Mike Mulvey focused on Roar game, not Bolt negotiations
Usain Bolt sat barefooted and sweating, his bright orange boots lying next to him on the grass at Pluim Park, in suburban Lisarow on the Central Coast, as he chatted to teammate Kalifa Cisse at the end of another tough training session with the Central Coast Mariners.
Mariners coach Mike Mulvey wandered over, sat down and began to chat.
The conversation lasted two or three minutes, and ended with a handshake, but Mulvey insisted it had nothing to do with trying to secure the 32-year-old, eight-time Olympic gold medallist on a contract to become a professional footballer.
"I speak with all the players all the time," he said.
"You need to talk to them regularly to just make sure we're all focused as a club on this first fixture."
The fixture he was referring to is Sunday's opening game of the A-League season against the Brisbane Roar.
As Bolt is merely training with the club, and not signed as a contracted player, he will not feature.
But the pressure is seemingly building on the Mariners to put their money where their mouth is and add Bolt to their roster.
Especially after he knocked back a two-year deal to join a Maltese club backed by wealthy Emirati investors to continue to train with the A-League strugglers.
Club CEO Shaun Mielekamp spent much of Wednesday sat opposite Bolt in a Gosford cafe, fuelling speculation the Mariners could be ready to hand over an offer.
Given Mulvey's first game for competition points with his new club is just three days away, it is no real surprise that Bolt's future is not at the forefront of his mind.
"I haven't read that and I haven't been involved in all that," Mulvey said of the approach from Malta.
"I'm really not interested in it to tell you the truth. I'm interested in the players I've got in my squad who I'm very happy with."
And while the coach is hellbent on ensuring his focus remains on Sunday's trip to Brisbane, the rest of the world can't stop talking about the Jamaican superstar.
"No, [it's] not [a distraction] at all. It's been well documented that he's been great amongst the guys. [I was] very happy for him for the two goals that he scored but we move on," Mulvey said.
"My focus with those two games, the Sydney and Macarthur [pre-season friendly] games [last week], was that we were looking at this fixture [Brisbane] coming around the corner and we basically had to give everybody 90 minutes. We did that and now we focus on the game on Sunday."
Mulvey has enough on his plate. He is in charge of a new club, which has had the biggest player turnover of any A-League club during the off season.
Coincidentally, his last game as an A-League coach was in charge of Sunday's opponent the Roar. He was sacked in November 2014, just six months after guiding the club to the A-League minor premiership and a grand final victory.
He bristled at the idea of having revenge on his mind.
"I'll leave that to everybody else to work out whether I have anything to prove, but the last time I looked we won the grand final the year before and the championship by 10 points, so if that means I have something to prove then that's fine, but in myself I'm confident," Mulvey said.
"I have convictions in my own ability and I'm very happy to be on the Central Coast and really looking forward to the season."
Whether his and his club's season involves the fastest man to ever set foot on the planet, remains to be seen.
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ABC .net
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