Open Mike night

[Shaun Mielekamp]

Hey guys

Wednesday night 7pm at leagues club we will have Mike Charlesworth live from the UK to answer questions from the members.

There will be updates on the coaching situation and also updates on members voting plans for next year.

It would be great to get some questions from CCMFans and feel free to contact post them here and we will try and get them in.

Also any thoughts in general please post

Thanks

 

[pjennings]

Not a question - more thoughts that I posted yesterday that I would like Mike to address..


Simply put - for the squad we had we under-performed. However, whatever manager we get, we seriously underspent and that will need to be rectified if we seriously want to challenge.

With some judicious purchases we can probably spend halfway between the floor and the cap and compete for 5th and 6th. However, to compete for the top 4 will probably mean a spend of at least $800,000 more. At this stage, it sounds like neither of those are likely and we will spending at the floor again.

I understand that it is not my money I am talking about but for $800,000 extra we could seriously overhaul the squad, compete for the top 4 and hopefully bring back some fans. In the process, increased sponsorship, memberships and gate takings can be balanced against the extra $800,000.

It really is a case of spend the $800,000 extra in the belief that an improved squad and competitiveness will stop the bleeding of fans away from the club and hopefully reverse it. If not I truly believe that our crowds and memberships can only go one way and with it sponsorships. By saving the $800,000 on the squad what are we incurring in the way of lost income? If we save 1200 memberships that we would lose that is close to $240,000. If we can increase walk-ups by 1500 a game that is probably close to $450,000. A successful team would also by easier to sell to sponsors.

Mariners supporters have been incredibly loyal given the last few years - but they need to see something they can believe in on the field. An increase in the squad cost is needed. If that means some new sponsors for 'marquee-type players' , if it means a better deal for the Council for their only permanent tenant, if it means another investor to come in with Mike or if it means Mike needs to invest more into the squad (sorry Mike) then that is what is needed.

 

[FFC Mariner]

Shaun, how does Mike intend to win back the members who have said they wont renew due to his under investment? I started the season going with 5 others who have been around since season 1. Only 2 of us will be left this weekend and the others have completely walked away.

 

[pjennings]

W- League
Can you provide an update on progress and on the likleihood of W-League team next season?

Stadium
As a ratepayer you have to ask do I want to pay for improvements when the Mariners have said they will make improvements (probably more and at a higher quality) at their expense and give the Council a fee for management rights. That sounds like a win-win-win scenario for the Mariners, the Council and the ratepayer. Is there any potential for the Mariners to get management rights to the stadium?

COE
The COE has ground to a halt (probably due to the access to Ibis being delayed until the major Tuggerah Straight / Wyong Rd was completed). Is anything likely to happen there soon?

Casual Ticket cost
The cost of a ticket for a non-member actively discourages attendances. With a small membership base (many of who may be 3 and 6 game members) the attraction of casual fans, whether they be locals or WSW, SFC or Jets (non-members) is important to getting increased attendances. What the price point is I don't know but tickets approaching $40 I would think are not a sustainable model. Will the club be reviewing process given the lower crowds this season?

 

[midfielder]

Shaun

Couple of question.

1] The COE, will revenue from the COE be used to support the club and if so some kinda of measurement stick i.e 10% of profit or the like.

2] What are the spending plans.

3] Comment on where he see's the newly appointed FIFA 9 member committee to develop a new governance model.

4] Does he see a second division starting soon, and does he see P & R within say 8 years.

 

[Wombat]

Rumours are that the COE is being run independently of the club and the revenue streams are being funnelled away from the club.

If this true?
What are the legal ramifications as I believe state and federal funds/grants were used to help purchase and develop the site for the benefit of the Central Coast Community rather than to increase the wealth of an investor?

 

[Forum Phoenix]

Firstly Shaun, I'm dearly hoping you can make sure that the event will be recorded and uploaded. The notice is short so I don't think I can make it, but I'm very invested in this discussion and I'm sure there are a great many other deeply interested stakeholders who will not be able to attend in person. Even on this site we quite a few passionate fans who are not local, and a few interstate and OS.

• Does Mike believe there is another way to course correct our on field performances without greater squad investment?
• If so what, and why? Given we have been very poor year after year since the appointment of Moss back in 2013.
• If he does not want to spend any more funds on a poor investment, why does he expect members will happily continue to pay for such a poor product? I'm assuming he does not dispute the product has been poor.
• In response to our inability to course correct via greater investment you previously said Shaun that Mike had instructed the club to focus on severely ramping up our youth policy. Can we please hear an outline of this strategy accompanied by an honest assessment of this strategy's likely impact – given that our already youth heavy squads have not been successful these past 4.5 odd years and most every indicator would suggest this is not a serious or viable strategy for a team who wishes to be in HAL finals contention.
• What is Mikes personal philosophy regarding football club ownership and his reasoning for owning the Central Coats Mariners? Given that many assert his motives are purely economic, does Mike dispute this and see himself as having a much more philanthropic attitude towards the Mariners and the Central Coast region at large?
• Does Mike honestly think the membership will survive another year of austerity measures given there is an enormous amount of despondency and anger out there among the long standing members because the product we pay for year after year has become so poor? Does he share the sense that so many others have that we are truly at the breaking point now?
• Given poor performances and results across a season will heavily exacerbate any financial losses, does Mike think he has gotten the balance between greater financial risk on squad investment vs trying to run the club on the tightest possible budget correct?
• Where does he think he has gone wrong and made the biggest mistakes and what has he learnt?
  
• Unlike many I have heard or read, I have never assumed any ill will or poor behaviour on Mike's part, nor am I entirely pessimistic yet about him still being able to steer the club successfully forward. However the hard fact is that under his ownership the club has now become the least successful Australian A league club of the past 5 years. I want to know how much this bothers him? And what exactly outside of my above questions, is he is going to do about it?
  
  Thanks Shaun.

 

[scottmac]

Shaun, how does Mike intend to win back the members who have said they wont renew due to his under investment? I started the season going with 5 others who have been around since season 1. Only 2 of us will be left this weekend and the others have completely walked away.

I've also got a question along these lines. Is there a level of membership deteriation that could be justified by continuing the minimum roster spend policy we employ? If so how do you plan to regain those members or engage new ones if we somehow emerge from this financial situation keeping in mind that there are 10yr plus members walking away?

Also is there membership drop factored into the budget for next year knowing the level of discontent among the current membership group?

 

[Big Al]

What shiny drawings can we expect this time.

The whole lets own the stadium was optimistic at best but had everyone excited and maybe not focued on the actual club.

Surely a smoke and mirrors presentation.

Was interested for 2 mins and said I don’t need to hear more dreams i need to see results

 

[Gratis]

Firstly Shaun, I'm dearly hoping you can make sure that the event will be recorded and uploaded. The notice is short so I don't think I can make it, but I'm very invested in this discussion and I'm sure there are a great many other deeply interested stakeholders who will not be able to attend in person.

I second this

 

[finally retired]

Shaun,
the Mariners have (until recently) always had a "never say die" attitude. apart from the first two games against Sydney this season, this seems to have been lost. There is strong feeling on the forum that much greater involvement of players such as Monty or Daniel McBreen would go a long way to restoring that attitude. Does Mike have any plans along these lines for next season?
If it's more of the same apparent attitudes as this season, my group of 9 will reduce to a group of 2 and I suspect that would be replicated across the supporter base..

 

[Ozhammer]

I am hearing that it will be well worth attending tomorrow night’s event, so let’s get the word out to have as many people there as possible.

 

[Capt. Awesome]

My Question:
Will the Mariners have Fernando Torres as Marquee next year or will we pay him under the cap?

 

[serious14]

I am hearing that it will be well worth attending tomorrow night’s event, so let’s get the word out to have as many people there as possible.

If it's "Hi guys, I'm selling the club immediately to LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE WITH ACTUAL IRL MONEY THAT WILL SPEND IT" then you have got my attention. Otherwise this is a waste of everyone's time.

Dicksucking pre-vetted questions on what will end up being a pre-recorded video? Don't insult our intelligence Mike.

 

[Capt. Awesome]

I am hearing that it will be well worth attending tomorrow night’s event, so let’s get the word out to have as many people there as possible.

If this is just to announce Mike Mulvey as coach I think there will a lot of unhappy customers. There are so many disillusioned loyal fans. I think we are hitting a tipping point. If things aren't turned around soon its going to be very hard to continue. The loyal fans have been very patient because we were always assured brighter days were ahead but I'm not sure we believe this anymore unless money is spent on the squad. You can't expect people to turn up and watch to team that only wins 15% of the time. I think if Mike understood the current mood in the fan ranks he would be straight on a plane to fix it.

What is Mike going to do to fix our squad?

 

[midfielder]

Mike do we have a strategy if ccm were to ever be relegated .

 

[sydmariner]

I am hearing that it will be well worth attending tomorrow night’s event, so let’s get the word out to have as many people there as possible.

Possibly another major announcement or that were going to be entertaining again.

 

[Josho Howe]

I for one hope Mike has a big announcement to make. The most loyal of the loyal fans of this club are hanging onto a thread l feel. How many more poor results can we can take? While l hope Mike answers some fair and direct questions, l also hope he doesn't shy away from the tougher questions. Us fans deserve full transparency.

 

[Big Al]

Unless Mike’s been mining bitcoin (even the price on that has fallen) there is no way he has the funds to fix this mess, it will be dreams again

 

[pjennings]

The double-header on Saturday raises a another question. Over the years there have been constant rumblings of problems between Central Coast Football and Central Coast Mariners and indeed the Council in its various guises. If you look at what we have on the Coast today compared to a dozen years ago the potential for continued growth but the murmurings have always been around about a lack of understanding between the stakeholders and a lack of grounds for grass roots football. While some of this is not directly a Central Coast Mariners problem as the club that is playing at the elite level they do have a leadership role to play.

The question to Mike really is about the relationships between the various football stakeholders on the Coast. There are the local clubs, CCMA, CCUFC, Central Coast Football, the International Football School and Central Coast Council. What is the relationship between these various entities like and given the relative small base what can be done to strengthen ties and align outcomes - rather than pull in differing directions?