New Zealand Men's U-17s

Would have no problems if Zorro/Hay had been given the job after the WC. Piss poor management sacking a coaching duo that has molded and polished a group of kids right before the pinnacle event. Reeks of Zorro and Hay wanting to come in late and take all the credit. Could be Jose Mourinho/Louis Van Gaal Combination taking the coaching reigns now and I'd still be pissed.  

Exactly how is Temple an idiot?

I remember when Jose and Temple first came to NZ. They started a girls academy based at Epsom girls, possibly one of the very first in the country. 3-4 years later they got to coach the first NZ u17 womens team together.  Over the years I have got to watch a lot of their training sessions and have watched them both work very hard to improve their coaching knowledge and abilities. I have also in the past worked alongside them and also against them.

With respect to Temple its important to remember that he was the coach of the very first NZ schoolgirls team to ever beat Australia in the annual "test" series of 3 games. I think from memory it was the 1st time in 19 years. On top of that the NZ team completely outplayed the Australian side, the first time I had ever seen in 40 or more years of watching a NZ national team  of any age group of any sex completely outplay an Aussie side  over the course of 3 games.  The closest I had seen to this was the 82 AW side beating Aussie 2-0 in Aussie. From memory the scores in those three games were 2-0, 1-1 and 3-1 or 4-1?.  JR will know and I bet JR will back up my thoughts on just how well Temples team played. The scores dont show the absolute dominace the side had over the Aussies, both on an individual level and especially tactically and in style of play. If you are calling Temple an idiot you probably never saw that nor have you been aware of his work (self funded) to go to the UK to get his UEFA  licence.

Jose partly due to Serendipity found himself with his partner in NY and got a great job with the Red Bulls and in his time there also developed his knowledge. Both coaches  have been working right at the coal face from the youngest ages who are just beginning to play through to the higher end with the best players. They have despite their relatively young ages packed in a huge amount of experience, knowledge and effort to get to where they are. I feel for them right now. 

With respect to Zorro, I have watched his work at Central and was disappointed he was using very old school methods and the ugly truth there is that he benefitted from the work other coaches such as John Cunningham had been doing for a number of years with the youth teams at Central.  He jumped straight into senior coaching positions without having done any of the coaching courses NZF insist everyone has to do and without  having had to work through the ages.

Calling Temple an idiot is simply idiotic.

btw neither of them are friends of mine, just coaches I have crossed paths with a fair bit over the years.

2nd Best is right- Hudson has been given all power and control over the AW’s, U23, U20 and U17 including budgets and staff- so FDJ is now ‘just’ the administrator (note that Martin appointed Hudson against FDJ recommendation). According to players, parents and NZ staff Hudson also changed the trainings plans and time for the U17 and U20 and has the final say in terms of selection.

In summery- Hudson (Flash Harry) so far can only talk but didn’t deliver anything and is getting rid of everybody who questions his approach.

Btw- Hay and Zorro told their school boys 2 weeks ago that they will take over the U17 (ask players and parents)

Look at 2nd Best post #2152

Vitally important coaching pathways are blemish free. 

Was part of the noise at ACFC Under-17's.

Piss poor decision by NZF.

NZF had to compensate Danny Hay extra due to lost earnings from his Fairfax column. 

The only thing that makes sense is that NZF will be setting up some kind of live in academy at Sacred Heart of St Kents.

They have had many years of experience.

NTC or bust

An All Whites academy?

So much speculation, so little facts. Life's little mysteries.

Feel free to enligthen us 

No, don't get me wrong,  I know nothing just like the rest of us. I can't imagine any more explanation from NZF, which shows how bad this is. Speculation is the only item on the menu.

This whole thing still pisses me off.

Nothing in the media this weekend either (not that I saw).

At this stage, I feel sorry for Figuiera, Temple and the kids in the squad. No idea if Hay and Zorocich did anything Machiavellian to get the roles so can't point the finger at them at this time. As football supporters, I think we need to understand more of the background to the decision because it seems terribly managed by NZF.

What was the review process? Who was invovled? Why has it happened now? What other options were explored other than removing the incumbents? How were the new coaching appointments selected?

If 2ndBest is right and NZF are going to set up an "Academy" to run head to head with the Phoenix Academy/WeeNix and Ole then it could be the biggest clusterfudge I've seen in football in this country in years.

NZF should be administering the game and trying to align parties, not competing with excellent (and privately funded to boot) programmes.

Sad times. But as Leggy points out, hardly unprecedented.

I thought Nix had been working with NZF to make their academy/pathway the NZ 17's one?

I was party to a conversation on Sunday with 2 prominent coaches at NRFL level and both said that while they were not fans of the guys that had the job, what happened to them was just not right. 

Hay and Zoro may possibly achieve more with that team and I base that on nothing more than simply saying 'what if'. That may have been the driver for NZF that they overlooked what was 'fair' for what is feel is more inclined to give them the best result. Either way, Hay and Zoro have to deliver at the tournament or the whole lot of them will have zero credibility cause its just a shambles.

If you have designs on getting into the pathways and things like that, this is a massive deterrent.

Agreed with all of this. If this is the case then they should have changed the order of execution as well. Set up the partnership, announce that, then review the coaching needs to meet the changed requirements. It would seem far more comprehensible - at least to myself. 

I now understand why you guys who have been on the admin side or closer to NZF's governance are so sceptical of them in general. Is there any other code in NZ that does this? 

It would be great to get Fred on the phone for the podcast. It's definitely a public interest story to understand the background, process and aims to the recent changes. 

Any chance that this might happen? Even the "Fred declined to comment" would speak volumes about their levels of transparency.

There is more chance of a snowball setting up camp in hell than NZF explaining this one.

If NZF looked at this properly (haha), they would see there are many environments in which good players are developing under good coaches. They would then select the cream of the crop - from all over; and get them into a pre-tournament programme; which would have a certain, limited, and distinct life (hard to get more than 4 weeks together for these school kids?). I suspect this is actually what is happening pre Chile (with the one exception of Declan's Ole players not getting a look-in); rather than any nixling competitor. That aside, Jose and Paul did an excellent job of viewing players from every other reasonable, known environment.

While I expect you are right, maybe, just maybe, they are looking for an opportunity to explain the rationale of the decision in the interests of transparency and the public interest.  :p

Don't know if you don't ask.

Even putting the question to NZF shows that we have noticed these events even though the media (at large) seem to just have regurgtated the press release. Maybe YF/In the Zone can keep them a bit honest.

And if this is the go how about some communication to the families on the next age band of entry?

Would sooner know in April rather than December if Lads/Ladies need to shift

Absolutely. Cricket is a well-known disaster zone but they have more money to paper over the cracks and get occasional international success (in a much smaller sport) to boot.

Small and/or poorly-funded sports are almost all like football. We're a tiny country, it's not that surprising.

Frustrating though.

I do like the idea of a 'public watchdog' role and keeping them honest. I just struggle to rationalise in my own head how they write up a press release, stick it out at a time when most people are watching cause of the Perth Glory announcement at the same time (and I know you do most releases late Friday to bury it over the weekends sport) and then they think 'Home run. No one will question that at all'

This week's camp is based at St Kent......

[Sigh]

So they wanted Zoro all along, eh?

Can we please refrain from use of the phrase "got gassed". It's not nice.

If they were contractors then their rights are different. But mostly the stigma of being "that guy that sued" is a major deterrent from pushing the matter.

Applications are invited by NZF for the position of Under-17 Team Manager. Closes April 24th.

"Co-ordination of general management of the team as directed by the Head Coach."

see www.nzfootball.co.nz latest

Yup. Resigned in the aftermarth.

Already been offered to a Danny Fav/Fan