Mariners have drawn a line under their flirtation with playing games in North Sydney, with the club’s new CEO pledging there will be 13 home fixtures at Central Coast Stadium next season.
Flagging two new signings within the week, CEO Shaun Mielekamp said the club’s future depended on reconnecting with the Central Coast region, after Mariners’ on-and-off-field struggles of the past year.
Part of that is an apparent end to owner Mike Charlesworth’s efforts to shift games to North Sydney Oval and Brookvale, with the club about to cement its relationship with Gosford Council and recommit to its home ground at the city’s Brisbane Water.
Mielekamp, who arrived at the club recently after nearly three years at the Wanderers, has already held a series of meetings with the club’s supporter base as the Mariners bid to win back the community engagement that characterised the club’s first few years.
Now the Mariners hope that a commitment to playing at Central Coast Stadium will expedite that process, and counter disillusionment from the forays into northern Sydney last year.
“It’s something we’re very passionate about committing to — just as the palm trees are not leaving Gosford, neither are we,” he said. “Next season we will definitely play 13 home games there, and we’re not far away from announcing a new partnership with the council to underpin that.
“There will be a 14th round that’s technically a home game and we’re working with FFA on that as a community round. That will be a game we take to a region to help grow the sport there, and once we have the draw next month we can confirm where that will be.
“My role in these first few weeks has been to listen to the members, and start planning how to deliver what they want.”
Mielekamp said new head coach Tony Walmsley hoped to lock in two new players by the end of the week, though he admitted that overall the club was working to a limited budget.
“The squad size is something of a moving figure at the moment as we’re in talks with players and hopefully we’ll have news on that very soon,” he said. “We think they will show that there’s some exciting things ahead for us.
“But the financial and commercial reality is that we can’t fall into the trap of spending money before we’ve earned it. The long-term future of the club depends on our ability to engage with the community and to maximise revenue and of course hopefully be successful.
“For instance we’re in the market for a front-of-shirt away sponsor, who we want to be a national partner to highlight the growth there is on the Coast. Equally I’ve been astounded at the level of community interaction, in terms of player appearances and in terms of the testimonial game for John Hutchinson last week.
“I’m not sure any other sporting club in Australia could have created the context for an event like that, which just shows how much the club means to people here.”
Originally published as
Mariners end North Sydney experiment
You don't believe that we have lost a degree of community support? I think we have, and that's why I think the new mariners CEO will have to work bloody hard to reinvigorate community support. Matter of fact, the whole CCM operation will have to work bloody hard. And he's the man at the helm now, so the burden will rest with him.
