Limited Central Coast Mariners Football Manager Lawrie McKinna is back at home after four weeks abroad and eager to put the building blocks in place to have the Mariners become the first Hyundai A-League club to successfully defend the Premiers Plate.

McKinna visited England, Hong Kong, Scotland and Vietnam during a whirlwind worldwide trip that included an extensive stay at Sheffield United, the Mariners’ partner club, who this morning completed their English Championship season with a 3-2 loss away to Southampton.

The personable Scottish-born Football Manager, who has been in charge of more Hyundai A-League matches than any of his counterparts over the competitions three-year history, observed the overall structure of one of England’s most progressive clubs and has returned to the Central Coast prepared to implement these initiatives at all levels.

Perhaps most poignantly, in light of the fast approaching kick off of the National Youth League, McKinna gained a valuable insight into Sheffield’s Youth Academy structure, which is commonly regarded as one of the best in England.

"I spent three or fours days at Sheffield United and they were fantastic – a big club, I went to their game against Hull where there were 28,500 people, a great atmosphere and the club is going places," said McKinna.

"I saw their youth set up, their first team set up and they’ve got one of the best academy structures in the league – a lot of stuff came out of that and their Chairman will be coming over here in the next few weeks and I think a lot of good things will come from that.

"I think we’re confident that we as a club will always get better with how we do things on and off the park and every year we’ve done that and we need to look at doing that again."

Joining McKinna in his quest to land the Mariners their first Hyundai A-League Championship will be Adrian Caceres, Ahmad Elrich and Dylan Macallister – the Mariners’ three season four recruits to date.

More new signings and re-signings are anticipated in the coming weeks and with formerly long-term injured trio Dean Heffernan, Nik Mrdja and Matthew Osman each approaching full fitness, there is plenty of cause for optimism in the Mariners camp.

"Obviously we’re still looking to fill more spots with a few more players, it’s an exciting time, we’ve got a National Youth League squad to get together as well and we’ve been busy identifying players for that as well so there’s a lot happening," said McKinna.

"I think the three signings we’ve got are all exciting attacking options, they’re all players in their mid-twenties and they’re all fit, exciting players in their own way.

"I think in terms of our future signings, we have to improve as obviously we’ve lost quite a few players – the players that we bring in have to be of equal ability or better and I think we’ve done that with the boys we’ve brought in so far.

"As always, they have to be good boys as well, players that will come here and fit into things that we do on the Central Coast and be part of the community and that won’t change."

McKinna will lead his charges out for their first trial match of the new season on Tuesday, 20 May, when the Mariners take on the Central Coast Lightning at Pluim Park. Kick off is at 7pm.