Central Coast Mariners

Central Coast Mariners are an Australian Soccer Team from the Central Coast of NSW that compete in the A-League, the top level competition in Australia. Central Coast Mariners were a newly formed club started in 2004 and were founding members of the A-League in 2005.

The Mariners were formed during 2004 for the foundation of the A-League in 2005-06. Despite being considered one of the smaller franchises in the A-League they have qualified for a disproportionate number of finals.

The Central Coast Mariners' bid for a franchise in the Football Federation Australia's (FFA) new A-League competition was aimed to fill the one spot for a regional team that was designated by the FFA. As the only regional bidder, the Mariners pretty much made it in to the league by default. However Central Coast Mariners have tried hard to live up to the FFA's goals of building the profile of the sport and have forged very strong links with local teams and organisations.

The clubs initial management structure was heavily based around the management of the defunct NSL club Northern Spirit with the initial manager being former Northern Spirit coach Lawrie McKinna and the coach being Ian Ferguson, a former Northern Spirit player. After much expectation, the club was announced as one of eight teams to become part of Football Australia's domestic competition, the Hyundai A-League on 1 November 2004.

Early concerns for the club centred around the concerns over financial stability, but after forming a partnership with technology giants Toshiba and a cash injection from local businessman John Singleton, the clubs financial worries were eased.

The Central Coast Mariners had a successful first season, winning the 2005 Pre-Season Cup and losing in the A-League grand final to Sydney FC 1-0. The Mariners then made the final of the Pre-Season Cup again in 2006, however they lost to Adelaide United. The Mariners came sixth in Season 2 (2006-07) of the A-League competition, and failed to qualify for the finals series.

The Mariners claimed their first A-League premiership in Season 3 (2007-08) by goal difference, holding on after starting the season strongly. The Mariners defeated derby rivals Newcastle Jets in the major semi-final to qualify for the Grand Final, which they lost to the Newcastle Jets 1-0.

Season 4 (2008-09) by the Mariners standards was very average and was very up and down. They did however finish the season by squeezing into 4th place way off the pace of the top 3. Unsurprisingly they then went out at the first hurdle in the Final Series losing 4-1 over two legs to Queensland Roar

Central Coast Mariners started Season 5 in a rollercoaster fashion with a suprise away wins, home draws as well as disappointing defeats. They ended up finishing the season a very disappointing 8th after a disastrous run of 5 losses throughout December and 3 draws and 1 loss in January which wrote off any chance they had of Finals football.

Season 6 sees the Mariners with a new coach, the very experienced ex-Socceroo player and manager Graham Arnold. The Mariners have started of the season with a very creditable 1-0 home win against new team Melbourne Heart.