Usain Bolt!

[Rowdy]

And MC will make that back on global jersey sales.

The $$$s involved in this blow any other ALeague marquee deal out of the water.

No A-League clubs make money off of merch ....... the FFA control all that shit, which is one of the many reasons why A-League club owners seek an independent League & Shaun offloaded the selling of CCM's stuff entirely to Rebel Sports.

"it just wasn't worth the hassle staffing and stocking it Roddy"
- verbatim from SM.
& fair enough too.

 

[Insertnamehere]

Didn't happen to notice who's in the photo?

Did not happen to see the image.
I recant my previous statement. And I retort by saying well played to the AFL for their self deprication.

 

[nebakke]

Christ, I go away for a couple of days and come back to us trialing Usain Bolt... Wonder if it's too late for me to cancel my membership

 

[Capt. Awesome]

Christ, I go away for a couple of days and come back to us trialing Usain Bolt... Wonder if it's too late for me to cancel my membership

It a freaking trial!!! Lighten up!!!

 

[Insertnamehere]

Christ, I go away for a couple of days and come back to us trialing Usain Bolt... Wonder if it's too late for me to cancel my membership

It’s a better story than the surrender monkeys winning the WC.

 

[Rowdy]

Its deliberate .... they're taking the piss


'AFL Integrity Unit' ... have no official connection to the actual AFL.
- check the comments from others on the above link.

 

[Rowdy]

Christ, I go away for a couple of days and come back to us trialing Usain Bolt... Wonder if it's too late for me to cancel my membership

It a freaking trial!!! Lighten up!!!

Pretty sure Nebakke is
..... also taking the piss

 

[Insertnamehere]

Its deliberate .... they're taking the piss


'AFL Integrity Unit' ... have no official connection to the actual AFL.
- check the comments from others on the above link.

Why must people live double lives on social media.? Keep it simple for the non participants

 

[Timmah]

How’s the AFL Integrity unit having a twitter dig. Plenty of problems in the AFL they should be worried about not what the HAL and Bolt are doing.

Clearly a pisstake twitter account lol

 

[FFC Mariner]

Anyone else reckon DDS might be having second thoughts about now?

Nope, didn't he vow never to play for us again

 

[offtheball]

As Jack Gibson once said " Some of you blokes would boo Santa Claus!"

I bet the CEO of Masterfoods is delighted to see their logo all over the front page of today's newspapers. Other CEO's can't help but think I wouldn't mind a piece of that.

 

[Rowdy]

Also we should of used the Sanitarium link to get Tim Cahill or still can now he has retired from Internet football.

We might not win any games but Bolt and Cahill leading the line sounds interesting

Can see it my minds eye now:

Tim 'look at me & my legacy' Cahill , jumping the hoardings at the Palm Tree end, bypassing the corner flags only to punch the shit of a pair of giant fcuking inflatable Weetbix. (contractually req'd to as per *new*Sanitarium deal)

Yeah, nah
..... I'll take the Sauce Bottles

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Just going on that tape.

Positives:
A reasonable shot, gets his head up and some good movement off the ball.

Work needed on:
Stamina, touch, heading, tackling.

It will be a miracle if he makes it but good luck to him and CCM. I look forward to the fun.

 

[Offsider]

It’s a long term plan. Hear me out.

We sign him for the season.

He roots every woman on the coast. We have a baby explosion of unique dna.
We put some into the athletic team and the rest we give them a football from birth and train them.
Then we will have thousands of TBT’s. Fast as f**k with a shit first touch but the bolts will still get to the ball first from that touch unlike TBT

Disappointing to see mysogynism is alive on the central coast.

 

[tsd]

If my decades of dedication to the movie "Cool Runnings" have taught me anything it is that Jamaican sprinters are excellent at adapting to other sports

 

[VicMariner]

I was thinking about the Thai kids last week and thought the Mariners should invite the kids out to play our academy under 12 side and then be treated (or untreated) to a Mariners' game.

They have been through enough, you monster.

 

[VicMariner]

It’s a long term plan. Hear me out.

We sign him for the season.

He roots every woman on the coast. We have a baby explosion of unique dna.
We put some into the athletic team and the rest we give them a football from birth and train them.
Then we will have thousands of TBT’s. Fast as f**k with a shit first touch but the bolts will still get to the ball first from that touch unlike TBT

Kind of like the Boys from Brazil, except it's the Kids from Kariong?
This could work guys......

 

[scottmac]

If he actually gets a gig after the trial period the stadium won't be big enough for the media attending. The press conference's leading up to the game will be similar to if not more hectic than anything the Socceroos have ever been through. Will be very hard for the team to actually focus on football with every single question being about Bolt and every training session swamped. It's very risky

Even now there will be bulk media at every training session during his trial if he turns up

 

[adz]

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/usain-bolts-agent-confirms-league-talks-065441901--spt.html

Usain Bolt's long-time agent Ricky Simms has confirmed the Jamaican sprint king is considering an offer to trial for a contract with A-League club Central Coast Mariners.

And Football Federation Australia appears willing to at least have a "discussion" around whether it will tip in the $900,000 required to get the ambitious proposal off the ground.

Australian football agent Tony Rallis says an in-principle deal has been reached to bring the eight-time Olympic gold medallist to Central Coast for a six-week trial.

Simms, who signed Bolt when he was a 15-year-old prodigy, said it was a genuine possibility.

"Usain has made it quite clear that he's interested in playing professional football," Simms told AAP.

"We're looking at a number of options and this is one of them."

Bolt, 31, retired from sprinting last year but is a lifelong football fan and has long harboured ambitions of playing.

But there are serious doubts he could pass muster as a professional - even at the Mariners, who finished bottom of the A-League table last season.

Bolt has trained or trialled at numerous clubs around the world, including Germany's Borussia Dortmund, South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns, and Norway's Stromsgodset.

None have seen fit to offer him a fulltime deal.

Rallis told AAP that Bolt's trial would only go ahead if FFA agreed to contribute funds towards his contract if he is successful.

"(Simms) understands it," Rallis told AAP.

"We're not going to risk the Bolt image or brand or discredit the A-League.

"It's a trial, no different to Jarryd Hayne in the NFL, or rugby league players becoming boxers or AFL players.

"We're going through the proper channels; we're just waiting for a reply."

FFA has a pot of $3 million, provided by Fox Sports, to spend on marquee players for the upcoming season.

FFA is believed to be deep in talks with former Japanese international Keisuke Honda, who is interested in joining Melbourne Victory and would command the majority of the fund if he reaches an agreement with the A-League champions.

Conceivably, the rest could be allocated to Bolt - and then freed up to be spent on other players if he does not win a contract.

"We are actively working with A-League clubs on a number of potential marquee players," an FFA spokesperson told AAP.

"While Usain Bolt is one of the most famous athletes on the planet, he's not a professional footballer.

"If the trial goes ahead and Central Coast Mariners decide it stacks up and they want to offer him a contract, then we will have a discussion with them around that and what might be possible."

The news has been met with a decidedly mixed reaction.

Some believe it will give the A-League a pang of much-needed publicity.

Others, like Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill, believe it reduces the competition to a "a sideshow, a circus freak show, a gimmick."

"We don't need it," Hill told SEN Radio.

"If we are going to bring in big stars, then let's get proper marquee players, for which you have to pay."

 

[FFC Mariner]

$900k for a trial?

How about using that to attract actual footballers?