Club weren’t keen though were they? Seem to recall he was never offered a new deal , but guess it would have been down to $
Yeah but when he left (along with Steinmann & Taylor) for India, the A League was a very uncertain place in 2020. Future is a lot brighter downunder now. Plus Davila leaving has freed up some salary cap dollars.
Is the Nix and a 26 game season, more attractive than a 46 game winter slog in The Championship/League One, given he's been pretty injury prone last few years? Would he insist on a min 2 year deal (is 34 next January), before agreeing to bring his whanau all the way back to NZ?
If Hemed's gone I'd re-sign a (fit) Hooper quick smart. Break the annoying pattern of last few seasons, of starting first few months off slow whilst a new visa striker gets up to speed.
Club weren’t keen though were they? Seem to recall he was never offered a new deal , but guess it would have been down to $
Yeah but when he left (along with Steinmann & Taylor) for India, the A League was a very uncertain place in 2020. Future is a lot brighter downunder now.
Is the Nix and a 26 game season, more attractive than a 46 game winter slog in The Championship/League One, given he's been pretty injury prone last few years? Would he insist on a min 2 year deal (is 34 next January), before agreeing to bring his whanau all the way back to NZ?
I'm sure Taylor is in his ear! Ball likely also.
I saw a post on Instagram from a Swindon Town fan account saying he was linked with them and MK Dons. I haven’t been to the UK but surely Wellington is a better destination than almost 50 games a season for one of those.
Club weren’t keen though were they? Seem to recall he was never offered a new deal , but guess it would have been down to $
Yeah but when he left (along with Steinmann & Taylor) for India, the A League was a very uncertain place in 2020. Future is a lot brighter downunder now.
Is the Nix and a 26 game season, more attractive than a 46 game winter slog in The Championship/League One, given he's been pretty injury prone last few years? Would he insist on a min 2 year deal (is 34 next January), before agreeing to bring his whanau all the way back to NZ?
I'm sure Taylor is in his ear! Ball likely also.
I saw a post on Instagram from a Swindon Town fan account saying he was linked with them and MK Dons. I haven’t been to the UK but surely Wellington is a better destination than almost 50 games a season for one of those.
Swindon is shark. Likewise Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is like the Hutt for roundabouts and a huge shopping Center.
Slightly surprised that Traore has been thrown over. I can see quite a few other clubs being interested him. He's still got good pace, he's tough to get around and has an excellent workrate.
Roux is a great attacking weapon but his A League career is littered with defensive errors. Wouldn't be comfortable having him in the back four personally.
I don't understand why we wouldn't want to look at Roux. RB is a position that we need more depth in (Ufuk clearly sees Payne as his no 2 CB), Roux is a (nominal) kiwi, very experienced at the A-League level and while he has looked average in a shark MVC team has been quality enough in the past to get an AW's gig. He's exactly the sort of player that we need to either push Fenton for his place, or to usurp Fenton and to be pushed hard to keep his place.
Sutton/McGarry on the left. Roux/Fenton on the right and our very solid lineup of CB's and we probably have the best defence in the league next season.
Slightly surprised that Traore has been thrown over. I can see quite a few other clubs being interested him. He's still got good pace, he's tough to get around and has an excellent workrate.
Roux is a great attacking weapon but his A League career is littered with defensive errors. Wouldn't be comfortable having him in the back four personally.
I don't understand why we wouldn't want to look at Roux. RB is a position that we need more depth in (Ufuk clearly sees Payne as his no 2 CB), Roux is a (nominal) kiwi, very experienced at the A-League level and while he has looked average in a shark MVC team has been quality enough in the past to get an AW's gig. He's exactly the sort of player that we need to either push Fenton for his place, or to usurp Fenton and to be pushed hard to keep his place.
Sutton/McGarry on the left. Roux/Fenton on the right and our very solid lineup of CB's and we probably have the best defence in the league next season.
If he is willing to play for squaddie wages, he is worth considering but would a player with 178 caps take squaddie money?
Slightly surprised that Traore has been thrown over. I can see quite a few other clubs being interested him. He's still got good pace, he's tough to get around and has an excellent workrate.
Roux is a great attacking weapon but his A League career is littered with defensive errors. Wouldn't be comfortable having him in the back four personally.
I don't understand why we wouldn't want to look at Roux. RB is a position that we need more depth in (Ufuk clearly sees Payne as his no 2 CB), Roux is a (nominal) kiwi, very experienced at the A-League level and while he has looked average in a shark MVC team has been quality enough in the past to get an AW's gig. He's exactly the sort of player that we need to either push Fenton for his place, or to usurp Fenton and to be pushed hard to keep his place.
Sutton/McGarry on the left. Roux/Fenton on the right and our very solid lineup of CB's and we probably have the best defence in the league next season.
If he is willing to play for squaddie wages, he is worth considering but would a player with 178 caps take squaddie money?
Might for a good coach, good team and a contract coming out of a wooden spoon team. Also I’m not sure about McGarry at LB. I wouldn’t mind someone else there who could shut that side down defensively. McGarry had a 50/50 season for mine and needs to convince Uffie if he wants to remain a left back. Though tbh, I could see him as a right sided inverted winger/10...though that may be crazy talk...Piscopo shooting with his right from the left side and Jimmy with his left from the right side?
Club weren’t keen though were they? Seem to recall he was never offered a new deal , but guess it would have been down to $
Yeah but when he left (along with Steinmann & Taylor) for India, the A League was a very uncertain place in 2020. Future is a lot brighter downunder now.
Is the Nix and a 26 game season, more attractive than a 46 game winter slog in The Championship/League One, given he's been pretty injury prone last few years? Would he insist on a min 2 year deal (is 34 next January), before agreeing to bring his whanau all the way back to NZ?
I'm sure Taylor is in his ear! Ball likely also.
I saw a post on Instagram from a Swindon Town fan account saying he was linked with them and MK Dons. I haven’t been to the UK but surely Wellington is a better destination than almost 50 games a season for one of those.
If he plays for the Franchise he's dead to me forever
If we need Traore as a backup to Sutton then I would start worrying about our recruitment strategy. I would not be surprised if both Traore and Roux end up at Western United. It would be a win-win for the respective defensive qualities of both Victory and United.
If we need Traore as a backup to Sutton then I would start worrying about our recruitment strategy. I would not be surprised if both Traore and Roux end up at Western United. It would be a win-win for the respective defensive qualities of both Victory and United.
Kevin Muscat linked with Western and both played under him at different points at Victory
The Hemeds have been hanging out with the Balls all offseason so far, it seems. Don’t know if that implies much, but the thread title is ‘speculation’ yeah?
We should definitely be looking at Traore. He is a solid LB and we don't have one. We currently have a left-winger and a CM playing out of position.
Uffie sees Sutton's future as being a LB, I would rather we keep allowing him to develop into the position. That way when he blossoms, we get another good fee for him.
Plus Sutton is P16 W8 D7 L1 (P11 W5 D6 L0 as a starter), so its not like he has been costing us games.
The Hemeds have been hanging out with the Balls all offseason so far, it seems. Don’t know if that implies much, but the thread title is ‘speculation’ yeah?
They are good friends and their kids are together alot. I believe David Ball is heading back to Wellington soon and Tomers wife put a post saying it was the last sleep over here, so can read Into that what you like. Tomer also just put a story up today having some beers with Ball and a couple of other Nix players and captioned it end of season BBQ
Behind a herald pay wall "Dome has confirmed an offer is on the table for Israeli striker Tomer Hemed, who scored in the last five games of the season. Hemed has been given a "window" to make a decision."
Comforting to know that Hemed hasn’t made a concrete decision yet, despite his wife scaring us like that. Him hanging out with the team in the post-season is a great sign too.
I’m sure if we look hard enough we could do better with that visa striker slot, but i’d love to have just one season with an import striker at full fitness. Please?
"Speaking on Newstalk ZB, Phoenix general manager David Dome says they tabled a record deal in order to hold on Davila, but reveals their move to Wollongong piqued the interest of the attacking midfielder and his family in a lifestyle across the ditch. "I think to be honest, being located in Wollongong didn't help us because eventually his family did come over and I think they enjoyed living in that part of Australia. We were up against it when we had to compete with a potential lifestyle change that someone form maybe Central America may have appreciated more than living in this part of the world," Dome says. "We certainly wanted to keep Uli, we thought he was an important part of the mix. The good thing about Uli - at no stage did he complain, and there were a number of things he had to overcome – his wife had a baby in Mexico and was separated from them for a long time." "I think he'll be surprised that a number of people who have left the Wellington Phoenix and gone to other clubs, they've found it a lot more difficult than playing at Wellington. You look at Western United over the last week or two, all the players that left Wellington Phoenix and have gone to Western have struggled. [Durante] had a fantastic end to his career, he's probably the exception but the players and the coach that left have struggled since they've gone from a very solid, stable club. "Good luck to him. We're going to move on and I have every confidence that Ufuk Talay and his team will pull together a very very competitive team for next season."
Wellington are in talks with Gary Hooper about a potential return to the club. Hooper is a free agent after leaving Kerala Blasters last week. [@DanielGarb]https://t.co/WvwcaEFTW9
Wellington are in talks with Gary Hooper about a potential return to the club. Hooper is a free agent after leaving Kerala Blasters last week. [@DanielGarb]https://t.co/WvwcaEFTW9
Wellington are in talks with Gary Hooper about a potential return to the club. Hooper is a free agent after leaving Kerala Blasters last week. [@DanielGarb]https://t.co/WvwcaEFTW9
that is fairly static front two. While I was a fan of hooper a season ago, I wonder how his body will hold up and whether or not he will take half a season to get up to speed again.
that is fairly static front two. While I was a fan of hooper a season ago, I wonder how his body will hold up and whether or not he will take half a season to get up to speed again.
Our issue last couple of seasons has been getting our import striker in far to late, missing preseason and taking too long to get upto speed. Be great to see our imports decided early and get a proper pre season training.
Interesting comments from Dome regarding Davila’s exit. Basically said his missus preferred the lifestyle in Wollongong to Wellington. I had heard rumors that his family didn’t like Wellingtons “brisk” weather. This has been a reoccurring theme over the years. It seems that many Nix import families just can’t hack the weather….especially the Latin, South/central Americans. Maybe we should restrict recruiting to Brits….the jet ski twins Taylor and Ball think Wellington is Club Med. LOL
Yeah. I honestly thought, when I saw how many Mexicans were in Uli's personal cheer squad in Woollongong, that we'd have a hard time getting him to come back to Welly.
Would bet against keeping Hemed for exactly the same reason. He wants to be in a part of the world where lots of people will turn out waving the Mogen David for him.
