McKinna steps down as Central Coast coach

Lawrie McKinna has stepped down as coach of Central Coast Mariners.

The Scottish coach has decided to end his tenure as mentor to the A-League club but will remain with the Mariners in a football operations role.

McKinna explained that he was not pushed out of the job to make way for former Socceroos assistant Graham Arnold when he appeared on Fox Sports FC last night.

“The club straight away extended my contract so they want me at the Mariners long term. It definitely wasn’t a push,” McKinna said.

"I had another year to go so if I had said I wanted to coach, then the club would have had to have decided what they were going to do.

“I have been talking quite regularly with Arny over the last few weeks and even before that,” he added.

“I have had an active involvement with Arny in discussing players and pre-season schedules, so that’s been actively ongoing, so there has been nothing going on behind my back.”

McKinna joined the Mariners in their first season in the A-League in 2005/06 and was awarded as Coach of the Year that season after guiding the club to the Grand Final where they lost to Sydney FC.

In the 2007/08 season, he almost went one better when he led the Mariners to top spot on the table after the home and away rounds but they fell to the Newcastle Jets in the Grand Final.