Ernie Merrick - former Phoenix manager

Chris Rattue interviews Ernie in this morning's Herald...
- Ifill "training the house down ... lost 7 kilos   ... Bertos "not a defender, he's too good for that and he can't tackle..." etc.

www.nzherald.co.nz/chris-rattue

Liking both of those statements - fark I can't wait for the start of the season

Where are these statements?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10893657 Here you go Jeff.

Cheers. Good interview from Rattue. Interesting to note he never mentioned Stein. When you figure figure that Carlos will start, and as Ernie said, the other spot is up for grabs, I would be intrigued on his thoughts on Stein. Also interesting he viewed Bertos as a striker (of sorts I guess)

he's sees Leo as a striker - that concerns me a bit, Leo may not be able to tackle but he sure as hell can't shoot!

I think his comments about Leo as a striker have to be read in the context of the question, which was whether or not he sees him as a defender. I agree that his failure to mention Stein is a interesting, but might just be down to the style of the interview, which included fairly narrow questions rather than "give us an overview of the entire squad" type questions.

Good piece though. Can't wait for the start of the season, this off-season is driving me nuts!

not only is leo not a striker...he cant cross a ball for shit either

Lets not forget THAT free kick. Bertos has the goods.

Leo is a keeper

We're Doomed!

Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship!

AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Why would he mention Stein? He's not going to waste interview time talking about players that will be playing in the reserves.

Apart from this which he has repeated again "I'm looking for two or three more Marco Rojases - there are many more to be found here"

and " I want Ifill in scoring positions and the same with Leo Bertos... He'll be a striker for us ... "

The only player I want to shoot less than Leo is Lia! I remember he played up front with a front 3 in one of the early seasons with Smeltz and Hearfied IIRC ?? and bundled one over didn't use his head or boots, but still...

remember front 3 seemed quite good then- a lot of pace, but Smeltz in the middle made it.

He cant release him.

Troll, dont make me laugh JV. Ive stated my opinion on Stein many a time and so far havent been proved wrong.

Ernie specifically said he wants to play 3 up front. One will be Ifill on the left, one will be Brockie and the other will depend on form or they might buy another striker. So I guess Stein is going to have to win that slot on merit.....fighting it out with Leo and Boyd. Great to hear Ifill has lost weight and is training well. He will be 34 in October so its "last chance saloon"" for him. He knows that this is probably his last year. Not sure if he will be a 90 minute player but I sure hope Ernie uses him to attack. The last couple of years under Ricki he spent too much time and energy tracking back and defending in our back third.

My only concern is with Ifill at 34, Leo 32, Stein 32 and Carlos 30+ its a Dads Army front line.....hard to see the zip in their that is going to tear up the A-League.......someone in there is going to have to do some running, even Brockie is not know for his work rate. Maybe thats why Ernie wants young legs at RB,LB.

surely, this is the year we want fenton and boyd to really step up, I cant see Ifill being 90min player. 

a front 3 of waffles, brockie and fenton(from who we have at the mo) isnt the worst strike force in the league, but its not overly flash

Don't forget Ifill has lost 7 kgs.

He's turning into Super Ifill!

Ifill...training well..?! Is the world about to end?

fixed

I don't care how much he has lost or if he is cross dressing now.  I just want him to score goals and set up goals.

Wet, Cold and making my daughters school holidays a dream.

I can report Ernie is the Head Master that is hands on.

With  2 methods his and HIS.

Came across "the spoof of Ernie Merrick" Twitter account - very naughty !!!!

I dont know if this is any where else but

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1161815/Merrick-s-Phoenix-revamp-takes-shape

"We have a very good goalkeeper in Glen Moss, two rock-solid centre backs in Andrew Durante and Ben Sigmund, a strong defensive midfielder in Manny Muscat, Carlos Hernandez as an attacking midfielder and last season's second highest scorer Jeremy Brockie" - hope we are still looking at options here

Didn't Merrick bench Moss when he was at Melbourne?

From the home page link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/9072711/From-Scotland-to-the-Phoenix/

"Once I got hooked on the [Melbourne] weather and the lifestyle, which is very similar to Wellington, it was hard to go back to Scotland."

Blimmey.  Scotland's weather must really be sh!t.

Great little interview that one. 

"He (Herbert) has left me with a good, solid squad of players with good experience and a tremendous team culture. It's one of the best team cultures I've come across."

Interesting, we always heard about the team culture being really good under Ricki at the nix, but this is the first time I've read something where it's directly compared to other teams.

And this cracked me up;

"I was on the ninth floor of Century City Hotel and there was a fair amount of swaying and I was trying to catch a couple of fridges and stuff in cupboards. The reception person came around and asked if I was ok. I said, "Yeah. I'm sure I will get used to it. This is just normal, isn't it?" He just looked at me and said, "No". I was alright until he said that!"

Have to say I've been impressed with what i've seen/heard from Ernesto since he came on board. Direct answers, not too many cliches and refuses to put the boot into either previous Nix management/coaches and his previous employers (HK and MV).

If his vision comes to fruition on the pitch then I look forward to eating some humble pie (or more likely, drinking beer) following my scepticism at his appointment.

Are we there yet?

http://radiosport.co.nz/player/ondemand/903791027-ernie-merrick--a-winning-culture

3 or 4 more players.