Season › 2014-15 › News Blues form partnership with A-League Mariners , 3 February, 8comments | Jump to most recent Everton and Central Coast Mariners of Australia's Hyandai A-League have entered into an official partnership which will have "player development at the forefront." An announcement on the Mariners' website says that the new relationship is being progressed by Joe Royle and offers player exchange opportunities whereby U21s players from the Blues' Academy could get opportunities to play Down Under on loan. “Make no mistake, this is a truly great day for this football club,” said manager Phil Moss from the Australian club. “It's fantastic news for not only the Mariners, but the A-League that we've got a real tangible link with an English Premier League club off the back of what Manchester City is doing with Melbourne City.” Royle, meanwhile, expounded on the potential benefits to Everton. “We have a long association with Australian players here at Everton — as far back as the 1960s I played with Dennis Yaager in the youth team — and all Evertonians will remember the contribution Tim Cahill made to the Club. So we believe this is something with the potential to benefit the Club.” Reader Comments (8) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Dick Fearon 1 Posted 03/02/2015 at 22:43:37 A good move by the club but disappointing it has not happened much sooner.Most prem and lower divisions clubs plus a number of Scottish and European clubs have already established similar connections with Aussie associations. Mark McDonald 2 Posted 04/02/2015 at 00:25:46 A good move in general but can the club not establish a similar relationship with Everton de Viña del Mar (Chile). I understand Australia is easier because of the language but football is a global game and can speak all languages.I thought the Brotherhood Cup (2010) was to establish closer ties with the two Evertons and in 2011 we unveiled a joint war memorial at Goodison Park commemorating members of both clubs who gave their lives in the World Wars.Plus I would have thought Martinez may have tapped into their resources as their playing style may suit his philosophy. Christine Foster 3 Posted 04/02/2015 at 07:07:04 Mark, totally agree, from a logical, emotional and almost DNA link, Chile is a must and I would be good for all concerned to stretch our network across the globe. To get the association of both Everton's in Latin American would be great for the profile of both clubs. It costs little but the impact could be brilliant.The Mariners association is again good for profile and sharing of talent, we realty do need to tap into this league as its clear we have to look elsewhere for raw talent to grow and make an impact for the club. On a return basis its brilliant for the A league and the Mariners, its fans and players. Hopefully it will grow into something more concrete. One gripe, there are bigger more high profile clubs here that Everton could have gone to so why the mariners? Ciaran Duff 4 Posted 04/02/2015 at 08:46:02 I think this is a good move by Everton into a growing market. There are apparently as many junior players in Oz as in England. Combine that with great facilities (in general) and the FFA and state associations pushing a co-ordinated coaching system, it is likely that there will be more and more talent coming from Australia in the future. Christine, Maybe Everton could have gone with a bigger club but a few have other links already. Besides, the Mariners, although small, seem to be a well run club. They have certainly performed well on a small budget (sounds familiar) and produced plenty of talent. Gareth Fieldstead 5 Posted 04/02/2015 at 16:15:59 That would be my one gripe Christine, from a selfish point of view I would have gone for the Brisbane Roar. By the way Ciaran the FFA lag so far behind the likes of the NRL and AFL with regards to coaching children it is amazing that we won the Asian Cup. There is nowhere near the facilities and promotion of the game here than for the other codes. The efforts the other codes put in at local level to get children involved is simply embarrassing for the FFA. Ciaran Duff 6 Posted 04/02/2015 at 19:54:27 Gareth, Promotion and coaching are different things. AFL and NRL in particular put in more effort to promote because they have to. Participation nos. for football are increasing and the codes are shitting themselves. In terms of coaching, FFA are insisting that all coaches have some certificate and there is a series of development and elite programs in place. Christine Foster 7 Posted 04/02/2015 at 21:59:20 Gareth, yes I was thinking the same, as the Roar have already a tentative association in that they have played the blues its a shame they didn't choose them, but I am biased as they are my local team here in Brissy! Jack Woods 8 Posted 04/02/2015 at 22:26:06 Sounds like a good idea and would love to see some youngsters get some game time there.I am a little bit worried though since this deal was organised by that human scumbag Peter Storrie... the less the club has to do with him, the better Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. 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