Sources close to the club say the Mariners board lost confidence in McKinna after a disastrous run of form since the turn of the year. The club has yet to record a single competitive victory in 2009.

The source says they wanted to bring in controversial former Socceroos and Olyroos coach Arnold to replace McKinna.

But McKinna is only halfway through his five year deal and reportedly only agreed to leave the club if they paid out the remainder of his contract.

However the Mariners insisted they can't afford it.

The club is said to have explored a compromise deal where McKinna took on an advisory role at the club as football director or similar if Arnold came in to replace him.

Arnold could also then have honoured the remainder of his contract with the FFA as an assistant coach with the Socceroos until the conclusion of the World Cup.

However that would have seen power see-sawing between the two when Arnold went off on Socceroos training camps and overseas games - and the plan was abandoned.

"How would this work, I really don't know but Lawrie's aware of what's going on," said a club insider. "They've spoken with Arnie, they've sounded him out, but they just can't afford to pay out Lawrie."

It's now believed the plan has been put on hold until the end of next season when Arnie's FFA commitments are complete and the cost of paying out McKinna has been halved - and he has had another season to redeem himself with better results.

This morning Mariners' executive chairman Lyall Gorman admitted they had talked to Arnold and shopped around for coaches elsewhere too - but insisted McKinna would be in charge next season.

"We'd have been naive not to talk to Graham Arnold," he said. "We've had a chat with a range of managers across the world.

"But Lawrie will be the football manager this year. I guarantee that. Graham Arnold will not be sitting on the coach's bench this season. There will be no change to the coaching staff this year."

However Gorman was making no promises on what would happen at the end of the 2009/2010 season.

"That is a long way down the  track and we have a season of results ahead of us," added Gorman. "We are always looking to strengthen our position across the board."

McKinna travelled to the recent Australia training session at ANZ Stadium in Sydney before the World Cup qualifier against Bahrain and watched from the stands as Arnold joined Pim Verbeek and Henk Duut putting the players through their paces.

He stayed on after the session and then made a beeline to grab a light-hearted chat with Verbeek and Arnold as they left the stadium.

Despite a dismal conclusion to their Asian Champions League campaign and the release of several players, the Mariners have since only made one addition to their senior team roster with the new season now just seven weeks away.