Central Coast Mariners captain Nick Montgomery says 2015 was not as bad a year as it seemed for the Gosford club.
The Mariners sit bottom of the table and have not won since the opening day of the A-League season against Perth Glory.
Despite poor results on-field, Montgomery looked at the positives off it, pointing out the monetary impact of owner Mike Charlesworth when the club was “falling to pieces”.
“2015’s not been great for the club,” Montgomery said.
“But people forget the owner came in when the club was falling to pieces and the main aim was to cut the debts and make it sustainable. That’s what we’re on course to do.
“People look and say ‘we’re bottom of the league’ and this and that, but we’ve got a young side.
“We’ve cut the costs of the club right down and it’s a rebuilding phase.
“We’ve played some great football this season, we haven’t got the results we wanted but now it’s time, with 15 games to go, to try and get up that table, to start picking up points.”
Charlesworth has faced plenty of scrutiny over the course of the season, but Montgomery was quick to defend his chairman.
“I think it (criticism) is harsh.
“Obviously fans want the team to be winning games … you look at Newcastle last season and the FFA own them now. Brisbane have had problems, we’ve had problems in the past.
“Mike’s come in when we were virtually going out of business, probably about to be handed over to the FFA. Now he’s building a complex at the training ground, he’s cutting the debts and with that, we’ve had to cut the wage bill. So it’s pretty harsh.”
In wake of Central Coast’s disappointing run of form, Montgomery pointed out what he saw as “horrendous decisions” and lamented the club’s bad luck in 2015.
“I’m not willing to sit here and moan about decisions but we’ve had some horrendous decisions early on in the season.
“Hopefully we’re due a bit of luck at the start of the new year.”
The Mariners and Wellington Phoenix will bring 2015 to a close at Central Coast Stadium on New Year’s Eve.
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