Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth reveals why he’s suddenly upped investment as club makes biggest spend on players
FRESH from making his biggest-ever investment in the Mariners’ playing squad, owner Mike Charlesworth has predicted the A-League will quickly move to a more secure financial footing.
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FRESH from making his biggest ever investment in the Mariners’ playing squad, owner Mike Charlesworth has predicted the A-League will quickly move to a more secure financial footing.
After signing off on the acquisitions of Tommy Oar and Ross McCormack, Charlesworth said the prospect of an independently run league had transformed his belief in its future.
It’s believed the Mariners’ spend on players will take them close to filling the salary cap of $3 million this season, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the club has ever spent in a season and culminating in the key signings of Oar and McCormack.
It’s a remarkable turnaround at a club that has spent only the 90 per cent minimum specified in the salary cap in recent seasons, and Charlesworth admitted that had produced “predictable results” – the club finishing no higher than eighth in the past four seasons.
The Mariners chairman has also committed to spending a seven-figure sum in the event Usain Bolt earns a professional contract, and though that seems some distance away, Charlesworth said the Mariners fan base had to respond to the extra spending.
“It’s an investment, spending more on the squad but in a calculated way,” Charlesworth said. “Six years ago the club was bust, successful but financially broken.
“There are no guarantees of course but we feel we have a competitive squad now.
“Spending significantly less than everyone else produced predictable results I guess.
“These are interesting times, quite apart from the Bolt experiment.
“We need to grow the membership, and the video was a call to arms for the fans to commit. There’s more excitement around the club than there has been for years.
“If we could get to 10,000 members, it would show that investing in the club brings rewards.”
For several years a trenchant critic of the way Football Federation Australia has run the A-League, Charlesworth said that development work undertaken on devolving it away from head office – part of the overhaul of the voting structure at the head of the game – had given him the confidence to invest.
“I don’t think we’d have been in a position to justify this investment if discussions around a new A-League structure had not gone the way they have,” Charlesworth said.
“We’re preparing the club for a league that’s bigger and more successful.
“It would have been difficult to justify this expenditure in the last couple of years but we’ve taken a new position in trying to grow our revenue, and try to be more successful in a bigger league.
“I think we’ll be in a better state this time next year.
Even the stalwarts at the FFA agree we need a new model for the A-League, and whether its fully independent – which most people agree we need – or some other system, things should look more promising.
“I’m more excited about the A-League than I have been for years, because we’ve all been working towards a better environment.”
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