Central Coast Mariners are to pleased announce Phil Moss has been officially promoted to the Club’s Head Coaching position following Graham Arnold’s departure to Japan’s Vegalta Sendai.
Central Coast Mariners are to pleased announce Phil Moss has been officially promoted to the Club-s Head Coaching position following Graham Arnold-s departure to Japan-s Vegalta Sendai.
Moss, 42, had been Arnold-s assistant at the Mariners since mid 2010, however is now set to lead Central Coast in the Club-s top coaching role until the completion of the 2015/16 campaign.
A former National League player, Moss-s coaching career began with Manly United in the New South Wales Super League. It was during his established tenure at Manly that Moss first linked with his former Northern Spirit teammate and close friend Arnold in a coaching capacity, working alongside the ex-Socceroos boss with Australia-s U23 Team prior to the Beijing Olympics.
Arnold recruited Moss when he signed to replace Lawrie McKinna as coach of the men from Bluetongue Stadium for season six of Australia-s top flight, and since then the pair – alongside John Crawley and Andrew Clark – have proven to be one of Australia-s most successful and tactically astute coaching combinations.
Moss paid tribute to his mentor and confidant for helping him shape his career, and bringing success to the Mariners.
“What Graham has done for this Club, the Coast, the playing and coaching staff has been quite remarkable,” Moss said. “For me he is a mentor, a father figure, and a man who has left a legacy for football on the Central Coast.”
“With Arnie [Arnold] leaving the Hyundai A-League it will now become evident as to what a great coaching brain the competition has lost. But Arnie would be the first to tell me that the show must go on, and it will.”
Moss acknowledged that he has a hard act to follow in the hot seat at Bluetongue Stadium, however said that the lessons he has learnt while under the guidance of Arnold ought to hold him in good stead as he commences life in one of the competition-s most coveted roles.
“I am honoured to be just the third coach in Mariners history,” he said. “To have the confidence and backing of our Chairman, Mr Turnbull, and owner, Mr Charlesworth, to take up the role immediately gives me great belief that I am the right man for the job.”
“My main motivation in wanting to take this opportunity is the playing group. The culture we have in the dressing room is second to none, and I feel that together we can take it to another level.”
“Arnie is big on turning up to work every day with a smile on his face, and with the playing group and staff we have that is a very easy thing to do. I have every confidence in the group and know that the motivation and hunger to succeed inside the dressing room is as strong as ever.”
Central Coast Mariners Group General Manager, Mr Peter Turnbull, said that with Moss entering the top job the expectation is that the Mariners machine will continue to succeed on the field, and develop exciting young players.
“This is an exciting time for the Club,” Turnbull said. “We have had the successful ‘McKinna era-, an excellent ‘Arnold era-, and now Phil has his chance to establish the ‘Moss era-.”
“Phil is particularly well versed and supportive of the Mariners culture, and we know he has learnt a lot under Graham over the past few years. As such, we expect with Phil it will be business as usual, as he upholds the values and principles that we believe in, and the style and standards that we expect.”
Moss recently coupled his Hyundai A-League Assistant Coach duties with the role of Technical Director for the Club-s Academy pathway. However, with his new position of Head Coach confirmed, a new Academy Technical Director will be appointed and announced over the coming weeks.
Moss has also been given the green light to recruit his own Assistant Coach. The Mariners will announce the latest addition to the Club-s coaching staff in due course.
