Shane Smeltz (Ronaldinho FC)

Great to see the All Whites legend back to the New Zealand football team, I am sure young players will be benefit!!!

Who needs Shane Smeltz when you have Vince Lia?

lol, the reunion with Siggy might be a bit awkward...

Finkler better keep taking the pennos then.

I hope they learned from that saga last year and installed FAX machine on the fishing boat.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/877...

"The 35-year-old striker trained for the first time with the squad on Tuesday, but will not be available for selection until the January 5 away game against Perth Glory due to the January transfer window not opening until January 4.

It will also need some slick work from New Zealand Football to process the transfer request in a day - it was the end of this window last year when they bungled the Phoenix's attempt to sign Alex Jones on loan from Birmingham City."

tempting fate!

Cover for the Watson role, adds experience in that position and depth to the squad, with no long term committment.

Great little bit of business and good to see the club not marking time during the coaching change.

Can't see what's not to like.

10/10 Welnix, coaches and the football committee (allowing Ronaldo's a cock, Ibrahimovic is too tall for us and Messi's too short; and they are all signed already).

Also cements the change in formation we've been seeing and coaches/football committee/Welnix supporting that.  Like.

And the formation change makes one of Roly, McG, A Rod and Lia a great bench player.  Like.

COYN

If Smeltz had signed for the Jets he could have had 5 A-League clubs ...

.... looking forward to seeing what he can do for us though

It's like getting the band back together. Hopefully a few solos left in das kiwi.

I heard a funny story that years ago Moss and Smeltz ran into each other in Aussie and neither of them knew the other was a kiwi - deep down.

Pity we missed out on Rocarse - would have been a class of 2009 Reunion.

Go Smeltzy. mentor the sharke out of the weenix. come off the bench and pinch some goals and punch some flags.

I think Rogerson has shown glimpses but I'm not even fully convinced he's a useful bench player at this stage. I think Smeltz would be a much better 'super sub' than him at this point. I would like to see him get more opportunities in time though

this may be our best signing of the season. I expect everyone to be lauding this decision as we make the finals and win the league :)

Merry Xmas! Could I ask what you are on, cos I might fancy a tipple of it myself!

No ones mentioned the most glaringly obvious reason for Judas return home:  He wants to play in Russia next year 

The only chance in hell he has of being picked over the likes of Dyer et al(!), is coming home and playing week in week out in front of Hudson. We all know he only picks players in NZ, Aussie, France, The Netherlands, England and sometimes USA.  Everywhere else is rubbish in Hudson's eyes.

No objections to an-inform Smeltz, having scored a bucket load for the Phoenix, taking us to Russia for a World Cup...

He mentioned it in an interview though.

Yeh hopefully others like Tuiloma take the hint too!

On previous form. Games to goals ratio. We/I can expect 7 goals from herr smeltz. Anything more would be top draw. A positive for the phoenix is we will have him - if injury free - for the Melbourne game that should have already have been played but for quake repairs.

Calculations based on a goal every two games with 15 games for smeltz to play after window closes.

Previous phoenix record - 21 goals in 39 games - round it down carry the one - let's hope for 7.

1) HAL defences are just as good as in his first stint.

2) Smeltzy is just as good as he was in his first stint.

3) The Nix are just as good as we were in his first stint in relation to the competition.

Also based on 90min production.....

If Smeltz scores more than 5 goals I'll be amazed. He'll score 3 or 4 at most. 

I will go for 2.

7 easily as he will score at least two hatricks this season

He'll get the same goal tally as Kosta. #mysticmeg

He'd better do better than that!

Confed Cup*

I am seriously worried that NZF is going to fudge this up again. 

Worst case scenario they don't get it done on day one and he misses one game. They then have the entire window to sort it out.

Nope nope and nope.

It is merely a formula based on his career stats in the A-league and specifically for the Nix.

It also assumes nothing about the duration of game time he gets. As an impact player for Sydney he was able to score off the bench late in several games.

So in essence it is mission accomplished as a talking point.

We have 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 as predictions - interesting to see who is closest to the mark. 

At the moment 0 is winning.

Those that picked 0 are still winning.

Damn it! 

Maybe tonight tuna smelt?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/91376027/shane-smeltzs-leaves-wellington-phoenix-a-week-early-for-indonesian-club

Bye Smeltzy, you'll always be a Phoenix Legend

A Phoenix great, but I personally concluded that his touch and pace has slowed down to much for us to offer him a contract next year. Wish him all the best.

He did create a lot of space for others though. Still a legend imho. Reputation intact.

Pussymania Borneo FC?

Get the feeling he is trying to keep in footballing shape until the Confeds, would be a natural end point for his career. The WC Quals might be a step too far.

Yeh- hard to call him an impact sub in the A league. If you want someone to run at tired legs, you don't want old legs- was hoping for Parkhouse or even Watson- but the game against Perth at QBE showed he still had the skills and it felt right having him in Phoenix colours. 

I think he added to our team with his stint, showed vision and patience and got very little Daniel/Lochhead type service...