Contracted Players - Return of the Long Pins

Phoenix lobbying FFA to increase our squad size to 26:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/10339602/Dra...

22 players signed (not including McGlinchey).

To be fair, it kind of balances out considering we can sign kiwis and aussies as locals and no one else can.

just a quick squiz at population bases

Melbourne (4.1m), Sydney(4.6m), Brisbane(2m), Perth( 1.7m), Adelaide(1.2m) populations; amongst 7 teams = 1.94m per team

vs NZ (4.43m)

but hey, they nicked Smeltz, Rojas, Roux, Barbarouses

and they have a full Youth League and three more players

nah, you are not being fair

Mariners (?) and Newcastle (0.55m) I can maybe feel sorry for

Besides, this is football, who said it had to be fair?  Ask the bottom half of the EPL. And everybody that bid against Quatar as a WC venue.  

Go Ernie.

How about this

Queensland = 4.7m/1 team = 4.7m per team

NZ = 4.4m/1 = 4.4m

Victoria = 5.8m/2 = 2.9m

WA = 2.5m/1 = 2.5m

Australia = 22.7m/9 = 2.5m

NSW = 7.4m/4 = 1.85m

SA = 1.7m/1 = 1.7m

Man no wonder Brisbane Roar are storming the league ;-) If you want to use NZ's full population you have to at least use the whole state for the Australian teams. Just using the City Populations then you should do the same for Phoenix and have just Wellington = 200,000 (Deliberately excluding Porirua & Hutt Valley)

Yep, quite correct.  Though we'd probably be better at looking at senior playing numbers, rather than populations.

I was replying to a comment that we probably had an advantage in being able to recruit from all of NZ vs the advantage Aus teams have with their 26 man squads and Youth League.  So whether you go by state size or city size, you get the same answer, we do have a wider population to draw from.

So, we should be second in the league then

shame about the marquee stuff

Yeah I really think the no Marquees is the killer on our squad (Of course the 3 Youth Players makes a diff too)

Doing the Math here

Salary Cap of 2.5m

All 23 players under cap = 109k per player

If we take 2 Players out at 200k each (Lets under estimate our top wages for the sake of it)

Then 21 players under cap = 119k per player

If we also can have the three youth players outside the cap at 40k (Though ours are all on 50k because of A-League minimum

Total Salary is then 3m over the 26 players (an additional half million just by having players outside the cap, of course it does mean that Wellnix would need to find that half mil as FFA only pays the Salary Cap

I see Riera's contract expires at the end of this season. Surely he's worth an extension by now?

Maybe they were waiting to see he he shaped up after coming back from injury?

Having seen the West Ham and Newcastle game along with last years fall off and how he was said to have gone in the All Star game, what more evidence is needed?

Suspect if we don't tie him down to a two year extension fairly quickly, others are going to come sniffing after reports of the weekend

So this ^

We need to lock this guy in for 2 years for sure.

Cmon Ernie!

Says he's had no offers from other clubs.

Because clubs are not legally allowed to approach him without first talking to the Nix, offers will come.

You are on the money there Ryan. Could you name me a coach or team that would not want his services. We might have first dibs on him but this is a guy that is certainly worthy or a 2+1 deal.

We saw enough last season to warrant longer than a 1 season extension, so I can only guess that the visa reduction for 15/16 played a part in only giving him that. Re-signing Riera should be top of the agenda but Kenny & Krishna's contract status will also come into play with regards to that.

And also Rodriguez?

Roly and Gorrin next year

Riera and Cunningham this year

Krishna next year but some debate if he is naturalised next year.

I would sign Riera and take the punt on Cunningham. Riera means more to us than Cunningham and if Krishna is naturalised, then you sign Cunningham

Reira could be tough to hold onto. He is good enough to attract interest as a marquee player.

I'm not sure about Cunningham. He did score a few spectacular goals from a position he probably wasn't that used to but I can't help get the feeling he had a fair slice of luck with freakish ricochets or 1 in 50 shots for a few of them. He is quickish but his control isn't all that great and I'm far from convinced about him.

I have high hopes for Cunningham but I think we can afford to wait a few months to see how he goes in his preferred position and with a proper pre-season.

The fact that he is 31 later this year (Riera that is) will put some clubs off.

We wouldn't give a similarly aged Huysegems a 2 year deal, although i'd argue that Riera is considerably more valuable to us than Stein.

I have seen a couple of posts suggesting he would get offers of Marquee status from other clubs.

Sorry to spoil that party but a good half a season and outstanding pre season for the Nix doesn't qualify him as Marquee status.

He could attract good offers but at 31 he needs to show durability this season before other clubs will be kicking his door down bearing huge bags full of cash

Smeltz was Perths marquee wasn't he? Berisha is of course Melbourne's marquee.

The article on stuff yesterday seemed to insinuate that Riera could be eligible to be an all white next year. International player and A-League all star starts to tick a few marquee spots.

Saying that I doubt he would be made a marquee, but he is due a pay rise that's for sure. For us it might depend on Roly.

Stop it. All this talk about other teams potentially wanting to buy one of our midfielders is making my head hurt. Brain cannot comprehend...

But pedigree is a stupid thing to base it off. If Reira plays well enough this season and is one of the top 10 players in the league then why wouldn't some team try to make him a marquee? The marquee rule was designed to get big European stars to the A-League but it doesn't have to be used for that. Say you are at the salary cap and want to sign someone worth 100k. Why not then just sign that player and make him your marquee, even if he is only worth 100k?

Berisha.

Mckain briefly (allegedly)

Do the phoenix get an nz marquee? I feel like we should but but we probably just get an Aussie slot.

Was Dadi our last Marquee signing?

was Dadi a marque? Earned it for the bicycle kick but should have given it back for the pen. Iffil was apparently made marque briefly to give us more cap space.

.@LouisFenton10 has signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him at @WgtnPhoenixFC until at least the end of the 2015/16 season

— Jason Pine (@pineyzb) September 10, 2014

Fenton and Wee Mac, its like having two new signings

Updated:

EXPIRES END OF 2014/15:

.

Michael BOXALL

Tyler BOYD (u21)

Josh BRINDELL-SOUTH

Jeremy BROCKIE

Reece CAIRA

Kenny CUNNINGHAM (f)

Jason HICKS

Lewis ITALIANO

Glen MOSS

Albert RIERA (f)

Ben SIGMUND

.

EXPIRES END OF 2015/16:

.

Roly BONEVACIA (f)

Nathan BURNS

Tom DOYLE

Andrew DURANTE

Louis FENTON

Roy KRISHNA (f)

Vince LIA

Michael McGLINCHEY

Manny MUSCAT

Matthew RIDENTON (u21)

Alex RODRIGUEZ GORRIN (f) (+1)

Alex RUFER (u21)

New one year Phoenix deal for Lewis Italiano.

— Simon Hampton (@SimonHampton9) October 2, 2014

Mambo Italiano continues!

Williams and Spoonley obviously do not rate then.