Paul Mariner

Paul Mariner
Paul Mariner, 2010
Personalia
birthday	May 22, 1953
place of birth	Farnworth ,  England
date of death	July 9, 2021
size	1.83 m
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
1971-1973	Chorley FC
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1973-1976	Plymouth Argyle	135 (56)
1976-1984	Ipswich Town	260 (96)
1984-1986	Arsenal FC	60 (14)
1986-1988	Portsmouth FC	56 0(9)
1988	South Coast Wolves	2 0(0)
1989-1992	Albany Capitals	25 0(3)
1990-1991	Naxxar Lions	15 0(3)
1992-1993	San Francisco Bay	10 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1977-1985	England	35 (13)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2003	Harvard Crimson (Assistant)
2004-2009	New England Revolution (Assistant)
2009-2010	Plymouth Argyle
2011–2012	Toronto FC (Assistant)
2012-2013	Toronto FC
1 Only league games are given.

Paul Mariner (born May 22, 1953 in Chorley , Lancashire , † July 9, 2021 ) was an English football player who played as a center forward and was appointed to the England national team in the 1970s and 1980s . His last position was as a trainer.

Athletic career

Mariner began his career as an amateur player for Chorley FC near his home in Lancashire. His performances as a central offensive striker caught the attention of the Plymouth Argyle club . There he signed his first professional contract in 1973. He scored 56 goals in 135 games and was signed by Bobby Robson for £ 200,000 for Ipswich Town. He rejected a simultaneous offer from West Ham United .

Mariner made his debut for his new club in September 1976 and developed into a "classic number 9" within the team. Six months after Mariner joined Ipswich Town, Mariner made his debut for the English national team in the 5-0 win against Luxembourg and was part of the subsequent encounter against Northern Ireland in the British Home Championship at Windsor Park , Belfast . Although he failed to score in both games, Mariner delivered a good performance, but was disregarded in the subsequent six internationals. During this time, Ipswich finished the season in the First Division in third place, with Mariner scoring ten goals in 28 games.

In Mariners third international match, a qualifier for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina against Luxembourg, he scored the goal to make it 2-0 in the last minute, although this victory turned out to be too close to qualify for the World Cup. Now Mariner was under national coach Ron Greenwood serious contenders for the core position of the center forward and was now mostly preferred to players like Stuart Pearson and Bob Latchford .

At the club level, Mariner went through a very changeable time. In 37 games he scored eleven goals, which maintained his ambitions in the English national team. Nevertheless, Ipswich Town fell into a crisis in the championship round and was only 18th at the end of the season. In the FA Cup , however, the club reached the final and beat there in Wembley Stadium to Arsenal with 1: 0th Mariner was named the best player of the encounter.

Although 1979 was the most effective time in Mariners career at Ipswich in terms of goalscoring rate with 13 goals in 33 games, Greenwood waived him. After two years of abstinence, Mariners made his sixth international match in 1980 in the surprising 4-1 defeat by Wales in Wrexham , where he scored the consolation goal . He also scored a goal in the 2-1 win against Australia in Sydney and was then nominated for the European Championship in Italy in 1980 , although he had not previously been used in any qualifying game for this tournament. During the tournament itself, however, he did not get beyond the reserve role.

In the opening game against Belgium in Turin , which ended 1-1, he did not play and was substituted on in the two remaining group games, the defeat against Italy and the win against Spain . England were eliminated from the tournament in the preliminary round.

Mariner was able to defend his place in the English national team, while he came to 17 goals in 41 games for Ipswich in 1980. At the beginning of the following season, England started qualifying for the 1982 World Cup in Spain with a 4-0 win over Norway , when they scored an exceptional rotary shot from 23 meters. In the subsequent 2-1 loss to Romania in Bucharest , Greenwood waived him again, but allowed him to return a month later in the 2-1 win against Switzerland , where Mariner scored the first goal.

Ipswich fought in three competitions in 1981 and Mariner contributed 13 goals in 36 games. At home, Ipswich was defeated at the end in the fight for the English championship of the Aston Villa team after they could not win against Middlesbrough FC . Then Manchester City defeated Ipswich Town in the semi-finals of the FA Cup . In the UEFA Cup , however, Mariner contributed to winning the title through good performances.

In the first rounds up to the quarter-finals against AS Saint-Étienne , Mariner met twice and scored two goals in the 4-1 win in France , followed by a goal in the second leg, which enabled overall progress to the semifinals. Mariner also scored a goal in the 3-0 first leg win in the final against AZ Alkmaar , which Ipswich was able to win 5-3 after both games. A few weeks later, Mariner completed a few qualifying games for England, with a loss to Switzerland followed by a win against Hungary . Subsequently, however, they lost to Norway and raised fears that England could miss the third World Cup in a row.

After England only needed one victory to qualify after surprising results in the competition against Hungary at Wembley Stadium, it was again Mariner who contributed the only goal to the 1-0 victory and thus paved the way for England to the World Cup tournament.

Due to injury problems on both Achilles tendons , Mariner missed much of the next few months, scoring just eight goals in 25 games for Ipswich. In the last five preparation games for the World Cup, however, he found his old form with four goals, with his goal being a highlight after a solo against the Netherlands at Wembley. In the opening game of the World Cup against France , Mariner was also in the starting line-up.

After two goals from Bryan Robson to the intermittent 2-1 lead, including the fastest goal in a World Championship encounter, Mariner increased with a volley from close range to 3-1 final score. At this point, Mariner had already scored eleven goals in 21 international matches and scored in the last six games in a row, something that only Jimmy Greaves had previously achieved.

Greenwood continued to bet on Mariner in the tournament, but did not get any further hits. England were eliminated in the second round after two goalless draws. A well-known scene shows Mariner, who comforted the substitute English captain Kevin Keegan , who was struggling with injury problems during the tournament, after a missed header that would have been enough for England to advance in the event of a goal.

Then when Ipswich coach Robson took over the office of national coach, Mariner's international career continued during the qualifying games for the European Championship 1984 in France. Although he continued to score in Ipswich, the club began a rejuvenating restructuring there due to aging.

England's qualifying round was slow, although Mariner scored back-to-back in the games against Hungary and Luxembourg, with his 13th goal against Luxembourg turning out to be his last goal for England. In his next international match, he had already moved from Ipswich to Arsenal, who had signed him in February 1984 for 150,000 pounds. Mariner was now 31 years old and scored seven goals in the remaining 15 games of the season. In the period that followed, age had a negative impact on Mariners' performance when he only scored nine goals in 41 games in the 1984/85 season.

Mariner made two more international appearances, but the arrival of Mark Hateley , a tall and tricky young center-forward, heralded a generation change. Hateley came on for Mariner in the friendly win against the GDR in September 1984, before Mariner came on for his 35th and last appearance in May 1985 in a 0-0 qualifier for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico against Romania.

In the meantime, Mariner was rarely used at Arsenal. In his nine games in the 1985/86 season he even acted once as a stopgap in the central half position more in midfield . Arsenal's new coach, George Graham , then gave Mariner the go-ahead for a free transfer after 80 games and 17 goals. He then signed with Portsmouth FC and spent two seasons there. After another short time with the Maltese club Naxxar Lions , he returned home to Chorley and Bury Town to end his career.

After retiring as a footballer, Mariner built up a player advisory company before moving to the USA to look after the Albany Capitals in the old APSL . Since then he has stayed in the USA, initially to work as an assistant trainer at Harvard University . Until 2010 he was assistant coach to Steve Nicol , former player of Liverpool FC and the Scottish national team , at New England Revolution . In January 2011 he moved to Toronto FC , where he became assistant to the former Dutch international Aron Winter . As of June 7, 2012, Paul Mariner was Aron Winter's successor and head coach for Toronto FC. He was released on January 8, 2013.

Private

After he married his first wife Alison in 1976 and divorced her in 1989, he was last married to his second wife, Dedi. He has three sons from his first marriage.

After a brief illness, Paul Mariner died in July 2021 at the age of 68 years to cancer .

successes

• UEFA Cup winners: 1981
• FA Cup winner: 1978

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reds, Mariner Part Ways. In: torontofc.ca. January 8, 2013, archived from the original on January 11, 2013 ; accessed on July 10, 2021 . 
2. ↑ Ollie Salt: Ex-England star Paul Mariner dies aged 68 as tributes pour in for Ipswich legend. In: dailystar.co.uk . July 10, 2021, accessed July 10, 2021 .