Waitakere United

Thanks Pirae, much appreciated. Now ACFC back in the driving seat. I suppose the big question is will WU survive this blow and be in the ASBP next season?

Unless you know something we do not?

Just thinking aloud. They seem to have gone down rapidly since the departure of Emblen and Dawkins. I guess it all depends on whether they can raise enough funding for next season, now there's no O League carrot. I guess they could fill the team with youth players. Perhaps McGowan will walk away from another outfit after a lucrative stint in admin saving them considerable funds.

i don't think this has been mentioned yet, but here are a couple of things i noticed about the waitak squad:

- paul temple was listed as a player

- martin bullock was listed as a player

- steven gray, the irishman from oakleigh and formerly melbourne heart didn't seem to play

- sam french hardly hit the park in the asb prem, but played a lot of minutes

- no ian hogg

No Paul Temple at Waitak this summer.

Brian Shelley riding solo.

Is anyone surprised?

He was the small screechy one , was'nt he ?

Wouldn't be surprised if a few more players leave before the season starts.

Wouldn't be surprised if they don't hoover up the best NRL/Waikato/BOP talent outside ACFC before the season starts.

That's probably going to be the only way they have a chance of competing for a top two finish which I think they will struggle to do this season. Auckland City might even temp a few more guys over, especially knowing if they perform well Ernie will know about it.

Yeah but whome from WU are ACFC going to want.....? I would say very very little.

Waitak get Adam Dickinson. 

Thought Dicko's knee was f*cked and was retiring. Understood Bale had also retired........

So there's Hogg, Feneridis, Bale and now Dicko moved shifted west. 

Derby games will definitely have more bite in them this year.

Heard Feneridis gone to Wellington?

And you can add Mulligan and Coombes to list of recent departures out West.

And the common denominator in all of them leaving is........?

Ramon.

Story doing the rounds that Bale broke his leg on the weekend?

V Central ...did his ankle , I think ...

luke adams in at waitak

so far they have:

robinson, carr, solomons, shelley, adams, raniga, prattley, bale, lausev, manickum, sillars, curry, rory turner, dickinson

Prattley has gone back to Otago I understood?

Waitak are looking like they are going to dominate this year, much stronger squad than last year.

LOL!

Waitak

blake, i assume you're joking because so far they look considerably weaker than any waitak team i can remember even back to the wait city days in the old national league

Where's Myers?

Looks like Adams instead.

andrew boyens signed

also sean harding from green gully and santiago falbo

23 ! F.@# Me ...their multiplying !

are their games going to be on Sommet again this season?

I think they will be as i was at the game on the weekend and there were a few very budget looking cameras around seemingly filming the action. The coverage in terms of quality of the games that were shown on sommet last year were so fucking shit you couldnt even be bothered watching the game. Sure its great having the games shown on TV but there is little point when the coverage of the game is rudely poor with one shitty camera trying to cover the whole field.

Southern Utd 2 Waitakery 1

Good to see Southern United gave the Jaffas

 a present they couldn't keep hold of.

Have a safe trip home.

Waitakere 1 HBU 1 at a windy Fred Taylor in front of a crowd of about 150 if you count the referee assessors and sausage sizzle crew.

Awful first half with two penalties in about 60 seconds - Biss and Tinsley (I think). Almost identical offences - holding back in the box - which you can quite often see not given. Second half action packed but not high standard. Plenty of chances with Waitak perhaps having the edge. Neither side playing pretty football - HBU very direct , and Waitak similar , although they did at least attempt to play it through the midfield. No one really impressed - perhaps Biss for Waitak although I suspect his mouth may not make him popular with teammates , and The HBU striker Halpin , who I thought initially was dreadful but looked like someone who could create something from nothing. Ugly incident in last few minutes when HBU No 19 (Barbero I think) went over the top on Raniga. No action taken even though it happened right in front of Lino. HBU lost Lovermore early on (calf strain I think) and Waitak lost Sheeley with about 20 to go (looked like Hammy). Can't see either of these sides being contenders but early days perhaps.

Snigger , snigger...

Unfortunately this might be the downfall of Waitak. Being someone from the Waitak region (even though I live in Aus now), it isn't a region that's going to draw fans like Auckland City do so the problems are probably on and off the field. I think the coaching structure needs to be changed. Shelley is not a good coach and isn't the one to take Waitak back on the path to FIFA CWC qualifcation. 

Waitak 0 Cant UTd 2.

Awful game at Fred Taylor. Got a sore neck watching aerial ping pong , although lack of Clapham may have been a factor there.

Crowd might have made 100 - Phoenix may have had something to do there , but as a casual/neutral follower it can be difficult to find out when/where games are. Herald had a 2pm kickoff and I saw a number of people  arrive at half time after a 1pm kickoff. Speaking to one of them he had had the same experience as me previously - turning up on the wrong day for a game after believing the Herald. Perhaps NZ Football can spend some of the CWC money advertising games ? or at least making sure the Herald has the right day/time for games.

Whilst they have a number of injuries Waitak have some major issues - think that their 3 british imports are no better than some guys running around in Northern League. Assume that Butler will come back in the window but can't see them scoring many goals.