the Postecoglou factor; Archie Thompson, Marcos Flores and Marco Rojas will have too much class; nerves will get the better of the home side.
Arnold has heard it all before. But as much as he would like it to change, he knows it is what it is.
"Maybe we haven't got the recognition we deserve, but there isn't anything you can do about it off the field," he said. "Our talking is done on the field.
"What this club and what these players have achieved in the last three years under enormous pressure and under huge difficulties says it all in my eyes. I couldn't be prouder.
"This season we became the first club to finish in the top two for three seasons in a row. We also cracked 50 competition points for three seasons in a row.
"We are right in contention for a spot in the next stage of the ACL and we are still in the fight for the A-League grand final."
Nerves are the last thing Arnold is worried about.
"A lot of these guys have played in all the big games in the last two or three seasons, including the grand final two years ago," he said. "Then there are the ACL games, finals games in general. Sunday
is just another game for them."
Arnold has done well juggling the club's A-League and ACL campaigns and looking after the wellbeing and fitness of his players, especially the older ones.
He almost pulled off a remarkable effort, taking a young, under-manned squad to China this week. The Mariners only fell in the last few minutes of the match against Guizhou Renhe, but Arnold has no regrets about his decision.
"I had a two-minute conversation with (FFA boss) David Gallop about it today. Maybe I have copped some flak but I did what I needed to do for the sake of my players," he said.
"The thing is, we will be fresh on Sunday. We will have a couple of younger plays who will back up, but they can handle it."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...tle-his-battlers/story-fn63e0vj-1226619479351
