Mariners boss criticises crazy A-League

And therefore not the youth team

Mid impressive business plan the Mariners have, after reading your point of view, Foz can get stuffed on this one. He is clearly quite good at hood winking the average Sokah fan like me. Mariners are going places just need the right people in management, Great stadium too.

I'm the first to label GA a whinger but I must agree. It undermines the integrity of the Premiership by favouring teams who play last, since they have more information. In the penultimate round last season the Newc v BNE match & the CCM v Team X was played concurrently. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].

That's right. Despite what some ALeague fans (and Arnie) may think, the FFA give the biggest prize in the ALeague to the winners of the Grand Final. No opinion involved there, it's just the way it is.

While Matty Ryan, Birnie Ibini,Mitchell Duke,Anthony Caceres,Fitzgerald,Zac Anderson,Trent Sainsbury may be young, they're are all players with first grade contracts and a lot of HAL games behind each of them.So,why is everyone repeating the same stupidity of " a youth team"?.They're part of the senior squad.

Well they all got bailed out, ffa wont do that forever....i dont want them scrapped btw, i just think the system needs to be more flexible to accommodate clubs with lower support bases.

The final round of games is mouth-watering this year. I'm looking forward to an interesting football Easter. However, and this is where I have some sympathy for Arnold's position, it could so easily have been different. Imagine, say, the Mariners were playing Perth instead of MH and WSW had won the title the day before. The Mariners have nothing to play for and name a youth team while Perth need a win to make the finals ... ... kind of sets up the game as an opportunity for a lot of bad blood to flow.

So Brisbane should have been scrapped .... when they fell over .... maybe Newcastle... and SFC FMD have they lost some money... SBS / TWG can go and get ? ? ? ? ? D .... do some proper analysis and do a cost benefit analysis to football in Australia to have the COE finished...

Johnno Our problem has always been we don't have owners with deep pockets .... the COE has been built specifically to counter the financial strength capital city teams will enjoy over us... Spare me days and by the holy mother of Mary we are coping some stick.... SBS\TWG's roots are still firmly in 'old soccer'. They'd love nothing better than to see CCM fail and be replaced by South Melbourne or Marconi or Sydney United entity..... Fozzie writes we are certain to be relocated because our funding can not be improved ... WTF does he think the COE is all about... Les Murry stated on air in pre Hal1 personally wrote to Frank Lowy three times to get JON to check and double check why a team from the CC is allowed in... In all Froozie's rants about Australia need to improve technical standards when SBS where still sulking did Fozzie ever once talk about or write about a Technical Football Centre being built on the Coast.... nor has he or SBS mentioned Australia first private school... saying it is a Football sports school just opened on the Coast... Everyone knows the Mariners have always said they need the COE to be able to compete with the capital city sides and it is only months away from being cash positive ... There have been times when the reporting of our club by SBS has bordered on abuse ... the attack in Hal 5 on the coach LM because of his Scottish background was appalling ... he was as most agree our of his depth as the A-League grew but that was not because he was Scottish... Our problem has always been we have never had an owner with deep pockets .... In 18 months when the building of the COE are all complete by Fark I hope they make some people come up and eat egg .... A simple update....as I said the construction development is ahead of schedule... Existing and built... * Club and car park [was existing] * Car park extensions doubling the size of the car park.. * 11 small sided fields complete. * Gym facilities complete. * Coaches office and adm area complete. * Players lunch room also doubles for player meetings complete. * Bar facilities at the small sided fields complete. * Two state of the arc football fields complete. Under Construction * 130 room motel and conference centre ... walls seem up and roof is half on so not sure but well and truly under-way expected to be completed within 8 months. Still to be built. * Aquatic centre and sports science building ... construction due to start in about 2 months with a 14 to 16 months construction timeline. Under Discussion with Government http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/mariners-deny-club-is-in-deep-water-20130323-2gmku.html#ixzz2OP8CqbZ * Floodlights and a grandstand for the main playing field.

Johnno is right they are too small for an equalised league....answer is to unequalise the league though, not to throw clubs like ccm or the next one to fall over on the scrap heap...

following that line.........melbourne is an afl heartland. two teams are enough. mariners will stay. no point getting crazy because wsw are going well and jump in with a 3rd team in sydney or melbourne. gee most of the time MV bags heart but you suggest a 3rd team.. if any - canberra in the future will be a good prospect. and fury were hard done by IMO.

Fuus "For sure, it’s not the best deal for the broadcaster, but we’re talking about 1 round of matches." Revenue my man, is what the A-league needs, so the broadcaster helps pay the bills, so you guys can get marquees like Harry.

off the park is what pays the bills tezza. And sport makes a big chunk of it's revenue from TV ratings, and merchandise , and do Mariners games rate etc. Just look at rugby with pacific islands Samoa win a lot, but they are tiny so commercially they don't compete.

johnno, Foz can say what he likes but the Mariners are one of the best performing teams on the park for the last three seasons so why would you move them.i`m a roar fan and to me it just doesn`t make sense.If they wern`t performing and crowds wern`t showing then you would look at it for sure but at the moment it all looks rosy.

Arnie is exactly right. For the integrity of the competition, all matches should be kicked-off simultaneously. For sure, it's not the best deal for the broadcaster, but we're talking about 1 round of matches. The drama that unfolded during those made final 60 seconds of the last EPL season could be replicated in the A-League this year. Imagine if CCM wins 1-0 and, with 60 seconds to play, BRI/SYD is a 2-2 draw and PER & NUJ are both leading 1-0 in their respective matches ... with those scoreline: ... CCM would win the title, and PER & NUJ would jump into the end-of-season knock-out competition. But, if either BRI or SYD score, or PER or NUJ concede in the final 60 seconds ... the whole season changes completely!

Arnie still doesn't get it.. The teams who are in contention to win the A-Leagues biggest prize will be playing at the same time at the same place...in the grand final in four weeks’ time.

"Is Arnold having a whinge", NO way, never, not our Arnie!!! Always first to see the positives, always puts the game ahead of self-interest ... Arnie, whinging ... cant believe it !! (tongue firmly in cheek)

tezza it's true. Central coast has only a 300,000 population. Sydney has 4.5 million Melbourne has 4.2 million. And central coast is a rugby league heartland, yet has a small population, heck the NRL are not gonna put a team there, it's commercial value is too small. The A-league needs to put in bigger markets, why don't you read craig FOZ Foster's article in the sydney morning herald on this issue about team's location, and commercial realities tea. Foz was also saying he basically wanted a Northern Spirit, if you read between the liens of the article. Then you might see my point of view. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/mariners-woes-a-sign-of-deeper-problem-20130323-2gml3.html

Johnno you have no idea, so stop making stupid comments like that.

Unfortunately we're not in a position to do this yet, because we rely on the money from Fox Sports so they dictate what we do. Arnie talks about respect for the league, but then says he'll field a youth team in the final round. After the Heart game (March 31), they have an ACL game on (April 3) - but then have an 11 day break until their semi-final.