Battling Central Coast Mariners may be fighting for their survival in 2019-20
Another season in the doldrums won’t just be painful for the Mariners and their fans - it’ll raise serious existential questions as to the club’s place in the A-League for the future.
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What is the point of the Mariners?
If it seems cruel to question the existence of the nicest club in the league, then no competition can keep serial failures alive forever.
The fact is that the Mariners’ recent years have been so bad that finishing bottom yet again in the coming campaign would leave them open to expulsion from the league, thanks to a little-noticed footnote in the competition rules.
If that seems unlikely with the 11 club owners protective of their own and now running the league, everyone at the Mariners from CEO to kit manager is starkly aware of the need to find a level of competitiveness that has vanished since the club won the A-League in 2012-13 and came third the year after.
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An unexpected FFA Cup run to the semi-finals has helped the cause of Alen Stajcic, a coach with his own reputation to rebuild after his scandalous sacking from the Matildas.
A couple of the new signings are promising: Dylan Fox and Mark Birrighiti are good-quality pick-ups, and Kim Eun-Sun is a class act, assuming his sacking in Korea for drink-driving was a one-off.
But where are the goals going to come from to enthuse the locals? Matt Simon is a hugely popular figure with the fans, but has a goals-per-game ration of nearly one in five. Youngsters like Jordan Murray and new signing Abraham Majok are even less convincing.
The decline in crowd figures tells a story, even set in the context of a competition where everyone’s attendances have slid.
In 2012-13, the year they won the A-League, the Mariners averaged a touch over 10,000. Last year the average was down to just over half that.
No doubt the club has tried to think outside the box. A year ago the trial of Usain Bolt was drawing to a predictable close, after the Mariners had enjoyed unique publicity from having him train with the team.
Ticket prices remain among the league’s most reasonable. But it doesn’t matter how cheap those tickets are if the team keeps on losing.
Stajcic of course believes he can succeed where Phil Moss, Tony Walmsley, Paul Okon and Mike Mulvey could not, and turn the recycled faces from other clubs into polished diamonds.
“”As long as they can get into a good rhythm of playing regular matches week in, week out, I think we are going to be genuinely competitive,” he said.
“This team is a new team, three quarters have been put together this year.”
Originally published as Battling Central Coast Mariners may be fighting for their survival in 2019-20