The Central Coast Mariners will finish this season in the bottom three, and it will be the third straight campaign that has ended with them wallowing and spluttering in Gosford.
Paul Okon, suffering through a difficult maiden campaign, has by now realised the scale of the task ahead of him; if he thought it was big at the beginning of this season, it has only broadened since.
He has not been able to break the cycle of losing, and is surely already preparing for what will certainly be an off-season of some tumult and exodus.
14 Mariners players are off-contract at the end of the season, including all of his marquee and foreign visa players.
The potential is there for a completely new Mariners team to trot out in 2017/18; how well this team will do next season depends primarily Okon’s ability to construct a roster that can haul this club out of the bog.
His merits as a manager have been apparent over the campaign, albeit only while arguments in favour of them tremble under the reality of another disappointing league finish. Still, his Mariners team have gone through a series of phases this season, and Okon has shown himself capable of solving problems, and adapting.
They started out playing a highly ambitious possession-heavy style, relying very much on the ball-playing skills of their defenders. This proved unwise; Okon was yet to really get a sense of what his players could and couldn’t do, and watched on as his team conceded 17 goals in their first seven matches.
Jaques Faty, for example, one of the main offenders in this period of defensive haplessness, played in every one of the Mariners’ first six matches. Faty has only played in two of the subsequent 19. Okon was warming into the role, feeling out when to push a philosophical agenda and when to act more pragmatically.
Their win over the the Western Sydney Wanderers in February is a good example of the latter.
Under Okon, Connor Pain and Jake McGing have excelled, with Pain, the former Victory substitute-eternal, growing into his role as the one of his team’s central attacking weapons. His season has been one of industrious wing-play, although with little tangible product at the end.
McGing leads the league in passes, both completed and attempted, and has played the full 90 minutes in all but one of the Mariners’ games. Pain is 23 and McGing in 22; both should only improve next season.
The topic of age is also worth expanding on; the Mariners are by far the youngest team in the competition. Paul Okon, who is only 44, sent out a team against the Wanderers in December that had an average age of half his own.
Liam Rose, Paul Izzo, Scott Galloway, Trent Buhagiar, all these players are 21 or younger. 23 year old Storm Roux, who has also excelled – relatively speaking – this season recently signed an extension with the club. Okon will want to tie up the other youngsters whose contracts are ending; Scott Galloway and Izzo are the most pressing.
Forming a young nucleus, nurturing them and allowing them time to develop is not something that is generally associated with immediate success. But it is a worthy endeavour, and it may well be these youngsters who end up dragging the club up the table in the years to come. It would also incentivise the Mariner to develop these players if transfer fees between A-League clubs were allowed, but that, sadly, is still a pipe dream.
Roy O’Donovan, the club’s top scorer this season, is on an expiring contract, and the decision to part ways with him will be a difficult one to make. He is a very good finisher, and appears to have taken up something of a mentor position for some of the younger players.
However his salary is proving the biggest obstacle for the Mariners, and multiple other clubs in need of a striker have already begun eyeing up the Irishman. Fabio Ferreira is also out of contract, and it might also be worth letting him go.
The next few months for the Mariners will be tip-toed through, trepidatiously, but with a fluttering heart as well.
The future they are stepping into is tremulous, but it’s also exciting; the stagnation of the last few years has been refreshed by youth, by a young ambitious manager, and now by the prospect of an almost-clean slate on which to work.
New signings, hidden gems plucked from the slag heap, the promise of some young, eager lads all buying in; this could be the most fun the Mariners have had in years. There is no threat of relegation in the A-League, and with the organisers apparently content to tolerate awful crowd numbers coming out of Wellington, and underwhelming turn-outs in Sydney, the Mariners should use this safe-haven to start a project of their own.
If they finish last again next season, then perhaps we can use the wooden spoon to beat the manager black and blue. For now, it should only be used to stir whatever exciting concoction Okon is brewing in Gosford.
Swanny
Guest
And nemesis I'm not sure you know a lot abt charlesworth and how he is holding back the mariners Your dream of promotion and relegation is dependent on financing at 20 plus professional clubs. When's that happening?
Swanny
Guest
Unfortunately too any decent young players the Mariners have will end up at Sydney Fc
Swanny
Guest
Hey only if the mariners owner would buy big marquees and actually spend the whole salary cap . Okon would have a chance .
saul
Guest
I think they will do well next season, they have a young team and they have played some good football at times, certainly when I saw the wanderers play them at Gosford they had opportunities and they should've been level at half time. I hope they do well next season it would be good for a club that gives local young talent opportunities to do well.
Midfielder
Guest
Waz Astute and brilliant post ... agree 100% with everything in it...
Waz
Guest
Charelesworth is the problem, as is the current structure which neither rewards success or failure. Charlesworth saved the club when others bailed and he deserved credit for that, he's also invested in real estate and a CoE that will benefit the club and/or him, and he's standing by the club when others would walk away. But his major problem has been the appointment of coches which has hurt the club, Okon may/may not be a good appointment time will tell but previous appointments have been as laughable as last years kit. And then the system works against him - forget rekegstion for the moment (we need to expand before we relegate) but where's the incentive to spend more on players or coaches? He gets the same return if his team finishes last or first so why would he hire top coaches and downs the full cap? The big question is - what is chareleswirths plan and intentions?
Nemesis
Guest
Good man Mike Charlesworth Asked about whether he favours Promotion/Relegation for the ALeague, Charlesworth said: "I theoretically should be the least likely person to be promoting this. We've been down around the bottom of the league consistently of late ... but this is about the growth of Aussie football. From a pragmatic standpoint, if the infrastructure is right, you want a promotion/relegation system." Full story: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/04/06/mariners-owner-backs-relegation-format-which-could-scupper-his-club If you want football to boom in Australia, we need to open up the ALeague and give every team in Australia the dream of being involved if they're good enough.
Kurt
Guest
Your right. As much as im not a fan of the jets ( mariners fan). There are parallels for the coaches of these club and i think it will be interesting to see how they both approach next year
Midfielder
Guest
Word is Sergio Cirio is close to signing a contract with @CCMariners for the new season @TheTiserSport @sergiocirio https://twitter.com/Val61/status/849494959002660865
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Its all well and good developing players and a playing style, but if those players are lost as soon as they become effective, the team will never progress. They may find more effectiveness and long term success in going for short term results, at the detriment of style. Play the moneyball way, pick up undervalued players discarded from other teams and put them together in a meaningful way, then scrap and scrap hard. Play ugly football, 4-4-2 long ball if they must. At the end of the day, the style of play isn't going to put bums on seats if they continue to lose week in, week out. Get people behind your team by being the underdog and getting results - whatever the cost. It will be interesting to see if Okon adapts like this, or continues on his current path. We should know by the start of next season as to whether his plan will bear fruit.
Josh Barton
Roar Pro
My worry is that if of his young players show promise, they will be snapped up by a bigger club before they can really make an impact. Bigger clubs can afford to build a team around a style and develop youngsters, because they can more easily retain the players to build long term success. If Mariners want long term sustained success, they either need to address this player bleed or change to an ugly style and focus on getting short term results.
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Okon, was involved with youth development with the FFA; if I am not mistaken, with the 17s, or 20s. (433?) Anyways, the shackles are now off. I am not sure what Perth do?
FootOverHand
Guest
The FFA only stipulate 433 in youth development, after that you can do whatever you like, I mean look at Perth.
FootOverHand
Guest
Agree, there is a big difference to last year
Griffo
Roar Guru
It is the lot of any coach coming in with another's team to make something of them. Okon now with a chance to recruit some new blood. Getting experience players will be key as long as they contribute. Like another rookie coach up the road Okon will have a pre-season of his own choosing and the reality is results next season will matter. There is great potential for the Mariners next year but that may in the end be slightly hindered by lack of funds as indicated. Should Mark Jones fail to realise his clean slate and greater resources (how much greater is debatable) next season, could Okon move up to the Jets, or remain and continue to build the Mariners momentum? Any interesting story to watch for 2017/18 season.
whiskeymac
Guest
The best youngsters will get snapped up because other teams will pay them more. Such is a Mariner's lot. All the best plans are undone if the core components are poached: arsenal/wegner/cole-fabregas-henry-nasri-clichy- rvp etc Asking miracles on no resources is never going to serve the team well - if the clubs owners were serious they wld tie down those players with contracts which paid them what other clubs were willing to (izzo linked to adelaide; donovan to jets and roar etc). I fear Okon will be in a groundhog day of looking for gems which will only then be lost to more ambitious clubs once the hours are accumulated in Gosford.
Bondy
Guest
Okon's next season will judge whether he is a football manager ?, whether he can recruit well for next season, whether he gets rid of the players who aren't doing anything currently . Our goal as a football club next year should be we make the finals or just miss the finals that would be a good season another wooden spoon will see Okon sacked I assume ... Go the Mariners ....
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Paul Okon, applied his trade in the top echelons of Serie-A, Italian football, and would be an excellent proponent of the Italian way of playing football. I don't know what he was doing in the FFA youth set up---teaching the Dutch system (4-3-3)? However, my advice to Paul, would be---forget the Australian football curriculum (433) and do what is instinctively best known to you, and how you played your professional football career, the Italian way, which you know best of all---teach your players or buy players that suit your ideas. 2-3-3-2 (two sweepers, behind a flat back three, three forward midfielders, and two strikers).
Mark
Guest
CCM were a total basketcase on the field when Okon took over. An absolute mile behind everyone else. He has done very well to make them competitive again.
Midfielder
Guest
I have been impressed with Okon. This year the 50 50 calls have gone against us IMO about 90 / 10 ... many key decisions have gone against us... I am not trying to make an excuse but when your team is not that strong it makes it harder when those 50 / 50 mostly go against you. My guess is we will keep only a few of the starting player we have. Okon has IMO improved the side a lot and we lost in theory our two best player through injury for most of the season and that would hurt any side. Looking forward to next year