Mark Judan: Family Time

Video and story here https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/football/new...

Rudan YF tee please

Yeah nothing but presenting rumours of poaching our coach and our best defender as facts.

We have the best coach in the league. No doubt about it. Better than Popa.

Rudan is good but what Poppa has done with Perth is more impressive. They are 1st by 7 point atm we are 6th. Western Utd should be chasing Poppa.

Dunno about that. Man for man we have a better starting 11 and a bit more depth than Adelaide - two of their starters (Galloway and Lia) are even Nix rejects. However they are above us in the table...

Exactly. Why chase an unproven (at this level) coach who has a team performing around expectations, but still in the bottom half of the table. I'm enjoying the hype around the Nix this year but the team hasn't actually achieved anything yet apart from not sucking as much as the previous couple of seasons.

For me, Rudan's man management is brilliant. We've finally got a team who look like they give a shark and aren't throwing in the towel as soon as they concede - which is what I think a lot of fans appreciate about this season.

Tactically I don't think he's the greatest, but that'll come with time no doubt. 

Because those who constantly talk about Rudan "almost certain" to coach another team "if only he could extricate himself from the contract..." are either just media types aimlessly generating clickbait, or - if they represent the new club - are not ambitious enough, and/or are uncertain about their own long-term backing, both financial and fan-wise.

To put it simply, if it is the new club, then they do not back themselves enough to make a humongous offer for an excellent, proven coach (which is how much it would take to dislodge Poppa from extending his contract at Glory). Instead, they prefer to go for what they see as  low-hanging fruit: a currently successful but not as expensive / proven/ coach currently doing good work at a middling club that they wager may not exist next year.  

... or, to cut the long story short: because they are cheapskate loudmouths.

I'm really impressed with what Kurz has done with a limited squad, but also frustrated because I keep waiting for their bubble to burst and it never does. Considering they only have two real star players in Goodwin and Isaias, and they have been without a striker for most of the season they are punching well above their weight.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/110521295/wellington-phoenix-coach-mark-rudan-refuses-to-commit-to-second-season

light on content, fairly clickbaity at the moment.

From article:

Asked whether he would commit to being at the Phoenix for the 2019-20 season, Rudan said: "I respect your questions, I think I have spoken enough about it, there's enough dialogue going on between myself and the football club and at the right time we'll speak about that.

Either he's gone or he's in negotiations for a payrise/extension and therefore doesn't want to say anything. Hopefully the latter, probably the former.

"I'm going to re-sign and sign players I like for the system I play but I'm not going to be around next season, good luck to whoever comes in" - is not what I want to see happen.

I hope he will be looking at an extension too, with a pay rise, fingers crossed.

I remember last year, maybe pre-season Rudan said he'll give 100% but if club wasn't going to do the same he'd walk away, hopefully part of what's going on is just him pushing the club on further improvements he wants to see, with players or other things. Also hard for him to say 100% he's staying next year when it's not 100% we will get a license renewal. In the doomsday scenario I'm not sure coaching in the clubs last year with no prospects going forward would be overly enticing. Hopefully not that he's thinking that moving closer to family next year would be good for his life... 

From those quotes, he is gone. I'd say it's family related and nothing to do with the club.

I cant think of a suitable replacement for Rudan, kinda sucks he is moving on.

I've almost missed the doom and gloom around here. Almost.

"

At the same time the club also understands that I want a proper project and I want to build on this, I'm not going to sit back and rest on my laurels. If things that have been done in the past continue on that way, then I won't be here. They need to improve, everything needs to improve.

?: Is it fair to say you are looking for a greater commitment from the Phoenix, from New Zealand Football, so that you and your family can make a greater commitment to New Zealand and to Wellington?

MR: Yeah, perhaps. But I think I've answered what I needed to answer in terms of that.

"

We still have a licence for next season so having a team to coach is not an issue.

With Rudan going and most of our players off contract, there could be a lot to come.

nah mate, he'll be in negotiations about how the club can assist him in bringing his family here. Dome has said as much in his interviews, Rudan has said he is here 100%, considers himself a kiwi and wants to do the whole job or not at all. He'll be here till the end of his contract and hopefully beyond.

He won't want to bring his kids and wife over here for just one year.  And he obviously has things he expects Welnix to improve.

Presuming we land the licence there may be room for a longer term deal with him and more investment by Welnix to improve the club.  If so, wicked as.

Non-safe smoke dreaming.

He's not confirmed anything yet, I know we've been shark for years but we're good now and that gives us no excuse to go back to the doom and gloom of old haha

Fudge me! we are so ready to be ripped off. Have some confidence lads, Rudan has said enough early on that we should have some faith. He wants to be here to make the Nix successful, that's what he signed up for, yes its been tough for him and the family, but he has also said that he wants to work with the club to bring his family here.

Moving to Melbourne doesn't solve the being close to family problem, them being in Sydney, might make relocating easier but Welnix want to keep him here.

If we had certainty in our licence it would be easier for people to make decisions with certainty. Fudge you FFA. All you have managed to do is stall the growth and progress of this club for years now.

I haven't seen him say he wants to work with the club to bring his family here? Would be interested in seeing that. The last article I saw on the matter from 20 Jan he says:

"In hindsight if I knew it was going to be this hard, I wouldn't have taken it" (the Phoenix job) 

"it's a huge sacrifice that my family have made and it's not easy — if anything it's still getting harder. We have to make a big decision [to make] whether the family comes over and starts school."

"We're still trying to work a way where everyone is happy because everyone is not happy right now. My kids miss me and I miss them."

Obviously if his family did come over that'd be fantastic for us. 

CAn't recall it exactly but the club have definitely said they wanted to work with Rudan on it. I can't see a guy like Rudan who has hung his hat on being here for the long haul, and wanting to see the results of his work leaving early. He may use it as a bargaining chip to get what he wants, and going by what Dome and Morrison have said I'd expect they'd want to give it to him. The one thing we need is some certainty around the existence passed next year.

This is the latest on the family situation from the interview today:

MR: Maybe so, maybe not, I don't know. Yes, I have strong relationships with my players, and the people at the football club, and my staff as well, but like I said, they're going to be put on hold. I'm very up front and honest with my players as well, and there are talks going on behind closed doors, with the club. I've heard the club and I'm going to be hearing more from them, but at the same time, I'm putting forward my case. I've made it quite clear and public as well, I did two stories with a journalist in Wellington and I said yesterday take it how you want. I've got a situation, a personal situation that I've got to resolve, and pretty soon as well, I've got two teenage kids who need their dad around, and their dad needs them around as well, but I bought into this and we made a decision. I've also said before if I thought it was going to be this hard, then I probably wouldn't have taken it on. That's reality. At the same time the club also understands that I want a proper project and I want to build on this, I'm not going to sit back and rest on my laurels. If things that have been done in the past continue on that way, then I won't be here. They need to improve, everything needs to improve.

Welnix and Rudan would have been better off telling white lies and both saying he planned to be here for next season.  While both parties worked behind the scenes to sort out the issues for him.

Airing this in public is just shark media management.

Why would his teenage kids want to come to school in NZ?

Worst time to change schools.

That interview is quite positive. Helpful when can read or see what he's saying in totality rather than just quotes plucked out.

The age his kids are at, it's a huge deal to relocate countries; especially when his contract only runs for one more year and Macarthur are soon to come in.

If his kids were young (i.e. 4-5 or whatever) then sure; but there's no way he's relocating teenagers.

There's two ways you can look at this - either he's trying to leverage his curent position to try to get a better deal for himself  here, or he's looking for a way out because the Bitumens are throwing silly money at him.

I think that one of those is more likely than the other, but ultimately I guess it depends on whether you're a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of person.

I just think that family trumps all; especially for a guy like Rudan. He wanted a project. He's started with us; but no reason why he couldn't start that again with Western United. Most of our players are off contract, too, so he could probably poach half the team if he wanted.

He's having a little dig at his employers here. Whether it's about the state of the facilities, lack of resources in some areas or some general lack of high ambition, ie aiming to win the league. Fair enough. I don't think Welnix will take it personally. They said at the start of the season they wanted a new coach who would come in and be passionate about the club, make some changes, and make people uncomfortable. It's up to them to listen to Rudan, and see if they can match his requests. Even if they do, doesn't mean he'll stay - the whole teenage kids at school thing, is no easy fix - but he'll certainly leave the club in a better position than when he arrived.

Different circumstances, but Hudson also used the media a touch to agrue for more games, more money etc from NZF re the AWs.

Welnix need to agrue at these upcoming NLWG meetings, that NZ based coaches should have same badge requirements as Aussies re coaching an A League side. A Kiwi coach of the Nix, is just likely to hang around longer, and so help make the club more stable.

I for one will be bitterly disappointed if he dosnt see out his 2nd year but hey us football fans are bottom of the rung it seems at times and players coaches and club officials will feed us anything if it fits with their agenda.

I don't think it's safe to assume the club is in a better position just because the first team is doing better on the field, and that might be part of what Rudan is alluding to here. 

Your coaching badge point is a really good one, and if NZ players can be considered domestic for the Nix, then it isn't a big jump for NZ coaches at the Nix to only have to meet the criteria Aussie coaches do.

yeah he may have thought he knew what it would be like leaving the family behind - but often there is a difference between what you think will happen and reality. I agree with you on the disappointment front if he leaves.

I still don't think he will though