This week marks the one hundredth blog I’ve written for FourFourTwo about the Mariners.

That’s around 80,000 words I’ve written over the past four seasons about my beloved team.  Although I’ve sometimes shared my irritation or frustration (and occasionally been deliberately provocative – hello, Roar fans !), my over-riding focus has always been to celebrate the genuine passion I have for my club and the A-League.  My sincere gratitude goes out to the forward-thinking genius who runs this site (don’t edit, KA !) for giving me such an amazing opportunity.

While I am not a spokesperson for the Mariners, I am extremely proud to be a club member and have always tried to focus on the positives when discussing issues both on and off the park.  I have used this blog on numerous occasions to defend my team and my club and I will continue to do so when occasion arises.

What I have never done is use this platform to make demands or tell the club how to run its business.  Up til now I’ve been more than happy to pay my membership, turn up every home match and buy truckloads of merchandise as every fan should.

But the time has finally come to make this heartfelt plea to CCM management :

PLEASE DON’T LET ARNIE GO !

He is our guiding light, our leader, our LEGEND.  He has brought this club pride, success, strength and confidence and we CANNOT do without him.

For years we relied on the stability and leadership brought by Lawrie.  Losing him was a big adjustment but it’s fair to say Arnie has been the second greatest thing ever to happen to this club.  Letting him go without a fight would be simply unthinkable.  

As that great Chelsea fan Oscar Wilde once noted, “To lose one great coach may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.”

Sure, I know the club has endless cash-flow problems but this is a matter of LIFE or DEATH.  (Or in fact, much more serious than that ! )  Sell the car, sell the furniture, hey, even sell Pedj to the MLS if it raises enough to secure Arnie for another precious season (sorry Pedj, but something’s gotta give !)

Now some people may wonder why on earth Arnie would want to leave The Mariners at all.  This is a club that has everything : consistency, team spirit, a beautiful stadium, a genuine sense of community, dedicated support staff and a continuing stream of youthful talent.  And it’s achieved all of this on a no-frills budget.

But years of being the “cheap and cheerful” club have finally come home to roost.  So successful have we become that richer clubs are now circling our players and worst, our adored gaffer like a pack of cashed-up vultures.  Arnie, like Lawrie before him, has nurtured some amazing talents with minimal resources but somewhere the frustration must creep in, especially when someone waves wads of cash under your nose.

Right from the outset I’ve always thought Arnie and CCM was a marriage made in heaven and I’d like to believe Arnie would be faithful at least until the ACL campaign ended.  While officially, Arnie has said he’s not leaving, I’m paranoid enough to start humming Suspicious Minds.  In fact, current reports that he’s being courted by the temptations of Sydney or Adelaide is so terrifying it makes me want to hire a private detective.

I’m jealous of their pulling-power, angry my club has no money and bitter enough to believe that Arnie would not be the “magic pill” Sydney, for example, needs to be successful again.  Let’s face it, Arnie’s talents as a coach have been enhanced by a strong club culture and stability at The Mariners, a culture that was established over many years by Lawrie and his team.  Arnie’s willingness to take a chance on young players and his unshakeable belief in his team are fundamental to all that makes this club great.  

The only entertaining part of this whole “affair” is seeing the ridiculous turnaround in public perceptions of Arnie.  A man who was once the most maligned coach in Australian football and who was sneered at by rival fans when he joined CCM is suddenly “Australia’s Most Wanted”. Like everyone else associated with this “cheap and cheerful club”, Arnie will have the last laugh.

But if he leaves, Mariners’ fans will be crying long and hard into their Bluetongue beer.