Rejected by Mariners, McKinna to lead Jets as CEO

Former Mariners coach and Mayor of Gosford Lawrie McKinna will be announced as CEO of bitter rivals the Newcastle Jets.

Lawrie McKinna, former Gosford City Mayor and Central Coast Mariners coach, is soon to take on the role of CEO of the Newcastle Jets. Picture: Peter Clark

He was the heart and soul of the Mariners — a man who bled yellow and navy, earning the respect and admiration of the tight-knit Central Coast fans and the community in general.

But despite continually putting up his hand to try and help the Mariners in recent times only to be rejected, Lawrie McKinna, the former Mariners coach and technical director and one time mayor of Gosford, has decided enough is enough.

McKinna will today be formally announced as the new chief executive of the Newcastle Jets — the Mariners’ bitter rivals. He will be the man to lead the ownership takeover of the Jets by Chinese lighting magnate, Martin Lee.

After more than six months of negotiations, Football Federation Australia and Lee will today formally announce the $5.5 million sale of the club, which has been in FFA’s hands since they revoked the licence of Nathan Tinkler in May last year.

It comes as a huge relief, not just for fans of the Jets but for FFA, who have suffered under the crippling weight of having to run the club for a little over 12 months.

For McKinna, it is a chance to get involved again in a sport that has been his life. He would have loved to still be with the Mariners, the club he took to two grand ­finals as a coach in 2006 and 2008, but it wasn’t to be. As the club languished at the bottom of the table this season, eventually collecting a first wooden spoon, McKinna, who has not been part of the club since 2011, offered his help.

He was turned down.

McKinna did not want to comment about the sale of the Jets when contacted by The Australian yesterday, but his comments to this newspaper last December regarding the Mariners are instructive.

“I couldn’t sit back and watch what was happening. I got in touch with the club the other day and offered my services,” he said then. “But the club got back to me and said they didn’t need me.

“I tried. I put my hand up. I can’t do any more than that. At least I tried to do the right thing.”

Central Coast’s loss is Newcastle’s gain. A recent poll by the Newcastle Herald found 80 per cent of Jets fans back McKinna’s involvement at the club and that says much about his soccer and managerial nous.

McKinna, who recently vacated his role as mayor of Gosford following the amalgamation with Wyong council, has been instrumental in getting Lee on board at the Jets. The two forged a strong friendship when the Scotsman had a brief stint coaching in China in 2011 and 2012.

Lee, who owns the Ledman Group, is described a fervent football fan. He sponsors the entire Portuguese second division, though he caused uproar when he insisted clubs field Chinese players. He eventually backed down after Portugal’s PFA got involved.