There was no conspiracy more the fact that Willy stated in the press he would select the best performers in the region.
He has done this with no scouting/watching games and anyone who watched games regularly here then you would have
O Brian ,Kelly ,Knight,White, Highfield,Barton you then have other performers like Mike Forshaw and Mark Peers at Ferrymead and maybe Dan Ede and Cash Techs top goal scorer Oxley.
If you were scouting players you would not select Meysum and Spain or the boy from Halswell as they cant even play every week for these clubs the 2 Western players Andre has good pace but like Jacob are ok MPL players never mind ASB level.
So why are the best performing players in town not being selected and players that cant play each week for their MPL teams are??
The defense apart from Tom Swartz will struggle to be fit all season Colett and Terris injured on off all MPL season and Dan Swartz struggles to complete 90 mins each week,Boys missed most of the season and is the biggest piss head in town.
As for the out of towners as i have said before look at the list above,they are not needed and not better it seems Willy had already chosen players to bring in with out preparing/scouting here first then has made false statements to why kelly,o brian and knight etc are not selected.
Top 4 is always a possibility given the league size but you are not going to compete with the big boys selecting players that can not play week in and out for thier MPL clubs