Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

Agree with this. Lia has played well this season but I'd hoped we would have aimed higher - especially considering that we have a trio of young mids to act as backup already, and it's been pretty comprehensively demonstrated that Lia is not up to covering the DM role too, so there's really only one role on the park he looks good at (linking DM and AM). I'd prefer someone a bit more versatile.

Regarding Stein, that has a ring of truth to it. He's barely been involved in the last couple of games so maybe his head is elsewhere already. Would be a real shame to see him leave though.

 

Bye bye Huy...and buy buy.

Well he certainly didn't help any contract negotiations on Sunday.

agreed but on this season's performance I'd offer him another year with the ability to extedn once he's played 15 games and scored 10 goals. Make it a performance based extension with a nice $$ bonus at the end of it.

I can see why the club wouldn't want to extend his contract for 2 years when the guy is 32. Although Ifill is 34, and coming off contract too so I'd hate to think what we are offering him - if anything

So much negativity about this from usual suspects.

Agent is clearly trying to up the pressure in ongoing negotiations.

Yup. Will be a bit of a strategy to see what other clubs are interested and put pressure from Phoenix to up their offer.

Still not convinced he is up to the title winning quality we need for a striker.

Yeah I'd be disappointed to see him go but if he's asking for more money, which it seems he is, I would like to think we could do better with that (generous) slice of the cap.

Think the 2 year deal may be the sticking point. With the number of imports dropping to 4 in the 2015/16, Merrick needs to be absoltuely convinced that he will show the same/better form then than he is now.

Would you rather keep him of Hernandez?

It's not a matter of that. Question is whether, at 33, will he be able to lead our line and win us a title. Or should Merrick look to the market as a replacement.

 I think Waffles is the kind of player who wont lose much over the next few years so it would be great to have him around, but at the same time will the standard of play in 2 seasons time be at a higher level than he is capable of? probably. 

I'd be sad to see him go, but I do think that we need to be critical with our import slots with the number reducing.

I would have liked Stein to stay but is dependent what kind of money he was after. I don't think he will be that easy to replace although I'm guessing Ernie would prefer someone with more pace. Of course he hasn't left yet, it might be a case of now starting to look around to see if someone will offer more, you never know.

Same with Lia, it all depends how much he is on. I think we desperately need to strengthen the midfield so I hope some attention is focused there.

 

Updated:

EXPIRES END OF 2013/14:

Luke ADAMS (u21, +1)

Leo BERTOS (+1)

Josh BRINDELL-SOUTH (u21)

Stein HUYSEGEMS (f)

Paul IFILL (f)

Roy KRISHNA (f)*

Shaun TIMMINS (f)*

Hamish WATSON (u21)

EXPIRES END OF 2014/15:

Michael BOXALL

Tyler BOYD (u21)

Jeremy BROCKIE

Reece CAIRA

Kenny CUNNINGHAM (f)

Andrew DURANTE

Louis FENTON (u21)

Carlos HERNANDEZ (f)

Jason HICKS

Lewis ITALIANO

Glen MOSS

Albert RIERA (f)

Ben SIGMUND

EXPIRES END OF 2015/16:

Vince LIA

Manny MUSCAT

Matthew RIDENTON (u21)

Alex RUFER (u21)

* Injury cover

Bugger.. mediocrity here we come..

will bre really sad to lose Stein, his first season was a settling one - this year we've seen what he can do, he doesn't appear to be the type of player that is prone to injury - like Carlos, he certainly fits into the team culture very well. Depending on the $$ he wants and what the nix are prepared to pay him I'd love to see him stay.

Pretty disappointed about this...

He owes us a year doesn't he? Although he didn't always play and maybe RH's style didn't suit him, but we didn't get decent value last year. I think he's on song now and I wonder how much last year's performance might reflect on his chances of a better deal elsewhere? If you signed him you'd want 2 good years and the risk of 1 settling in season and then being past it for the 2nd might preclude him getting any decent offers to beat ours.

EXPIRES END OF 2013/14:

Luke ADAMS (u21, +1)                             Gone - not enough game time in an area we have some depth

Leo BERTOS (+1)                                    Gone - as above

Josh BRINDELL-SOUTH (u21)                Suspect he'll stay on kids wages

Stein HUYSEGEMS (f)                              Gone - Will probably look for some coin in Asia

Paul IFILL (f)                                              Wouldn't be surprised (or disappointed) to see him sign for a season as a local

Roy KRISHNA (f)*                                     Gone - can't justify import slot

Shaun TIMMINS (f)*                                  Gone - as above, though if he has a blinder over the rest of the season it would make things                                                                               interesting given our historical problems finding FBs

Hamish WATSON (u21)                           Gone - Might depend on who else they sign (e.g. to replace Stein) but he's not getting a look in                                                                           presently

If the Reira/Lia purple patch was a factor in the extension then all well and good..if not it seems a strange decision.  Difficult to recruit another 10+ goals striker I wodul have thought..but then we had Brockie last year and look what happened this season.

I think Leo will be gone along with Shermy and Krishna

Ifill will get a 1 year local contract.

Adams - kinda need to develop replacements for Durante and Sigmund. Rojas didn't play the first year either and while I am not suggesting he is that kinda of talent, if you toss him away, you need to go find another young CB. They aren't exactly falling from the sky.

Stein - unsure. I don't think other teams in the A League would look at him because he is so 1 footed, its quite limiting. I would like him to stay.

Watson - he was a fill in and it would not surprise me to see him get a 1 year deal purely from the development aspect.

Timmins - unless he is an Aussie, he is toast.

Damn. Id like to hope we can keep Hernandez, Cunningham and Riera, but i think Ifill is finished (unless he's eligible to sign as a kiwi) - wouldn't keep him as an import though. Back to the market we go i guess (i hope!)

Hang on I thought Krishna would be a local player next year same as Ifil.

You'd keep him as a local on the cheap right? 

He's been playing here since 2008, so if he was eligible for NZ citizenship I assume he would have already applied for it, which doesn't seem to be the case. I have a feeling he may not have continuously lived in NZ since 2008 (i.e. returning home to live during at least one of the offseasons).

Luke ADAMS - Gone

Leo BERTOS - Gone

Josh BRINDELL-SOUTH Gone - Think Ernie will think we have enough FB cover with Fenton, Boxall, Muscat, Caira.

Stein HUYSEGEMS - 50/50

Paul IFILL - Gone. PFA insurance payment is pretty inviting

Roy KRISHNA - 50/50 will depend on being local and his performances in the last few games.

Shaun TIMMINS  - Gone

Hamish WATSON - Gone

Not sure on Watson going.

With Waffles going we may use his wages and Ifils to get a really good CM. Which means we need to be smarter with our money around the rest of the squad.

We need to have a target man (Waffles does hold the ball up well) to bring in the quicker players up top that Ernis seems keen on.

What will be interesting is if in 2 weeks our final hopes are dashed he gives all the young boys a run to see how they do.

Krishna still needs 1 more season after this one before he is a Kiwi.

I was also under the impression that the continuous residence thing was what was stopping this from happening.

 

yes that is a negative post JV

:-)

From June 2013:

However, Krishna's New Zealand residency application was granted earlier this month which means he is now unable to spend extended periods outside New Zealand. New New Zealand residents need to spend a minimum of 184 days in the country across the first two years if they wish to be granted permanent residence, a requirement that the 25-year-old would be unable to fulfill if he was signed by Derby.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10887895

Krishna needs 1 more year in NZ before he is a local player.

Doesnt Ernie read the forums ??

Personally I am not that fussed on having Lia around for another 2 seasons. He has played better this year due to (guessing): new coach, better coaching, more maturity, good support players, but looks lost without them, he is limited. Is acceptable cover but I dont think he would be a regular starter in another team. Hope we didnt pay too much

Stein. Has had some good games this year, and lots of poor ones over the 2 seasons. Solid, reasonably reliable, but woirth a large salary ??  Hmmm, not sure, am 50 /50 about him staying

We discussed this a bit recently on the pod around Lia.  The issue is our inability to adequately replace Riera meaning we're asking Vinnie to do jobs that are not what he was excelling at a month or so ago.

If we had replaced Riera with a decent player with a similar skillset Vinnie would more than likely still be being lauded for his efforts.

I appreciate that there has been some improvement at times this season. Though there have been cringe-worthy performances as well.

The frustration I have is that I feel the squad has required a major overhaul for quite a while but in effect are seeing players who have at best been mid table selections signing new contracts. 

So much of this stuff is puzzling, we just don't know what ernie's plans are for the squad for next year, makes it impossible to judge if these are good or bad decisions

Well, to cheer you all up... just had my first whiteboard session of the season, and coach is telling all us defenders to "play like the Phoenix. Or better, play like Liverpool, which is like the Phoenix only much faster". So he's a big Merrick fan. (And he has some real nasty gossip about Ricki which I won't retail here, but I'm sure is true.)