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2011–12 Central Coast Mariners season

Central Coast Mariners
2011–12 season
Chairman Peter Turnbull
Manager Graham Arnold
A-League premiership (regular season) 1st
A-League championship (finals) 3rd
Asian Champions League Group stage (3rd)
Top goalscorer League: Matt Simon, Bernie Ibini-Isei (7)
All: Patrick Zwaanswijk (8)
Highest home attendance 14 838 vs Gold Coast United
Lowest home attendance 6 883 vs Perth Glory
Average home league attendance 9 628

The 2011–12 Central Coast Mariners season will be Central Coast Mariners's seventh A-League season. It includes the 2011–12 A-League season as well as any other competitions of the 2011–12 football (soccer) season. This will include competing in the 2012 AFC Champions League.

The 2011 off-season is longer than usual (March–October) as Football Federation Australia shifted the next season's start back to avoid clashing with the NRL and AFL finals.

In May, it was announced that the Mariners would play Celtic FC on their tour of Australia in July, a game which the Mariners won 1–0 through a late Troy Hearfield long range effort.

The Mariners also agreed to a deal with a new kit supplier, Hummel International.

Much of the news at the club in pre-season related to the future of young talent Mustafa Amini, who had attracted interest from many European clubs, including German champions Borussia Dortmund and Scottish giants Celtic FC, amongst others. After an extended negotiation period, Amini was sold to Dortmund, and immediately loaned back to the Mariners until May 2012.

Pre-season fixtures included the annual tour of the Australian Capital Territory, and a tour of New Zealand. Whilst in Canberra, the Mariners retained the Bank of Queensland Cup, winning their annual clash with Belconnen United FC 5–0. Overall, the Mariners enjoyed a successful pre-season, including wins over A-League opposition Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix. They also won the annual Doug Turnbull cup, against Bankstown City Lions. The Mariners were a game away from a second consecutive undefeated pre-season (after not losing a pre-season game in the 2010 pre-season), however, they were beaten 3–1 by Auckland City FC in Auckland in their final friendly before the season proper. Michael Baird was the top-scorer in pre-season, scoring 7 goals.


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