THE Central Coast Mariners didn't defeat Western Sydney Wanderers to become A-League champions - they beat Football Federation Australia.
As grand final-winning coach Graham Arnold prepares to leave Australia for Sendai in Japan's A-League, he admitted that he had to lend money players to pay their mortgages while the game's governing body did little to help.
He used it as motivation when the Mariners faced the Wanderers - a team owned by FFA - in last season's grand final.
"I was happy to lend players money to get them through," Arnold tells former Socceroos teammate Robbie Slater in an exclusive interview in the Sunday Telegraph.
"There were players unable to pay their mortgages when they put food on the table for their families.
"I had to paint the picture that Western Sydney Wanderers were our enemy.
"The fact FFA owned them and were paying them, but they wouldn't come forward and pay us in difficult times was an extremely difficult thing to take.
"We sold $4.5 million worth of players in that time and FFA took $1 million out of those transfers and still wouldn't provide for us. It was difficult to understand."
The grand final victory was especially sweet for Arnold, his success paving the way for a move to the J-League, which he describes as Asia's version of the Premier League.
While conceding the Wanderers have been great for the A-League, Arnold and the Mariners still feel some angst towards the FFA.
"It was us against the head organisation, it wasn't us against the Western Sydney Wanderers," Arnold added.
"Tony Popovic and their supporters have done wonderful things for the game here in Australia and will continue to do so, but I had to try to motivate us and use it as a way to win a grand final."