In the Andrew Voerman story on our news page about the slow hunt for a new NZF CEO, and how Andrew Pragnall seems to be the new front runner, I found this...
The relationship between the governing body and the country's only professional football club was thrust into the spotlight on Friday, when Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan called on the two to work more closely together while saying NZ Football had to get its house in order.
On Saturday, an NZ Football spokesperson said Pragnell and [Andy] Boyens had met Rudan, were "excited and impressed" by the impact he has had at the Phoenix and were "looking forward to exploring opportunities for greater collaboration between the two organisations in the future".
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/110626830/s...
Which I see as a big positive.
Is a huge positive. 1. Any effort by the Nix & NZF to work more closely together is good for the game, and 2. Why would Rudan go that trouble, if he wasn't planning to stay at least one more season?
Though to be fair the Nix were training at Albany last week, so not a huge effort to meet with Pragnell, Boyens plus later Schmid.
Don't have a problem with Rudan having a public dig at NZF, and even Welnix (ie that the old ways of doing things weren't good enough) - if helps bring improvements & positive change in NZ Football. Often a bit of media 'shaming' gets faster results.