In unveiling the news that eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt would be coming to Australia to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer, Central Coast Mariners CEO Shaun Mielekamp stressed the Jamaican would be treated the same as any other player.

It was wishful thinking. Bolt’s entity is not just greater than that of the entire Mariners organisation, it is greater than the entire A-League. There was no entourage or ostentatiousness, but it did not take long to notice the leverage Bolt held in the partnership.

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It was partly the Mariners’ fault. Before the 32-year-old had even arrived in the country, Mielekamp divulged that a glut of potential sponsors had been on the phone and new members were being signed up off the back of the announcement.

And slowly the club started to indulge him. First, there was the lightning bolt insignia mowed into the pitch at Central Coast Stadium, followed by the news he was headed to France for a sponsorship event that had been pre-arranged before he signed with the club. Then came the televised friendlies, fully equipped with “Bolt Cam” that followed the player’s movements and reactions even when he was sat on the bench. The ongoing reassurance that Bolt’s trial was “indefinite” also did little to suggest that Bolt was being treated like any other player.

Despite this, time was always of the essence. This was a narrative the Mariners could not control. With the A-League season approaching and no friendly matches to test himself in for the foreseeable future, it was no surprise to see pressure ramped up on the Mariners to offer Bolt a professional contract.

Such is the power of Bolt, the leak of an offer from Malta’s Valetta FC – and his subsequent rejection of it – was the only spark required to force the Mariners into action. Within a week, the club had offered him a professional contract, albeit for a vastly inferior sum to what he expected. They did so without alerting their coach, Mike Mulvey, who downplayed the possibility of Bolt being able to compete with the club’s existing options in attack.

Bolt was also caught off guard, despite assurances from Mielekamp that the Jamaican was “coming here for the right reasons” as there are other clubs “who offered millions more than he’d be able to earn on a contract with us”. Wishful thinking. The decision to stay away from team training while a deal was thrashed out signalled the experiment was coming to an end.

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The struggling A-League side were clearly overwhelmed by The Bolt Show and the effort to make the world’s fastest man an inconspicuous member of the squad was, again, wishful thinking.

But the Mariners were not taken advantage of and the club said the experiment had been “mutually beneficial”. Mielekamp said the only regret he had was that “maximum potential wasn’t achieved”.

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Bolt will likely move on to another club – with the media circus again in hot pursuit – leaving the Mariners to consider the benefits of the past two months. But outside some short-term commercial rewards, his impact has been negligible.

Bolt’s arrival was not a moment of progression for the club. It was instead the fad that many people thought it was going to be when he signed. And the Mariners, after having had their moment in the global spotlight, will now go back to being the Mariners.