1 Barba, 2 Barba, 3 Barbarouses

they should have made his see out his contract - if he played badly on purpose it still can't be worse than last season!

One plus is that has freed up our marqee spot hasnt it?

New coach may have connections ot get an even better player to fill that slot.

Heard that he wasn't entirely happy with a few things inc lack of front office/support, senior players inc him annoyed they weren't asked opinion on coaches/direction and football committee holding the club back

But at the quoted $750k we are paying him and space in the squad - is that a good use of resources if he wants out?

something we don't know yet

If the league wasn't salary capped and we had unlimited funds sure, but if we keep him and force him to play with the reserves or whatever then it's just cutting off our own nose to spite our face. We can't afford to waste that sort of money simply on morals.

Also sends a terrible message to prospective free agents who may be less willing to sign if we're willing to hold players to ransom. 

That raises the question of whether we want to sign players who may ditch halfway through but I see no reason to discourage players from joining.

do you really think that's what would happen if we didn't let him leave? 

"Holding Players to ransom" ? You mean asking them to complete their contractural requirements

Im not sure that Kosta leaving is a bad idea personally, i didnt feel that he contributed that much to the team overall. he has a bit pace granted but his first touch isnt great and he doesnt cross a ball well so for me its an opportunity to give someone a go who wants to be here...if we can find one of course!!

Potato potahto. Whatever you call it it reflects poorly on us.

sweet just sign a three year deal for security knowing you can bolt after one because ours clubs a soft touch 

You say that like it isn't common practice in professional football. Players force their way out of contracts they've signed all the time.

Obviously the clubs usually get a transfer fee but, y'know, can't do that in the A-League.

interested in the Nix v Rest of Aleague stats on that

If the back office at the Nix really is such a shambles, THAT and nothing else should be the story. Coaches, players, crowds, TV metrics, travelling circus be damned, being an off field shambles WILL kill the club dead with the greatest surety.

Many people here clearly also believe the coaching saga has shown Dome et al DON'T knowledge what they're doing, so for any sharp journos out there (Matt Nippert?) the real story of WPFC off field is the one which has to be ferreted out.

how about i sign a contract to build you a house. Six months in I am not happy because the wife doesnt enjoy having me work all sorts if hours and she wants a change.

I am just starting to hit my straps working at a good pace now.

But hey feel free to have me not finish the job because you dont want to be seen as mean.

Look. I dont really give a shark that Kosta the player has gone. What I do give a shark about is the way our club seems to be run

At the risk of being yelled at by Ryan and Gunman again: Wellington is different from other clubs, as Mrs Smeltz and Barbarouses could allegedly tell you. It may be something unavoidable given location that makes players or their families extra unhappy, rather than "management being a soft touch" (is it just Welnix accused of this or did it happy in Terry days too?)

If he didn't even want to see out one more year, with a new coach and assistant, trying to help save the very future of his home town club, the same club which gave him his first pro contract, and the only professional club in his country then he can fudge right off as far as I'm concerned. Could his partner not suck it up for a year, or even go back to Melbourne and come back here for visits? It's hardly a long or expensive flight. And Wellington might not be as amazing as some people say but compared to some of the places pro footballers end up it's pretty good. Basically I can't escape the conclusion that this is a giant dick move from Kosta, and I'd rather not have someone like that in the squad. I want loyalty and commitment, at least while you are contracted and playing regularly. Not good for squad cohesion and morale keeping someone like that around when they don't want to be there. Disengagement in workplaces is contagious.

I'll give you that no 'The Real Housewives of Wellington' is being planned any time soon

That's only part of the reason I'll let you out of your contract.

The other part is that you're going to phone it in, do a sharkty, rushed job trying to get out of there and have your attention elsewhere dealing with your bitch of a Mrs. Your bad attitude is going to rub off on the rest of the staff who see one of their senior coworkers halfassing his job and decide to do the same.

We're much better off without him. He wasn't worth anywhere near what we were paying him anyway and now we've got money to spend on a player that is worth it (inb4 Sarpong 2.0).

You know, I don't buy that argument Doloras. There are plenty of worse places in the world that players ply their trade and take their wives to. Its the same in the real world too, we would have no one transferring to work in the local BNZ in Timaru or the local cops in Kaitaia - people go where they can get work and their families make sacrifices if they need to. I can tell you that Wellington is not a place that people sit in their front rooms crying about there being nothing to do. If the likes of a footballer's wife is not happy there its because she isn't with her old friends, or her family or her favourite hairdresser - nothing to do with the place itself. Professional sportspeople know the territory and they go where the opportunities are. I can't help thinking that by letting these players go for personal reasons, anything short of needing to go home to be by the bedside of a dying parent, the club is doing itself a disservice.

You may recall that Mrs Smeltz brought an abrupt end to Smeltz's move to a Chinese club (inside a week if I recall correctly) so the problem might not so much be a Wellington one, but rather because of the people involved.

Lets not start making pretty huge assumptions about the character of a person none of you have met before.

I would argue that letting him go is a bad move - purely because he was not an import.

Kiwi and AU players are not sitting around dime a dozen wanting to come to the Phoenix deserving of marquee wages. I would argue that any replacement would be a weaker player and thus lessens the squad.

But we have 2 import spots, and we can now make one of those the marquee. Kosta's money doesn't have to be spent on a local, we can pay a local less and one of our imports could get paid more. We might end up with a worse winger who is local but a better import DM, which is probably more important for us in the scheme of things.

My guess would be 100% of the issues with wives would be the string of earthquakes last year.

I don't buy that women all freak out @ earthquakes, but if so, let's get players with Japanese or Italian gfs.

While we're generalising, maybe it was his overbearing Greek family. I'm with valeo, this baseless speculation about people's personal lives is pretty tasteless.

Marco Rossi's partner left Wellington after the earthquake so that puts paid to that theory

As a Greek, THIS.

It's not that women freak out. However they were living generally by themselves, away from family and support while their partners spent a lot of their time travelling overseas. The quakes were nerve rattling enough, but when you're stuck in an unfamiliar city on your own?

I wasn't trying to imply that all women freak out in the slightest, just that being Italian doesn't make you immune from earthquake worries.

the problem here appears to be a man is freakin out a women is freakin out

Or maybe more likely he is just using her as an excuse to get out of dodge

I hope someone close to him has mentioned this. Because you're right, he was part of the plan to salvage professional football in his home country and walking away jeopardises that. While he's off basking in the spotlight of international glory for that country ironically.

Ok, we are not going to learn about the nitty gritty, Doloras to some point has a point but so too do others. I am starting to consider if there were ethnic clashes between the girlfriend and family but that is purely an idea, not a fact and apologies to Kosta and his whanau if I am wrong. 

He has gone and really, we need to put this to bed too. Who are we going to get as a replacement, now that really interests me.

That's right, bugger off back to Melbourne to get away from all of those Greeks....hang on......

Absolute soft.  Hes still selected in the All whites squad aswell.  if he ends up signing for another a league club then thats a massive slap in the face

Kosta Barbarouses is BACK for more!! Details: https://t.co/40vPHmQTs1 #welcomebackKosta #MVFC pic.twitter.com/OWCfo3cspe

— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) June 13, 2017

Moved from Wellington Phoenix Discussion to Kiwi Players Overseas