Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

obfuscation - now there's a word.

noun

1. the action of making something obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.

   "when confronted with sharp questions they resort to obfuscation"

Those of us in Christchurch learned the meaning of that word post-2011 earthquakes, when calling EQC or our insurance companies.

I suspect Kafka wrote "The Trial" after completing his settlement with EQC.

Callan Elliot thrashed Alessandro Diamanti on FIFA20 last night. That could be the last chance Diamanti gets to impress Rudan, RIP. 

Looks like Elliot is a handy utility doing a job on and off the field, wonder if the gaffer was watching..

Damn. The more I see WU's kit the more I think it's just a green version of our kit from last year with a kappa logo on it.

It IS a green version of last season's kit with a Kappa logo. 

Steven Taylor quoted on radio sports news tonight talking about how this squad is better than last year's and possibly best ever. Hope the full interview might come out somewhere.

I think I can agree with him on that one.

Word is out Steinmann is not that keen on extending his contract now due to Covid-19. Can't blame the man.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/122409275/wellington-phoenix-duo-unfazed-by-travel-issues-as-end-of-aleague-season-nears

dont know if I'd read that as not keen. he's just foccusing on finals football and assessing the situation at the end of it, he was keen to stay early on, but covid and finals has caused a rethink.

I suspect that the halving of the salary cap for next season probably has something to do with it too.

possibly, but none of that has been confirmed yet has it?

Not yet, but it's happening. Just a matter of how much.

Hooper or Steinmann?  Not sure who I'd choose if I had to tbh.  What would the salary cap do to our imports out of interest? Is it an overall cap per club or is it per player? I.e. can you use most of it on one player.

We're much stronger in midfield than anywhere else. As much as i like Steinmann, he would be an easy one to lose.

Devlin and Rufer would be a solid midfield, then Wilson, Payne, TAHW as cover

With the TV rights money halved, and by very rough logic salary cap maybe similar, it could well be adios to both.

hooper would be on a marqee seal right?, so outside whatever cap there is. Assuming the league allows this and the club can afford it then he can stay. If Matti is under the cap that could put some pressue on if the cap is lowered.

Is he? Don't know that that's ever been confirmed. Either way, with the TV deal value dropping by more than half, and the increasing likelihood that the team won't be playing games at home next season, at least to start off with, the club's income is going to take a huge hit. Don't see too many clubs in the league, including the Nix, splashing the cash for the next season.

Unless they are using journalistic freedom here, this says he was signed as our marquee. https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/116656042/former-premier-league-striker-gary-hooper-wellington-phoenixs-new-marquee-man

Does it?

yep twice

About as much as anything from a newspapers, as you can also see here Coach Ufuk Talay is not prepared to take any risks with his marquee signing and Wellington Phoenix's marquee striker Gary Hooper says the team have to forget the controversy around last week's A-League loss to Melbourne City

But yes at the end of the day, really it is about what the club says... So I guess this is relevant: The Wellington Phoenix have announced the signing of a marquee striker for the Hyundai A-League 19/20 season.

Technically speaking, the term for a star player outside the cap is no longer marquee but a designated player. And that term has not been  used either in the media or by the club, so it's unclear if the usage of marquee denotes 'of high pedigree' or a designated player using old terminology. 

lets be honest its unlikely that the media have any idea what a designated player is or means. They've always referred to the star players as marquee, often times its simply the star of a team, but also happens to be one outside the cap.

Are you saying that Philip Rollo or Andrew Voerman don't know this? They are among the most informed people on the ins and outs of the league in this country, let alone this forum. If they aren't able to confirm if Hooper is a designated player or not, it's because that information isn't publicly available. 

mainstream media use marquee, its been used interchangeably since forever. I'm sure they've used it to mean star and designated player.

youre right though, they should have the answers.

well, most of us hadn't heard of the term designated player which means they're messing with us! 

You could go into the semantics of whether Hooper is a DP/marquee all day long, but surely the bigger issue is the financial hit the club's owners (and all A League clubs) are currently being whacked with.

Isn't he allegedly the club's most expensive ever player?  Yet when he was signed pre Covid the world was a very very different, and financially secure place.

Absolutely no one can guarantee that the Nix, will have any crowd takings for season 2020/2021. The last few days in Auckland have shown that.

Sponsorship revenues could be in for a hit.

Is a return to Australia for another hub, in December (start of new season) likely? Are there extra costs of having team in Aussie - must be some additional expenses that are not all covered by the League? 

The generosity of the Welnix owners has a limit. Some of their own personal businesses maybe hurting. Sheer club survival has to be the number 1 priority.

No doubt the possibility of going through another hub setup, with long periods away from family - is a big negative for someone like Hooper. At least if he's playing in the UK, his family will always be close. Trans Tasman travel is going to continue to be a challenge.

Now that Hooper's had a good injury free run (recent hammy twinge aside), that should have attracted the interest of some Championship level clubs, and his family are still in England. I'd be really surprised if he has another season in Wellington.

hoops in contracted for next season?

if championship clubs are interested maybe we can make some $$???

Him and Steinmann are the two visa players off contract. Hence speculation about them, in this very uncertain world.

He's signed for one year only, isn't he?

A serious post now, rather than the cheeky earlier one.

Hooper might very well be a 'Marquee Player' as far as the Salary Cap is concerned. But he could be one next season (presuming similar exceptions exist) even if he isn't now.

I would be amazed if that meant the Phoenix were spending significantly more than the $3.2m salary cap, though not all of that spending would be counted against it (via Hooper being a marquee/homegrown exceptions/veteran exceptions). 

People around the club have said this is either their most expensive squad or their second-most expensive squad (behind the Kosta Barbarouses comeback season, I believe).

Remember, they needed to bump Ben Waine up from a scholarship deal to a proper one on the eve of the season to have an eligible squad. They haven't contracted/paid Zac Jones and Sam Sutton despite having them train full time all season. They treasure every dollar.

As Coochie points out, finances are the bigger issue than whether or not someone could be signed outside a smaller cap. 

The Phoenix needed $950,000 from the Govt to get through this season. They will need more to get through to the start of next season. They will likely need some to start next season, depending on when and where it takes place. 

The TV payment (which covers the cap) has roughly been halved, and depending what next season looks like owing to Covid-19, it might not all make it to the clubs – if say, it has to help pay for a bubble.

The Phoenix also have their academy and their proposed W-League team to run. There is going to be a tightening of purse strings.

Then you've got Hooper off contract likely heading back to the UK at season's end at a time when UK clubs will be finalising squads for the coming season, which has dates etc when the A-League just has a whole lot of questions. Same goes for Steinmann. Throw in the border restrictions which have these guys unable to come into NZ right now – would they get exemptions when they're not actually contracted beyond August 30?

Some very interesting times ahead with many, many unknowns. 

Adios Matti, and adios Gaza. Hopefully they can finish with a bang and not a whimper.

That 50 million for Libby and 30 million for Callan Elliot halfway through next season is guna come in handy then. Any other class players training with Paul Ifill?

I could see us losing Libby, hooper and steinmann solely down to wages and in Libby’s case the coin coming our way.

Mcgarry for Libby

Lewis for steinmen (appreciate they are slightly different midfielders but we have depth in steinmens position in any case.

The above will save us some wages and should also get us a nice transfer fee

The issue however is hooper, we need a decent striker but there is not an obvious candidate in NZ or Ausi

Brad Smith has been released from Bournemouth. Don't think Talay has worked with him at age-group level, but surely there aren't too many degrees of separation between the two.

In this Covid world the whole playing for a NZ team in an Australian competition, must be becoming a big concern for the club's visa players. Especially the family men. 

Can they return to NZ easily post this season end? In Hooper's and Davila's case can they easily get their families to return to NZ? Then when season 2020/2021 starts do they have to return to Australia for another hub, and be away from their families all over again. Big unknowns (and could be changing continuously right up to season kickoff in December, given constant changes with Covid). For Davila esp with a new born, must be incredibly unsettling.

I think Steinmann and Hooper are just likely to say bugger that, return to UK and Germany and sign for clubs there, knowing with relative certainty their living arrangements for next 12 odd months. Add in they would almost certainly need to take salary cuts to remain at the Nix, and just hard to see either hanging around. Haven't heard any news of cuts to TV rights football deals in UK or Germany yet. Though imagine leagues there will kick off new seasons with limited crowds at best, so yeah clubs there won't be throwing money around.

Without being overly negative, you might even get Ball and Davila both try and ask for early compassionate releases on their contracts, if faced with crossing the Tasman again for another hub of unknown length. You think they would get gigs back in the UK and Mexico somewhere, and with that stable environments for their families. Is the big problem now of the Nix playing in an Aussie comp, with no certainty (and won't be for months) of playing home games in season 2020/2021. Is going to make the Nix in the short term, an unattractive destination for family men, esp visa players whose families would have little support network in NZ, if they are absent in Oz.

A single guy like Taylor (who's also now 'part' of the club) will more likely cope with these issues. And I'm sure Talay/Gill will be looking hard at what future visa players they sign in the short term. Single blokes only maybe.

The reality is all of the other A League clubs will also be facing budget cuts (less so the big 3 clubs?), with combination of halved TV rights, no paying fans and lower sponsorship dollars likely etc. With Talay in charge and retaining most of the squad they should still be competitive next season. Signing some cheaper local players like Lewis and McGarry who should go okay seems to make sense.

But yes finding a potential Hooper replacement striker, already shapes as the very key play. Who knows some Euro leagues could go back into complete suspension later this year, if 2nd waves of Covid spill over Europe in their autumn/winter. Lots of clubs paying players who are sitting idle. There might be a Euro club or two willing to do a loan deal out to June 2021, for a visa player.

With new A League season not starting until December, Nix will have some time to let Hooper and Steinmann go, try repair some financial bleeding and assess the visa player market. Bank their Cacace transfer fee. Brockie on a cheap pay for play only deal, until someone better pops up?? Of course if Hooper has fallen in love with NZ, his family are prepared to cope with all the future location anxiety and he's prepared to stay for a 50% pay cut - sign him back up. But I doubt that will happen.

As AV mentions Welnix owners will also need to assess when they restart the Academy (just prior Wenix's Handy Prem campaign??), and try launch their Aussie based W League team. Both these projects just add expenses to an already bleeding bottom line. Academy is proven success story now, and you would think has to be restarted later this year. I think most people would understand, given these Covid financially stressed times if the W League team launch was delayed another year (to late 2021). That would still mean 2 W League seasons prior to the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The owners face a big drop in income, in the short medium term with potentially zero crowds 2020-2021 a worst case (but not unrealistic given Trans Tasman travel still seems a way off) scenario. They should be applauded for throwing cash at a big money striker like they did with Hooper. Showed real intent to have a crack at winning the title. But that signing was pre Covid. The world is very different and uncertain now. Stability of the club, and things like W League and Academy should take precedence on throwing big money at visa players. A request for another $900K Govt handout will not be a good look, if you have a non Kiwi visa player on nearly that coin per season. You can spin it all you want that the handout is to cover club operational costs etc, not player salaries but your average NZ tax payer won't see it that way.

Lot for the club's owners to mull over.

there are certainly some big decisions coming before the start of next season, and they will need to be made promptly assuming December is the start date. 

Given the uncertainty with COVID and budgest being cut the a-league (FFA or club owned) need to make some calls aroiund how the league is going to shape up. Assuming covid is still a thing in Aus by december then a bubble is liklely going to be the way the sason starts. I'd expect the first half of the season to be played in aus and Aus alone. Which sucks for us as fans and the Nix as they wont get any stadium money. Maybe if we are lucky we might get the second half of the season at home.

Its going to be a tough road to get through next season successfully, probably tougher than this one.

Given that both the NZ & Aus govts, plus various state govts, plus various health authorities will all need to be consulted, I think any definite decision on where/how 2020/2021 A League will unfold, is months away.

Even more so, when you see how quickly a new outbreak can unfold, and then new travel restrictions rapidly be enforced. 

However to be fair to the Nix's players, esp visa players with families - they probably need soon, to look at the likelihood of another Aussie hub and what that means for them. No-one's really playing well at the moment, but the form slide of Ball and Davila away from families seems esp noticeable. They maybe struggling a bit for motivation at the moment, one foot already on the plane, and really you couldn't blame them.

An Aussie hub won't be a very appealing prospect for anyone. Massively expensive for the owners, psychologically difficult for the squad. I'm sure they'd deny it but the enforced long term stay in NSW is almost certainly a factor in the Nix's failure to find their feet during the restart. 

Despite some good patches of play so many players appear to be not quite on top of their game. I think this is completely understandable under the circumstances but it does mean we lack that crucial maybe 5% necessary to kick on and win games. Having to repeat the whole hub experience in 3 or 4 months time is only going to exacerbate this issue.