Chairman's Message Tuesday, 13 September 2011 Dear Mariners fans,
The pre-season preparation continued on the weekend with another win for our team playing dynamic football as always under the expert mentoring of Graham Arnold.
After the heart-breaking loss in Brisbane at the end of last season, it would have been easy for all of us at the club to feel disheartened. But the signs on the pitch suggest we’re ready to challenge for the A-League title again this year. I’m as excited as ever with only a month to go till the A-League starts. I know all of you are too. Already a considerable boost in membership numbers and glowing feedback from the Mariners community work confirm this. I thank all of you for investing in the club.
Unfortunately, there are rumours circulating around the Coast and the broader Australian football community, regarding apparent financial issues. After reading yesterday’s article, I felt the immediate need to write this open letter to all of you to clarify where we - the Mariners - are heading.
Every A-League club has financial issues. So does almost every football club around the world. Football is not an immediately profitable business. It is a constant balancing act, one where we are carefully managing competing financial requirements. That’s the reality that all of us in “the football family” are faced with. But the Mariners are no worse off than any other club. In fact, quite the opposite. We have set the national benchmark in laying community foundations. We have stayed true to our ethos throughout our history and continue to sensibly build the club towards sustainable growth.
Let me assure you, our current position is similar to that of most sporting bodies. We spend a lot of money supporting our core product of entertaining football and community integration. We work tirelessly to support that with commercial revenue streams.
On the football side, we currently have the most depth we have ever had. The feedback from supporters and football critics suggest the on field output last season continues to be the best we’ve seen at the Mariners. And of course in terms of long-term security we have already started work on the Centre of Excellence. This is a project that will make us the first club to be backed by a sound development, a hub of football vision and dreams for the Central Coast.
As a club investor, I acknowledge there are financial considerations to make – but, we have a bright future and what I can state is there is no doubt that the Mariners are staying in for the long haul.
The A-League as a whole is always looking for investors! Indeed, I invested into the club four years ago, and then Mike Charlesworth invested last year. When the League is in its formative years, we need fresh capital on a regular basis. We want people to buy into this club to assist in delivering the vision that we all want.
They include people equally as excited about our vision, people who believe in the club, the region we represent and the sport of football in general - in a nutshell, folk who believe in the Mariners.
I hope to meet those of you who are interested face-to-face at another Fans Forum in the coming months (details to come). Meanwhile, I urge you all to keep living the Mariners dream - together!
C’MON THE YELLOW AND NAVY!
Thanks for reading,
Peter Turnbull
Mariners Chairman
On Behalf of the Board
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