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Staring down their third wooden spoon in four seasons, a former coach and former player say the Central Coast Mariners' problems run much deeper than the coach.
Key points:
- Sacked coach Mike Mulvey was "doing the best job … with what was at his disposal," according to former coach Phil Moss
- Former player Josh Rose says "the problems lie much deeper than the coach"
- Moss said Usain Bolt trial turned the preseason into a circus
The Mariners' humiliating 8-2 loss to the Wellington Phoenix, the equal biggest loss in the A-League's history, sealed the fate of coach Mike Mulvey.
He was sacked at 1:00am on Sunday.
"It's a crisis point for the club there's no doubt, and unfortunately Mike has added his name to a litany of coaches," said Phil Moss, who was dumped as coach in 2015.
Mulvey took over the club at the start of the season, vowing an end to mediocrity.
"Unfortunately for Mike, they're breaking all the wrong records … it's been lower than [mediocrity] this season," Moss said.
"Results like [Saturday] night don't happen overnight, but Mike's been doing the best job that he can do with what was at his disposal."
He says the club's London-based owner, Mike Charlesworth, needed to shoulder the blame for the shocking season, with just one win out of 21 games.
Penthouse to outhouse in six years
Josh Rose played for the Mariners for six years from 2010 and retired last April, anticipating a resurgence.
"I thought the club was really going to turn around after I left in 2016, but the problems lie much deeper than the coach," he said.
"You can't bring someone and expect them to fix everything in less than 12 months."
He's been frustrated witnessing the club's demise since the days of Graham Arnold and the Moss era, when the club won the 2013 title and made four grand final appearances.
"Players and fans have been neglected for too long," Rose said.
"They're at the bottom of the list and people with their own agendas are putting themselves first. They need to take a lot more care of players and fans before things can turn around."
He feels Mulvey was not the right person to lead the club, but his dismissal would hurt.
"You've got to be having even slight progress week to week. This sacking will put the club right back to square one," Rose said.
The 'Bolt experiment' early signs of a horror season
The world's eyes were on Gosford before the preseason had even started, with the fastest man on earth trialling with the club.
He had eight Olympic golds but had never played a good standard of football.
"Was he [Mulvey] behind the Bolt experiment?" Moss asked.
"Because that really detracted from the preseason. It made it all about one individual and turned the preseason into a circus.
"Every team has to hit the ground running for round one, [but] the Mariners weren't in that situation because the preseason was turned into the Usain Bolt show."
Rose agreed that Bolt "was a big distraction we didn't need".
"Most coaches would have never considered him if his name passed their desk," he said.
Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp said everyone at the club was on notice.
"We need to make sure that we … make the next appointment the right one — we can't make the same mistakes as the past," he said.
There are six games left and the club has given itself until Tuesday to find a replacement for Mulvey.
Topics: a-league, soccer, sport, gosford-2250, nsw, australia