Brand Mariner

[midfielder]

Fom foxsports today.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22947078-23215,00.html

[size=10pt][size=10pt]Coast bid to be a powerhouse[/size][/size]

December 19, 2007 FIRST they convinced a sceptical Central Coast population of 300,000 - now they want to convince a sceptical country to take them on board.

Central Coast Mariners, who built from the bottom up in a city where football was virtually unheard of three years ago, are kicking goals on and off the park and are now plotting to become Australia's powerhouse club.

In a region where other sports didn't deign to lay roots, the Mariners began a concerted effort to engage with their local community, coaching and forging alliances with thousands of local children and their associations.

Their stability allowed them to sign first Socceroo Tony Vidmar then, audaciously, striker John Aloisi.

Now Lawrie McKinna's team sits at the top of the table and three points at home to Sydney this Saturday would have them almost within touching distance of the minor premiership.

The club doesn't like to boast but executive chairman Lyall Gorman has just returned from a European reconnaissance mission and Australian domination, via Asia, is in their sights.

"We're at least 12 months ahead of our original business plan, which has been accelerated by our year one success, consolidation last year and now this season," Gorman said.

"We told our story to European clubs and there was an incredible affirmation with what we're doing in the A-League and the Mariners, they wanted to know about it.

"Aston Villa have invited us to go and present our grassroots and community program connections to them in the new year - it's something they believe they can do better."

And they tapped into some of the biggest and best-run clubs on the planet - Juventus, Rangers, Aston Villa, Southampton, Sheffield United and Fulham.

Gorman also met with player agents, including WMG's Simon Bayliff, and was pleasantly surprised by the A-League's reputation abroad.

"We've got to keep raising our own benchmarks. It's a global marketplace and we've got to know what's going on out there."

The Mariners' stability has allowed them to strategically stretch their brand beyond the Central Coast region but those tentacles are now reaching towards and beyond the border.

Within a few weeks they could be spreading into Asia - the minor premiership would confirm Central Coast's first foray into the evolving Asian Champions League, with massive tourism and commerce spin-offs.

Business Central Coast, an economic development board, is the Mariners' major sponsor.

"Champions League qualification would have an enormous impact on and off the field," Gorman said.

"As a professional football club we would be playing in one of the biggest markets in the world, which would be a tremendous opportunity for the players and attract new sponsors."

 

[CCM-JAM80]

A most pleasing article to read, we are on the up and up as they say!

Qualifying for the Asian Champions League (a likely result at the minute) is a HUGE stepping stone for us in terms of exposure and attracting new fans globally in the Asian market. It will also impact on our ability to recruit quality abroad IF needed.

 

[Jeff (LouMacari)]

thank god for lyall and john I say! (and of course Pete Turnbull of late) Their vision and business 'savvy' is absolutely 2nd to none! We are very fortunate to have such people driving this bus.

 

[dibo]

nice pic of a tifo on the fox sports site too.

 

[brett]

Good to see these types of articles starting to filter through. Last season the media were tripping over themselves to praise Melbourne yet they've seemed to hesitate a bit when working out how to tell our story.

This article twice cites our 'stability' as the reason good things happen to us, which is true to an extent, but it's so much more than that.

I have a feeling that outside of the club and the fans, no one really 'gets it' yet.

 

[dibo]

The club has something that the other clubs seem to be lacking the vision thing.

It doesnt much matter that the club has only existed since 2004 and played since 2005, the plan seems to have been to get a base in place to get through the first couple of seasons (basically to see if we could) and then from there get ambitious.

Theres no point in waiting for success to come to us, players dont materialise out of thin air and trophies dont win themselves. The academy in particular is the basis for a club that can last for years to come. That sort of infrastructure work is the sort of thing that harnesses pre-existing resources (our massive junior numbers) to the newly created resources (a successful club with a national profile) and combines them to generate further successes into the future.

Im sick to death of f**king stupid people saying shit like community engagement (and the rest) isnt boosting crowds and whatnot. For a start, crowds are growing steadily in good times and bad, and for seconds its not all about now. As a club there has to be a plan for the future, and it seems there is. Without the base, without the development, you cant survive.

Building a real academy, linking into other academy structures, forging ahead with the sort of youth development programs basically not available anywhere else in the country is the way to get a head start on the rest of the league.

We may not be the biggest area, we may not (yet) be the richest club, but all this running were getting in now earns us valuable time and distance ahead of the pack, time and distance that will only really be apparent when the players are coming through.

But at that point when the Sydneys and the Melbournes are looking overseas to find their new talent and reinvent themselves again well be giving a shot to young kids whove come through the system and who can slot in and do a job for us. And the stability of a constant development path should guarantee that we see potential and weaknesses early on and have a chance to fix it before its a gaping hole.

This is before we get to the sale of the cream of the young players overseas

 

[midfielder]

Dibo well said.............and Bret ................ agree you have to be part of it to fully appreciate it.

The vision thing, the plans, the community connections, will one day have the Mariners held up as the model for others to follow. What does disappoint is why other clubs are not doing the same.

Flying circus management appear still not to understand its the associations and park football clubs that A-league teams need to connect with, not old NSL clubs. Andy Harper to his credit when appointed CEO of FC said if I cannot make a connection with footballs family I will leave. He left after a few months on the job saying in part it was because he could not make the connections.

But Dibo again well said mate.

 

[~Floss~]

I'm quietly frothing at the thought of having possibly the most loyal supporter base in Aus in, say, 5-10 years... Due to a whole generation of Coast kids having grown up supporting the Mariners.
(Think how many kinds around 10 yrs old, +/- a few years, make up the steadily growing crowd numbers at the moment. This type of crowd has potential to be more long-term, even multi-generational, than some other clubs in a way).

 

[fish]

I think they understood the market here very early on and worked within their means to make it work.
The groundwork Lawrie and the boys laid in the first year when visiting all the schools,clubs and anything that remotely may have been of benefit has paid of enormously.
We pay homage to the office management but I think the players deserve an enormous wrap.I think I have read over 100 stories along the lines of " saw (insert player name here) at Erina and said gday and they were more than happy to have a quick chat.Christ Danny even drove a few drunken bums home last season from memory!!!
That is the kind of stuff you cant buy.

 

[Part_Timer]

.Christ Danny even drove a few drunken bums home last season from memory!!!
That is the kind of stuff you cant buy.

were you one of said drunken bums???

 

[fish]

no mate I believe young adz was one though

 

[adz]

yep, me and bakery ;D

 

[Pete]

I think they understood the market here very early on and worked within their means to make it work.
The groundwork Lawrie and the boys laid in the first year when visiting all the schools,clubs and anything that remotely may have been of benefit has paid of enormously.
We pay homage to the office management but I think the players deserve an enormous wrap.I think I have read over 100 stories along the lines of " saw (insert player name here) at Erina and said gday and they were more than happy to have a quick chat.Christ Danny even drove a few drunken bums home last season from memory!!!
That is the kind of stuff you cant buy.

Yep indeed the players deserve a hell of a lot of kudos for the way they have generally managed their off field behaviour.

Another story is of Gumps picking up Donny Parkes on the way to the game, when Don had missed his bus.

I've seen Kwassi out shopping on the day of a game, and the guy was gracious beyond expectations with his time.

There's also the story of a Sydney fan seeing Lawrie (early on in V1) and saying something to him, and the two sitting down and talking about football at a cafe in Erina or somewhere like that.

Lots of anecdotal evidence that the club as a whole, really want to be here with the community. Not only some strategy to get more crowds at the games.

Would the Mariners be doing some school visitations in v4? Those visits went down really well with the kids.