{"id":223036,"date":"2026-01-12T23:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/a-leagues-club-plunged-into-doubt-as-1m-deal-turns-sour-chairman-stripped-of-licence\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:10:00","slug":"a-leagues-club-plunged-into-doubt-as-1m-deal-turns-sour-chairman-stripped-of-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/a-leagues-club-plunged-into-doubt-as-1m-deal-turns-sour-chairman-stripped-of-licence\/","title":{"rendered":"A-Leagues club plunged into doubt as $1m deal turns sour, chairman stripped of licence"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Australian Professional Leagues has taken control of Central Coast Mariners in an interim capacity after stripping chairman Mike Charlesworth of the club\u2019s licence following the breakdown of his unofficial ownership deal with Damon Hanlin.<\/p>\n

The APL, which runs the A-League, will a run a \u201csales process\u201d with \u201cinterested parties\u201d after relieving Charlesworth \u2013 whose association with the Mariners dates back to 2013 \u2013 of the licence.<\/p>\n

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Those \u201cparties\u201d are expected to include English Championship club Queens Park Rangers, who were previously in negotiations with Charlesworth about buying the Mariners.<\/p>\n

Hanlin, a former Sydney Olympic chairman, has been unofficially in charge of the Mariners and injected more than a million dollars into the ailing club as part of an agreement with Charlesworth.<\/p>\n

A proposal for Hanlin to officially take ownership of the club from Charlesworth was being considered by the APL, who were deciding, among other things, whether Hanlin passed the \u201cfit-and-proper person\u201d test.<\/p>\n

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The APL has stripped Mike Charlesworth of the Central Coast Mariners\u2019 A-League licence. Picture: Mark Scott<\/span>Source: News Corp Australia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the deal between Charlesworth and Hanlin turned sour, subsequently leading to Charlesworth notifying the APL of the forfeiture of the club participation agreement, which resulted in him being stripped of his licence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe APL board is resolute in its commitment to fans and stakeholders to protect the game\u2019s best interests, and make decisive action to ensure the ongoing growth, stability and integrity of the A-Leagues,\u201d APL chairman Stephen Conroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs custodians of the game, we believe it is the best course of proactive action \u2013 for the short and long term interest of the club \u2013 to terminate the current CPA (club participation agreement) under the current ownership, and run an expedited and robust sale process to find a new and stable long-term owner for the Mariners.<\/p>\n

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Xabi Alonso sacked by Real Madrid | 00:29<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe believe in the value that Central Coast Mariners brings to the A-Leagues. They\u2019ve shown with the right investment and community engagement, they have a vibrant fan base and a proven ability to consistently compete for on field success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that with the engaged local and international interest, we can find the right buyer for the Mariners to take the club forward and ensure their long term success.\u201d<\/p>\n

An APL statement said that Mariners management, including embattled chief executive Greg Brownlow would \u201cwork with the APL to assist the transition and the forthcoming sale process\u201d.<\/p>\n

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APL chairman Stephen Conroy is \u201cconfident\u201d of finding the \u201cright buyer\u201d for the Mariners. Picture: Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images for APL<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hanlin \u2013 who can make a new ownership proposal to the APL \u2013 had already placed former Sydney Olympic coach Labinot Haliti in a football director\u2019s role at the Mariners, a move which contributed to title-winning mentor Mark Jackson leaving the club a week before the start of the 2025-26 A-League season.<\/p>\n

Former Brisbane Roar coach Warren Moon was subsequently appointed as Jackson\u2019s replacement in an interim capacity, and was last week given the job until the end of the season.<\/p>\n

However, it has been Haliti \u2013 who was still working at the club on Monday before the APL\u2019s decision was announced \u2013 making all of the football-related decisions at the club, including recruitment of players.<\/p>\n

While the deals of new arrivals Nathanael Blair and Ali Auglah are expected to be honoured, plans to sign Adelaide United winger Ben Folami are now not expected to go ahead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Australian Professional Leagues has taken control of Central Coast Mariners in an interim capacity after stripping chairman Mike Charlesworth of the club\u2019s licence following the breakdown of his unofficial ownership deal with Damon Hanlin. The APL, which runs the A-League, will a run a \u201csales process\u201d with \u201cinterested parties\u201d after relieving Charlesworth \u2013 whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[607,68540,1641,83,1736,547,68539,3747,4344,3148,68535,68537,1429,68542,18830,149,68545,1425,68541,15504,6800,68544,8925,108,3231,24932,28306,68549,68548,68538,1626,1728,68533,68547,61030,68534,4683,2208,3143,68536,4655,1759,2457,2902,33860,68532,68531,68546,68543,5146,1847],"class_list":{"0":"post-223036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-adelaide","9":"tag-apl-board","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-barcelona","14":"tag-ben-folami","15":"tag-brisbane-roar","16":"tag-central-coast","17":"tag-central-coast-mariners","18":"tag-club-participation-agreement","19":"tag-deal-turns-sour","20":"tag-europe","21":"tag-fit-and-proper-person","22":"tag-football-director","23":"tag-football-news","24":"tag-forthcoming-sale-process","26":"tag-greg-brownlow","27":"tag-interim-capacity","28":"tag-israel","29":"tag-labinot-haliti","30":"tag-league-men","31":"tag-liverpool","32":"tag-marco-monteverde","33":"tag-mark-jackson","34":"tag-mark-scott","35":"tag-mike-charlesworth","36":"tag-minutes-silence","37":"tag-nathanael-blair","38":"tag-new-south-wales","39":"tag-oceania","40":"tag-ownership-proposal","41":"tag-participation-agreement","42":"tag-players-stand","43":"tag-proactive-action","44":"tag-province-of-barcelona","45":"tag-queens-park-rangers-football-club","46":"tag-real-madrid-c-f","47":"tag-right-buyer","48":"tag-sarah","49":"tag-south-australia","50":"tag-southern-europe","51":"tag-spain","52":"tag-stephen-conroy","53":"tag-takeover-speculation","54":"tag-unofficial-ownership","55":"tag-unofficial-ownership-deal","56":"tag-vibrant-fan-base","57":"tag-warren-moon","58":"tag-western-asia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}