Central Coast Mariners have today confirmed that talks are underway with potential new investors in the A-League club, as the club struggles with “short-term cash flow difficulties”.
Chairman Peter Turnball said in a press release that the club needed to “replenish capital”, with ongoing talks with investors remaining Commercial in Confidence.
“We are renowned as the community club of the Hyundai A-League due to our engagement with the people of the Central Coast,” said Turnbull.
“I want to assure our members and our fans that the foundation principles that underpin our club are non-negotiable. Those very strengths are what have attracted the potential new investors.
“To continue the growth of the Mariners we need to replenish our capital and that’s what the talks aim to achieve.
“The Central Coast community is rightly proud of what the Mariners have built and this process is about making our house sustainable for the long-term.”
Turnbull said the club was on a “firm footing”.
“Our players and staff understand the situation and remain supportive of the club’s management
“We are working with the FFA and have a sound business model in place. Our long-term vision for a diversified business includes the Centre of Excellence, the first stage of which sees the Soccer5s complex having its first open day next Wednesday.
“Central Coast Mariners are in a good position. We are currently sitting second on A-League ladder and are about to enter our second stint in the AFC Champions League.
“I have no doubt Central Coast Mariners will go from strength to strength and with the investment of new capital we will only become a stronger force in Australian football,” Turnbull concluded.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Hopefully the next TV deal will provide enough to make the clubs financially viable. The A-League hasn't expanded very well. New teams came in but the TV deal didn't increase meaning that, rather then increasing the provebial "pie" they simply divided the existing one into smaller slices. All 3 expansion clubs (including the defunct Fury) have crowds below the competition average. In truth the Fury didn't get enough time to prepare themselves and their entry probably should have been delayed by a season. The FFA need to get the existing clubs right before expanding again.
jamesb
Guest
the mariners have done an outstanding job on and off the field with community engagement, 3 grand finals and the upcoming opening of centre of excellance (which will give them commercial revenue), the mariners have achieved alot in 6 and a half years.
Punter
Guest
Truly punches above their weight, considering they have had 3 grand final appearances, equal to that of Melbourne, of course MV won 2 of those GFs as well as 2 premierships, while CCM lost all 3 GFs & only 1 premiership. Still a tremendous record for such a small region. I hope they find some good investors especially with the upcoming ACL in mind.
Punter
Guest
FFA are very keen to get a West Sydney team in, so whether they go for 1 or 2 more teams will be interesting, but Lowy said yesterday that stablising the clubs was the major priority.
Stevo
Guest
Even though CCM beat Heart recently in somewhat "flukey" circumstances :) I reckon they're worth investing in - strong locally and with ACL coming up they'll be great for any sponsor looking for national and regional exposure. Good luck.
Sportfreak
Guest
I don't understand how so many of these clubs appear on the financial precipice. Preseason it was all about Wellington and now we are reading this about the mariners. This was after seeing nth qld collapse last year. Surely the ffa will put any thoughts of expansion on hold until all existing clubs are viable with money in the bank.
Luke
Guest
Mariners definitely punch above their weight. Hopefully they can pull in a big overseas investor to put some serious money into the club so they can be very competitive in the AFC. Despite the cashflow problems, they have a lot of positives going for them such as COE, new sponsor, AFC and a good team.