Bazeley's (or is it Beazley) latest achievement was coaching the U19s to the OFC title and WC qualification without conceding a goal. Don't think even Des did that.
Anyway, Bazeley isn't the man for the AWs job.
You have some weird logic. Hay took Eastern Suburbs to the Handy Prem title.
Who knows if half that squad hadn't signed pro deals soon after, and he'd stayed on as coach - he might have also got them to the Club World Cup.
When it was a proper fair Champions League/CWC qualifying format in OFC, it always came down to final between the 2 NZ teams, mostly Auckland City verus TW.
Ah well he took Ole team and moved them to Auckland and by his own admission, Declan Edge was heavily involved in the coaching aspect of it.
The following year when he didn't have access to Ole, his team was average.
So TW fans or folks who generally don't like Hay keep bringing this up. I was just replying to Ted Striker's incorrect assertion Hay had never won anything. None of us were in the ES dressing room that season, so none of us have any real idea of who was in charge.
But prickly Declan for all his faults doesn't surround himself with yes men. Quite the opposite. If he doesn't rate or respect you, you'll soon know about it. Cue the Mad Hatter's reluctance to let some of his Ole youngsters play for various NZ age group coaches over the years.
He's all about what he thinks is the best environment for player development. So sure he was there alongside Hay at ES, but he wouldn't have let Danny near his players if he didn't rate him. They stay friends to this day it seems, and it's not always easy to stay mates with the forthright Declan.