Former Socceroos coach Arnold to take over Mariners
By Ed Jackson, 10 Feb 2010
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Former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold will take over the helm of the Central Coast Mariners with current coach Lawrie McKinna moving into a new off-field role at the A-League club.
McKinna, who has coached the Mariners since the inaugural A-League season in 2005-06, will move into a football and commercial operations role at the Gosford-based club.
He has also extended his contract with the club, due to expire at the end of the 2010-11 season, by another year in the process.
Scotsman McKinna led the Mariners to two A-League grand finals in his time in charge but has seen his team fail to make the finals for the first time this year after a disappointing run of results.
He also won the inaugural A-League coach of the year prize and led the club through their Asian Champions League campaign in 2009.
“This is a great opportunity for me,” McKinna in a statement.
“I’m excited about the new opportunities that will present themselves within this role at the club, while still maintaining a strong presence in the football side of things.”
The move means Melbourne Victory boss Ernie Merrick is the only coach to lead just one A-League club since its inception.
Arnold, who has been involved with the national team for 10 years, will take over from McKinna at the end of this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
He has signed a deal which takes him through to the end of the 2012-13 A-League campaign.
“Lawrie has played a significant role in bringing this appointment to fruition,” Mariners executive chairman Lyall Gorman said.
“I know that he looks forward to building a long and fruitful partnership with Graham.”
Former Socceroo Arnold was briefly national team boss after the 2006 World Cup until the 2007 Asian Cup.
The Mariners will end their 2010 A-League campaign in Wellington on Friday.
Current Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek gave Arnold his blessing to step away from the national team after the World Cup, saying the Mariners would benefit from having him take over.
“The Central Coast Mariners have had five fantastic years with Lawrie McKinna and they are very fortunate to have Graham as their new coach,” Verbeek said in a statement.
“I am sure that the players and club will benefit greatly from his knowledge and experience.”
Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley said the national body had no objections with Arnold signing a deal with the Mariners despite still being a part of the national set-up.
“Graham’s current coaching contract with FFA is set to conclude at the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign, and although we are disappointed that he will no longer be involved with the national team, we wish him all the best for his new challenge,” Buckley said.
Arnold, whose playing career took him to Holland, Belgium and Japan, made 85 appearances for Australia with his final fixture being the infamous World Cup qualifier against Iran in Melbourne in 1997.
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February 10th 2010 @ 10:11am
Tad Pohle said | February 10th 2010 @ 10:11am | Report comment
Can’t say that the appointment of GA excites me at all, because studying under the likes of Hiddink and Ver Beek, doesn’t mean that he learnt anything about tactics or that they were good teachers, or even wanted to teach. They did need somebody who knew the players, and to my mind, I would prefer a person that didn’t have too strong an opinion but left the decisions up to me. Just a person to answer my questions about ability and availability. I suppose time will tell.
Nice to see McKinna go, as he said himself, the time was right, most supporters recognised that the flame for coaching was out. He was more one of the boys, and credit to him for staying popular when results were the main aim. I think he will be ideal in his new position and credit to the CCM for their incite and professionalism.
I look forward to his twitters, and follow him religiously, which I feel was reflecting his loss of appetite for the coaching grind, but reflecting his interest in his new role.
I would have liked to see the other options for the coaching position, although if McKinna was involved over a period in the signing of GA then I think that is a positive, McK did have an eye for value, or rather, does…..
February 10th 2010 @ 10:21am
Australian Football said | February 10th 2010 @ 10:21am | Report comment
I say good luck to Arnie as a fellow product of the Canterbury and St George district football Associations. However, I don’t think he will be able to take the club forward as he is tired to the ‘English Third Division Football Philosophy’ that their Chairman has taken the club down; hoof-run-and foul.
I was hoping for Alex Tobin to step up and take the reins and change things—but not so—my advice to Alex is to leave and come up to GCU as a member of the coaching set up as Miron is set to be moved up stairs and you Alex could be the assistant to Paul Okon that would make for a new fantastic Australian born coaching partnership..
~~~~~~
AF
February 10th 2010 @ 11:42am
Tom said | February 10th 2010 @ 11:42am | Report comment
I think Arnold was useless and I think the criticism directed at him was totally justified, particularly as he was never exactly reluctant to voice his own opinions about others before he became a coach.
But as has been pointed out club management is very different to national management, and the A-league isn’t exactly at the cutting edge of innovative football strategy, so he might find himself suited to this role.
I hope he does well, if only because I think the Mariners are a very impressive organisation.
February 10th 2010 @ 12:32pm
Dogz R Barkn said | February 10th 2010 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
I can say that in Football Manager 2010, Arnie is rated quite highly as an Assistant Manager!
I recruited him! (managing the NIx, currently in the lower reaches of the top 6 with a few games to go in the first season – just like real life!)
February 10th 2010 @ 1:16pm
AndyRoo said | February 10th 2010 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
Lawrie did what he did on a budget though hardly complained about it.
I can’t see Graham Arnold doing the same but interesting times ahead at the CCM.
February 10th 2010 @ 1:21pm
Towser said | February 10th 2010 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
Just as an aside Arnie does have the qualifications to take CCM into Asia. From the following article:-
http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/122229,pim-buckley-pay-tribute-to-arnie.aspx
“Arnold holds an A-Licence coach’s badge and is currently studying towards his FFA Pro Coaching licence”
It appears Aurelio Vidmar doesnt & needs to get one to be declared head coach for AU’s ACL campaig:-
http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-afc/676-afc-news/26954-adelaides-vidmar-needs-a-licence-says-afc
Must be a new ruling as Aurelio coached last ACL campaign..
February 10th 2010 @ 1:22pm
Art Sapphire said | February 10th 2010 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
Excellent appointment. Beat CCM and the fans will remind GA of what a lousy manager he is.
Lose to CCM and the embarassed fans will think that their manager is worse than GA and must be replaced immediately
February 10th 2010 @ 2:46pm
Dogz R Barkn said | February 10th 2010 @ 2:46pm | Report comment
Melbourne fans think they need to replace their coach all the time – even when they are handing out 4 goal hidings!!
February 10th 2010 @ 3:15pm
Art Sapphire said | February 10th 2010 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
That’s absolutely correct, Dogz. Melbourne Victory fans will only be satisfied until their team plays like Barcelona and wins every game. That’s not asking too much is it
February 10th 2010 @ 3:22pm
Savvas Tzionis said | February 10th 2010 @ 3:22pm | Report comment
The reasons behind Merrick’s relative unpopularity are varied.
One reason is his dour and boring persona for the cameras.
Secondly, the fact that he last coached at a high level was in the early 1990′s in the NSL.
Thirdly he is considered part of the Scottish Mafia that is running Victory.
Fourth, is the fact that Victory in the 1st year of the A-League ended up second last. All those that wanted to get rid of him back then cannot admit that they were wrong so they continue to scream for his removal.
February 10th 2010 @ 3:24pm
MV Dave said | February 10th 2010 @ 3:24pm | Report comment
Great appointment for CCM…finally their players will be able to understand what their coach is saying!
February 10th 2010 @ 9:21pm
Joe FC said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:21pm | Report comment
I hope Arnie makes a good fist of it but it won’t be easy as the Mariners will be in “rebuilding” phase.
February 11th 2010 @ 2:48pm
AndrewM said | February 11th 2010 @ 2:48pm | Report comment
A lot of critics here regarding GA.
Ok so I wasn’t that impressed when he was the national coach, however, he had never been a coach at a club level to my knowledge before.
What most people want to see for a national coach is that you have some history with coaching.. We have to support our Aussie coaches, and to me, GA after being the deputy to Gus and Verbeek, has more credentials than just about any coach in the HAL. So he is a great appointment for the HAL.. And who knows, after 10 years of being a local coach, perhaps he might be ready, MAYBE, to take another stab at it.