Great read that article. Well done AV.
Really nice to hear Pragnell has been chatting to Declan about some sort of potential role within NZ Football.
Polarising prickly figure he can be, but you can't deny his great record in developing top technicially gifted NZ talent. Aotearoa is too small not to try harness the best coaching input it can. Maybe Edge has mellowed a bit with those years away in Sweden?
Also alot of the people he clashed with in the past at NZF would have moved on.
Maybe some sort of role about the best U15s talent in NZ, a level at which pure results shouldn't be that important. His mate Danny might be able to get him a role with Auckland FC and their FDP programme around all the Northern Region clubs they have MOUs with.
Maybe he could even come into the Weenix Academy now and again as a sort of hands off advisor. Someone with outside the box ideas, that challenges the standard thinking. Though he was never in the past a big fan of the club.
Edge has been back in New Zealand since the end of last year and is looking to return to working in youth development, though he doesn’t see himself taking charge at one club again.
“The world that I’ve been in for 20 years, where I’m doing this work, and then every week you’re having people decide whether that was good work or not, based on a result – that’s not a very nice place to be, it’s quite stressful.
“The question that I'm trying to figure out is how can I be of use to New Zealand Football, and how aware are they of how maybe things aren't going as well as they should be in certain areas.”
When you look at Edge’s contribution to the All Whites’ World Cup squad, it certainly feels as though he could be of greater use, especially as there have only been three players born since 2003 – a cohort now as old as 22 – who have made their national team debuts to date.
When you also consider his work with current All Whites players started a decade ago, it’s also fair to ask if New Zealand Football has missed a trick not making more use of him already.
(Ryan) Thomas certainly thinks there’s a place for him, though he admits it’s not something he’s discussed with his mentor.
"When you’ve got the track record Declan has, it's hard to see why he's not involved, regardless of what job that might be.
“I'm not really sure what discussions have been had between New Zealand Football and Declan, but I'm obviously very biased.
“I would love to see him be involved with New Zealand Football. When he's got the level of players that he's produced, and you see how many guys have been around the All Whites’ first XI, it's quite remarkable.”
Sam Wilkinson, a Football Ferns assistant who has spent time coaching in the academies of Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion in England, and also worked at Melville from 2016 to 2022, believes Edge absolutely has more to offer.
“Players obviously have a huge input on their own journey, and you can't always attribute it just to one person, but what he did [at Olé], and the influence he had on these players, it can't be by accident.
“As a country, we don't have enough resource and enough high-level thinkers that we can afford to ignore something like that and not tap into that. There has to be some elements of what he did that we can try and use on a grander scale. There's too much that came out of what he did there ... to just disregard his approach.”
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said “I’m going to go out on a limb here” – referring to the love-him-or-hate-him reputation Edge has gained from being outspoken and a strident iconoclast – before declaring: “I’m a Declan fan. I’ve had the privilege to catch up with him a number of times in this role and there is absolutely no doubt that he’s achieved some incredible things. He clearly has to take significant credit for a lot of the development of some of the national team players. I personally like the way he challenges what I call orthodox thinking.”
“The question in terms of missing a trick is a really interesting one. The question is – was it possible to systematise, effectively, what he did at a national scale, or was it some inherent skills and capabilities that he held? I've had that conversation with him and it's one we need to continue, but without a doubt, he should watch this team – and I know he will watch this team – and look on and feel really proud.”
"We've got to figure out how we harness that more,” he added, when pushed on Edge being back home and wanting to get stuck in.
Just said in San Diego this week the five Olé products in the All Whites’ World Cup squad probably don’t stop to reflect on their journey over the past decade “as much as we should.”
“I’m sure when we look back, we will probably appreciate it more – just how special it was.”
Being part of a history-making World Cup campaign could be the most special part yet.
