Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

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Marquee
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about 13 years
Legend
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over 10 years

We've found our chant for him by the sounds of things! Those tactics are so good, considering our poor record of scoring from set pieces.

WeeNix
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710
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over 7 years

2ndBest wrote:

Visual from the presser

https://we.tl/rWvG0753S1

Really interesting watch - thanks for posting. Rudan & Taylor certainly say all the right things. I know it's a presser and they're trained to say that stuff, but I couldn't help feeling positive afterwards. Rudez does talk a bit like a slave driver though - which will be interesting to see how that plays out with the dressing room. 

The smug smile on Domey's face the whole time was sickening haha. 

Marquee
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Import Keeper

RR
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Bossi Insider
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about 16 years

2 year deal for Kurto, lets hope he is good

Opinion Privileges revoked
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almost 15 years

Filip Kurto built my house

Built my house, built my house

Filip Kurto built my house

He is Polish.

Legend
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over 17 years

I like this signing, on paper he looks pretty high-level for the A-League. 

I think it's worth an import slot considering it's a position we've struggled with since Moss left. 

Legend
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Rhyming and Polish football is easy

Sun headline May 1999 - ‘3 ...........from ......... sinks ..........’

https://youtu.be/cVHnsi2H_3c

Early retirement
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paulm wrote:

I like this signing, on paper he looks pretty high-level for the A-League. 

I think it's worth an import slot considering it's a position we've struggled with since Moss left. 

Yep, and further to that Aus stocks are low with previous laughing stock keepers now winning GK of the year and the league and our depth is good but we have more overseas so what is left is not A-League standard.

First Team Squad
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1.4K
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paulm wrote:

I like this signing, on paper he looks pretty high-level for the A-League. 

I think it's worth an import slot considering it's a position we've struggled with since Moss left. 

Anyone know if our two  new Poles speak English? Make it easier for them to settle in if they did. 

Legend
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15K
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almost 17 years
super excited about this signing. As News points out the keeping stocks in the league are utter garbage. So it only seems fair to go looking for an import to improve this for us. And since moss left we have been poor. And even Moss wasn't flash.
WeeNix
380
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710
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over 7 years

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

Phoenix Academy
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almost 12 years

I posted this in the transfer thread:

Love this if he is as good as is painted.

Championship winning teams are built around solid defence.

If you are winning 4-3 a lot, the days come when you don't get the four but they still get the three.

Look back in history. Champions have the ability to win 50/50 tight games 1-0.

Taylor now Kurto is starting to look like a strong rearguard and also leaders. Something we have really lacked for a couple of years to be fair.

Membership renewal coming up.

No problem in my view using a visa spot on a goalkeeper in my view. Especially with Roy being reclassified. I find it strange when people talk about using resources on a goal keeper. I work with a Liverpool fan who is bemoaning the fact that they are looking at spending 60 million pounds plus on a keeper. GK is no less a vital position as any other. All 11 have a job to do. We have become conditioned to spending big or using visa spots on those that score goals rather than those that stop them.

RR
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Bossi Insider
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about 16 years

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

That is the life of a keeper.
Phoenix Academy
690
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460
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almost 12 years

RR wrote:

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

That is the life of a keeper.

And in a major European League that is way higher than the A league quality wise

Marquee
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about 14 years

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

I am more concerned at the simple uncomplicated pronounciation of his last name {= "Coortoh")

How good can he really be if there are no ę,  ź, ń or even a single ą in his name?

Phoenix Academy
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260
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almost 7 years

Mainland FC wrote:

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

I am more concerned at the simple uncomplicated pronounciation of his last name {= "Coortoh")

How good can he really be if there are no ę,  ź, ń or even a single ą in his name?

His lack of game time is a key reason why the Phoenix have been able to sign him.

First Team Squad
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1.9K
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over 13 years

Mainland FC wrote:

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

I am more concerned at the simple uncomplicated pronounciation of his last name {= "Coortoh")

How good can he really be if there are no ę,  ź, ń or even a single ą in his name?

He could have done a Theoklitos

valeo
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Legend
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18K
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over 17 years

Walsall Boy wrote:

RR wrote:

TreeFiddy wrote:

Is no-one else concerned he's barely played in the past 3 years? 11 apps since 2015.

According to Wiki.

That is the life of a keeper.

And in a major European League that is way higher than the A league quality wise

Sitting on the bench is the same wherever you are.

I strongly disagree with this signing, to be honest - smacks of Tony Warner.

Opinion Privileges revoked
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almost 15 years

valeo wrote:

I strongly disagree with this signing, to be honest - smacks of Tony Warner.

In what way? Warner was a has-been in the twilight of his career. This guy is young and is on the way up.

A lot of people are saying "there must be other Oz/Kiwi goalkeepers of equal quality available", but considering that Tandoori Flappy was suddenly better than anything else we had last year, I doubt it.

Starting XI
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2K
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about 7 years

valeo wrote:

[/quote]

Sitting on the bench is the same wherever you are.

I strongly disagree with this signing, to be honest - smacks of Tony Warner.

I don't think it does at all. Kurto is 27, Warner was 37 when he signed with us, plus we already had Paston and he was merely offering competition/ injury replacement depth. Sure he hasn't had regular game time recently, but he's the same age as Italiano yet has played over 100 Eredivisie games. More than any other position, the quality of goalkeepers in the A-League is dire. He'll be good.
HZA
Marquee
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about 15 years

Yeah he's no Tony Bonus

Should be good for us

Moar stars
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over 12 years

Why didn't we just sign Bozza? 

First Team Squad
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over 13 years

nufc_nz wrote:

Why didn't we just sign Bozza? 

He and Nichols could start their own little cartel in Wellington

One in a million
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over 17 years

The language thing is really important, especially for defenders and goalkeepers to understand each other instantly. I think I can remember a few hesitations and confusions with Rossi, so I hope his English is good enough.

Marquee
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7.4K
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over 17 years

I think a lot of people speak excellent English in the Netherlands and he's been there long enough to have learned enough to get by - so I like to think he'll be OK in that department.

Marquee
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about 14 years

I think a lot of people speak excellent English in the Netherlands and he's been there long enough to have learned enough to get by - so I like to think he'll be OK in that department.

Kurto was born in what, 1990, 1991?  This means all his primary and high school in Poland was done after the fall of the old regime (1990) which means English and German (or English and French) as compulsory two foreign languages from primary school on.  I expect him to communicate in reasonable English well.

And it is not even a new thing: right up till the fall of the Soviet block it was still required to take two foreign languages at high school but one of them had to be Russian (and the other either English, German or French).   However, the main problem with fluency in those languages until 1990 was that young people simply had no opportunity to live and work abroad which would promote fluency in the languages they learned.  In fact this did not improve until a bit later, probably late nineties (when the permanent work permits were first offered by Germany and then The Netherlands and other EU countries). It changed completely after Poland joined the EU in 2003 and Poles who spoke foreign languages poorly simply struggled getting good jobs.

RR
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Bossi Insider
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about 16 years

Google Translate wrote:

Filip Kurto is another Polish player in the Australian league, although he will play in a team from New Zealand


After a six-year stay in the Netherlands, Filip Kurto decided to completely change the surroundings. Despite rumors of returning to Poland, he eventually contracted with New Zealand's Wellington Phoenix - licensed to play in the Australian A-League. Kurto will be the first Polish player representing the club from the island in the south-eastern Pacific. Michał Kopczyński is about to join him soon.

In the previous season, the phenomenal play of Adrian Mierzejewski and the reliability of Marcin Budziński could be observed on the A-League pitches. In the summer, the first of them moved to China, and the second decided to return to well-known Cracovia. However, the emptiness of Polish footballers was quite quickly fulfilled. In the new season, the former goalkeeper will appear in Wellington Phoenix, among others House of JC Kerkrade - Filip Kurto.

Although it is a club from New Zealand, thanks to the license obtained in 2007, it can appear in the Australian league. Wellington Phoenix in A-League is usually a team from the bottom of the table. Just four times in 11 years, they managed to advance to the final round, in which there are six best teams after the main season. The biggest success of Wellington so far is to reach the final of the summer Pre-Season Challenge Cup, in which they finally succumbed to a penalty-kick (7: 8) of Melbourne Victory FC. Then they scored their best league season so far and reached the semifinal of the final round, succumbing to the 2: 4 future Australian champion - Sydney FC.

In the last season, Wellington took the penultimate place in the league, losing the most goals.

Unfavorable results caused rotations in the goal, thanks to which all three goalkeepers present in the club collected their performances. This situation has caused the new player to look at this position and Kurto will get his chance to show.

Filip went to the Netherlands in 2012, when for lack of prospects for the future he did not prolong the expiring contract with Wisła Kraków. Shortly after this incident, he decided to sign a contract with Roda JC Kerkrade appearing in Eredivisie. The very fact of playing in the highest class in the Netherlands was well received in the Polish media. The reality turned out, however, that Roda with Kurto in the goal had to fight for maintenance and capitulated in the second season. During the two seasons, the Polish goalkeeper played regularly and threw up the ball 132 times. As you well know, in the Netherlands less attention is focused on defensive lines - but despite all this result Kurto was alarming.

Despite the decrease, the competitor remained in Eredivisie and defended the colors of FC Dordrecht in the season 14/15. The year spent in this club was full of paradoxes. For the second time in a row, Kurto scored a drop, he also recorded his worst season in his career in terms of lost goals (72), and so in the spring round there were moments when he took a lot of praise and won the player's prize of the month.

The brand created, despite weak numbers, has allowed it to remain in the same league again. After switching to Excelsior Rotterdam and winning the first team, in the seventh round Kurto unfortunately hit the post and was taken to the hospital unconscious.

In the end, it went without a serious injury and when he came fully to himself, after the new year he returned to the regular game. Unfortunately, he was soon hit by another bad luck. After several minutes of the match against ADO Den Haag Kurto suffered an ankle injury, which fortunately did not turn out to be broken - however, it excluded him from playing again for a long period of time.

Filip from then on had no chance to play in Excelsior and his career stopped there. For two years he managed to count only 11 league games. He spent the past season again in a well-known House, and unfortunately he never managed to get up from the bench, which caused a great desire to completely change the surroundings and try strength in another country.

The final output of Kurto in Eredivis is 112 performances and as many as 221 goals conceded. The number of 20 clean accounts shows, however, that the Polish goalkeeper also had good moments, showing that he was once considered a big talent performing in youth representations. We are interested in his performances in the Australian league, because contrary to popular opinion, the level there is high. Maybe even comparable to that in the Netherlands. According to journalist Małgorzata Chłopaś, Michał Kopczyński is to join him on Thursday, so we will have two representatives in A-League again.

valeo
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Legend
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18K
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over 17 years

Apparently he "threw up the ball 132 times". That is very impressive.

"Michał Kopczyński to join him there on Thursday" - so seems the Polish Paracki is incoming.

valeo
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Legend
4.7K
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18K
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over 17 years

Doloras wrote:

valeo wrote:

I strongly disagree with this signing, to be honest - smacks of Tony Warner.

In what way? Warner was a has-been in the twilight of his career. This guy is young and is on the way up.

A lot of people are saying "there must be other Oz/Kiwi goalkeepers of equal quality available", but considering that Tandoori Flappy was suddenly better than anything else we had last year, I doubt it.

This is fair - the comparison to Tony Warner was an exaggeration, no doubt. It makes more sense to me now I've heard we got knocked back from Gleeson and Marinovic.

First Team Squad
320
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1.4K
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almost 17 years

valeo wrote:

Doloras wrote:

valeo wrote:

I strongly disagree with this signing, to be honest - smacks of Tony Warner.

In what way? Warner was a has-been in the twilight of his career. This guy is young and is on the way up.

A lot of people are saying "there must be other Oz/Kiwi goalkeepers of equal quality available", but considering that Tandoori Flappy was suddenly better than anything else we had last year, I doubt it.

This is fair - the comparison to Tony Warner was an exaggeration, no doubt. It makes more sense to me now I've heard we got knocked back from Gleeson and Marinovic.

I'd be interested to learn sometime if they ever considered Tamati Williams. 

Trialist
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93
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over 6 years

Anyone got a link to a press conference with the new golie?

Marquee
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about 12 years

When did we get knocked back by Gleeson and Marinovich? I must have missed that!

RR
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Bossi Insider
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35K
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about 16 years

MetalLegNZ wrote:

When did we get knocked back by Gleeson and Marinovich? I must have missed that!

"We did try and get in touch with [Stefan] Marinovic, who is a Kiwi keeper over in the US. Contracted. [Jake] Gleeson, contracted.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/105574857/wellington-phoenix-confirm-signing-of-polish-goalkeeper-filip-kurto

Marquee
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over 17 years

Mainland FC wrote:

I think a lot of people speak excellent English in the Netherlands and he's been there long enough to have learned enough to get by - so I like to think he'll be OK in that department.

Kurto was born in what, 1990, 1991?  This means all his primary and high school in Poland was done after the fall of the old regime (1990) which means English and German (or English and French) as compulsory two foreign languages from primary school on.  I expect him to communicate in reasonable English well.

And it is not even a new thing: right up till the fall of the Soviet block it was still required to take two foreign languages at high school but one of them had to be Russian (and the other either English, German or French).   However, the main problem with fluency in those languages until 1990 was that young people simply had no opportunity to live and work abroad which would promote fluency in the languages they learned.  In fact this did not improve until a bit later, probably late nineties (when the permanent work permits were first offered by Germany and then The Netherlands and other EU countries). It changed completely after Poland joined the EU in 2003 and Poles who spoke foreign languages poorly simply struggled getting good jobs.

Visited Poland last year and in the north eastern part where we were in there was very little English spoken by anyone.Even many of the younger children struggled with it.As pointed out having played outside Poland doubt he will struggle to much.
Marquee
2.1K
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8.2K
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over 17 years

if he's a good player no reason not to use an import to solve a problem position. Just hope he's the start of a tough spine

First Team Squad
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1.2K
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almost 9 years

Where can I listen/watch the press release?

RR
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Bossi Insider
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about 16 years

valeo wrote:

Apparently he "threw up the ball 132 times". That is very impressive.

"Michał Kopczyński to join him there on Thursday" - so seems the Polish Paracki is incoming.

Sounds like he is flying out of Poland on Thursday, so guessing it probably gets announced next week after he has a physical etc
Marquee
4.5K
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5.8K
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about 12 years

I must admit, this is the most excited I have been before the start of a season for a long time!

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