I didn't know about Ibini; this confirms a lot of what I've been thinking.
In Merrick’s defence, he was working on a budget that was among the league’s smallest, with owners keen to keep costs down.
Whereas at Victory he could aim to recruit the league’s best talent, it was shopping in the bargain bin at the Phoenix that made his job tougher.
There was always a sense that the Phoenix squad had a few too many journeyman and a few too many substandard locals filling out the numbers.
Merrick would openly admit he found it incredibly hard to attract a top quality players across the Tasman. A fruitless quest to win over Bernie Ibini springs to mind.
However, it should be noted that Merrick did make some inroads, especially in terms of cultural change.
"Even though the results haven't shown and we haven't won anything, he's changed this whole club in terms of the professionalism, the way we should play football and the structure of the club,” former defender Ben Sigmund told Fairfax New Zealand on Monday. "What he's done at the club is unbelievable."
(source)
Of course the bit about "substandard locals" will infuriate those who think that the Phoenix has a duty to promote local lads; this is a question which will continue to divide the fan base, I think.
"In Merrick’s defence, he was working on a budget that was among the league’s smallest, with owners keen to keep costs down."
Morrison seemed keen to refute that yesterday.
The thing is, the top quality talent that is normally referred to; are ex-a-league players that moved overseas at the top of their game and mostly failed to make an impact overseas and find themselves back in the A-league. They are also all Australian. Where are the kiwi's that are almost cracking the next level but not quite making it, and finding themselves as a-league hot property? Kosta and Rojas are the only two I can think of, and the nix have one of them.
Maybe they need to be more ruthless with kids coming up from the academy (including the likes Fenton, Ridenton, Rufer etc). Give them two years in the senior environment max, if they don't look like they are going to star or go on to bigger things, then discard and try again. There's only a limited number of places available at the Nix and overseas clubs aren't sentimental when it comes to giving academy players the boot.
Merrick said in an interview yesterday that Ridenton and Rufer were good enough to be pushing the seniors out of the team but the pressure to start winning has just been too much to do it. He also said that he had enough money to win it this year but it's a moving target with City, Sydney, and Victory all upping their game this year