MARINERS FOREVER MIRED IN MEDIOCRITY

Central Coast Mariners are currently 4th on the A-League ladder, with a host of teams within striking distance. The defending champions have long been punching above their weight, but it seems this season that the regular holes that appear in their campaign vessel, just can't be plugged. Will they ever have a steady ship?

Losing promising young players has been a fact of life for the Gosford based club, and it's something that the hierarchy are happy to celebrate. Former manager Graham Arnold recently echoed those sentiments in an interview with Robbie Slater. On Tom Rogic leaving Arnold said, "It was the philosophy of the club, and we needed it for the club to survive at the time." Further evidence of the philosophy can be found in the following departure list: Michael Beauchamp (left for Europe 06-07), Mile Jedinak (left for Europe 2009), Mustafa Amini (left for Europe 2012), Matt Ryan (left for Europe 2013). Add to that the club stalwarts who took Asian paydays: Alex Wilkinson (Korea), Matt Simon (Korea), and Michael McGlinchey (Japan). While the club likes to inform us that they will never stand in the way of a youngster jetting off to further his career, they forget to realise the fans are suffering.

The Mariners have stunned us with two premierships and one championship from the eight A-League seasons so far. They've appeared in four of the end of season championship matches and an amazing six times in the finals series. But a look at attendance averages is very disheartening for A-League officialdom. Over the eight and a half seasons of the A-League the Mariners have averaged a lowly 9,422 (excluding finals), despite their continuing success. With no other professional sports outfit representing the Central Coast area in a national competition, it's unfathomable. But Graham Arnold was proud of the club's attendances, ". . . there's a population up here of 250,000 and if you can average 10,000 a game you are doing great." Herein lies the problem; if the Mariners are hamstrung by a small population base to call on for fans, what will happen in the future? The A-League's salary cap will grow gradually larger, and the Mariners crowds won't. They will never attract out of town fans (in their current guise) as they continue to let go of stars and are reluctant to purchase a marquee player (Aloisi's short tenure is excluded). Basing your club on the West Ham model is futile. What have all the transfer fees done for them?

This season the Mariners are dead ducks, with the retirement of centre-back Patrick Zwaanswijk compounded by manager Arnold's mid-season disappearance with conditioner Andrew Clarke and midfielder Michael McGlinchey in tow. Throw in the season ending injury of Marcos Flores and it's groundhog's day for Mariners fans. A future of mediocrity seems the only destiny for the Central Coast Mariners and their foray into the Tom Rogic 'loan chase' will most definitely come up fruitless. Perhaps the only hope for the Gosford club is owner Mike Charlesworth, with his plans to boost the local economy and make the Mariners 'Centre of Excellence' the home of the Socceroos. Good luck Mike.

MELBOURNE JUST DOESN'T HAVE THE HEART FOR TWO TEAMS

Melbourne Heart have sacked manager John Aloisi after a miserable run of sixteen matches without a league win. But the former Socceroo stalwart's sacking masks a bigger problem at the Heart. Not many people actually care about them.

Heart were founded and immediately planted into the A-League for the 2010/11 season. Since then we've witnessed 10 Melbourne derbies and it cannot be denied that there is a genuine buzz about the fixture. Unfortunately, the rest of the time Melbourne pays virtually no attention to the red and white team. Looking at average attendances for the three 'full seasons' Melbourne Heart have existed, most would say, "that's not so bad." In 2010/11 Heart averaged 8312, in 2011/12 they rose to 9082, while in 2012/13 attendances dropped to 8560. It's a solid base to build from, but closer investigation of these statistics reveals a major concern for Melbourne's second A-League team.

It's Melbourne's 'contrived' derby which continues to prop up Heart's end of season attendance stats. The Heart's rate of patronage plunges markedly when the derby match is removed from their attendance records. Averages for 2010/11 without the derby were 5825. In other years the impact has been similar (check graph).

MELB. HEART ATTENDANCE AVERAGES - COMPARISON GRAPH

The problem apart from Heart's limited on-field success is their lack of identity. As I sit here in my Sydney office I ponder, "Why would someone support Melbourne Heart?" Reason 1: an individual prefers red over blue. Reason 2: an individual is an anti soccer fan who fears Melbourne Victory's rising iconicism.

While I too prefer red over blue (a graphic arts teacher once told me it symbolises passion), it's not the kind of reason that inspires long term loyalty, or requests for life memberships. Yes, Melbourne Heart have a solid base and if on-field success arrives numbers may swell, but FFA (Australian football's organising body) have long talked about Geelong as a location for an A-League club. What would happen to Heart's flimsily founded supporter base if Geelong did arrive?

Most Victorians scoff at 'AFL mad' Geelong being awarded an A-League license, but even if it's unlikely the Melbourne situation must be resolved. Unlike Sydney's derby that works on a good old fashioned geographical separation, which divides the so called 'working class' from the 'silvertails', Melbourne's derby is about nothing, and when the blue team aren't in town no one cares.

Despite all those in the south harping on about Melbourne being Australia's 'sports capital', or even the world's sports capital, the Melbourne Heart provides little evidence. The solution is to move Melbourne Heart out of the city centre.