Hail ___ the Chief - Giancarlo Italiano

The alleged threat of a PG in a negotiation. You keep ignoring that like politicians or PR hacks.

If you’re firing a bunch of people who have contracts there will be costs with that. That’s assumed. If you are shocked, you’re most likely a faker with an agenda.

3. We don’t care what this guy is saying. Interesting it’s always the most openly Auckland supporting guys who do. 

It’s someone trying to use things that were settled last year to further hurt the Nix this year. 

It is a lot of money by your figures, but also it is less than two weeks of salary for just the playing group for the men.

If you are genuinely shocked there was bad blood and money paid out last year you live in lala land or being an asshole.

This year we’re talking high lines, injuries, Eze, Armiento, Edwards, Piper, James and recently our back up keepers. 

AucklandPhoenix

Long live the fourth estate

The truth will come out, it always does.

Can you believe what they say, and if they do say something is it really any more truthful.

Man the state of this club… what have we become.

In the space of less than 7 days we've had one of our worst defeats and better wins.

Im still on the OUT team... but the A League this year is so unpredictable.

We are still 8th and will slip to 9th tonight if City don't lose. It is a one-off win, it means little by itself. Hopefully it is a result that really kickstarts our season 

Ninja

Man the state of this club… what have we become.

What are you talking about? 
We’ve got a coach who had a bad year trying to win over the supporters. 

We’re not owned by a petro-state, we haven’t gone looking for dodgy bridging finance or crypto-bros to prop us up, we haven’t got players fighting each other on the park, we don’t have an absentee owner who doesn’t invest in the teams, we aren’t going bankrupt, we pay our players, we have a ground to play on…

Our women’s team on a 10-0 streak and as of today our men are on a 3-0 streak. 

There were some employment issues last season as we cleared out after terrible results and terrible football. It’s a matter of debate that the coach should have gone too. 

Our main issue is a series of home losses early in the season has seen low home crowds. 

What are you talking about? 

Are you saying we should shutter the club because we have a coach who was/is unpopular and trying to redeem himself ?

Well done Chief! Masterclass! One of the top team performances ever!

Suppose the next thing we are going to see is people having a crack because Chief gets a little emotional at the press conference.

lol not at all.. good on him for showing emotion and for orchestrating a great win.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new chapter for the team, as I don’t think many will tolerate any more 5-1 loses, nor should you

ballane

Suppose the next thing we are going to see is people having a crack because Chief gets a little emotional at the press conference.

We have indeed slipped to 9th. Still a long way to go for Chiefy to prove he is good enough to stay on beyond this year.

But what am I kidding, Welnix will never get rid of him

martinb

Ninja

Man the state of this club… what have we become.

What are you talking about? 
We’ve got a coach who had a bad year trying to win over the supporters. 

We’re not owned by a petro-state, we haven’t gone looking for dodgy bridging finance or crypto-bros to prop us up, we have got players fighting each other on the park, we don’t have an absentee owner who doesn’t invest in the teams, we aren’t going bankrupt, we pay our players, we have a ground to play on…

Our women’s team on a 10-0 streak and as of today our men are on a 3-0 streak. 

There were some employment issues last season as we cleared out after terrible results and terrible football. It’s a matter of debate that the coach should have gone too. 

Our main issue is a series of home losses early in the season has seen low home crowds. 

What are you talking about? 

Are you saying we should shutter the club because we have a coach who was/is unpopular and trying to redeem himself ?

I mean exactly what I said. The club is not in a good state.

i was chief out at the end of last season. i was reluctant to say it because it felt mean spirited and i wasn't willing to fully commit to the opinion. the thing with judging coaches is that is it really difficult to do from the outside. the best coaches are nothing without good cattle.

i remain fascinated by the roller coaster of his tenure. whats been done well and what has not. who is a dick and who isn't etc. 

i made a post a few games ago, as we were getting hammered, that things will inevitably come right. it was optimistic, but even though we were in a bad moment i could see improvements in tactics, at least what we were trying to do,  and also a good sense of character growing within the team.

today was as close to a complete performance as we've seen in ages.

am i right in saying that he's also matured?

i don't want to make comparisons to a low bar, but the personalities of some of the other a-league coaches leave a lot to be desired. we don't have that problem.

i think the project is showing good signs. even if it means he now has a three week stay of execution rather than just the one that many thought he may have had at this time last week. that gives him a further chance to move things forward, and i back him to do it.

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

Marto

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

To get a new coach means we are likely to have a bad season - so are you hoping for a bad season?

Ninja

martinb

Ninja

Man the state of this club… what have we become.

What are you talking about? 
We’ve got a coach who had a bad year trying to win over the supporters. 

We’re not owned by a petro-state, we haven’t gone looking for dodgy bridging finance or crypto-bros to prop us up, we have got players fighting each other on the park, we don’t have an absentee owner who doesn’t invest in the teams, we aren’t going bankrupt, we pay our players, we have a ground to play on…

Our women’s team on a 10-0 streak and as of today our men are on a 3-0 streak. 

There were some employment issues last season as we cleared out after terrible results and terrible football. It’s a matter of debate that the coach should have gone too. 

Our main issue is a series of home losses early in the season has seen low home crowds. 

What are you talking about? 

Are you saying we should shutter the club because we have a coach who was/is unpopular and trying to redeem himself ?

I mean exactly what I said. The club is not in a good state.

I know I get accused of talking too much, but would you care to elaborate? And compared to? 

This club has gone through so much. Metrics and Gallop. George. Terry’s finances. Terry looking for dodgy finance. Senior players staying too long. Kalezic. And Rado and Dario Vidosic.  Handball goals. Relocating the team to Woollongong for the pandemic. Drinking and golf carting. The last seasons for Ernie and Uffie. Fox sport breaking their contract and the league pay out dropping off a cliff. Any number of beatings in Adelaide and Melbourne.

Are you saying Chief being coach is worse than all of these times? That he personally is more toxic than a pandemic, David Gallop and Darjie Kalezic put together? And the fact the club has backed him this season will damage it more than those things?

It’s clearly not salad days. But we’ve done better on our imports this season on the men’s side and we’ve improved the football we’re playing. 

And if in the end, he’s not quite up to it (and I thought that last week and I’m aware it is a popular opinion, though I am much more on the fence again after today) we replace him and start again. 

And also Central Coast had two last place finishes and a third bottom before it finished 1st and second. And they’ve had ownership challenges because the guy who spent money on them for those years couldn’t cope in the current environment. He burnt out in 2-3 years. Welnix certainly haven’t done that. And I don’t recall us finishing last in back to back seasons.

I feel you can’t spray and walk away. What are you talking about? What in your-Johnny Cash-sings-Hurt-state do you think we’ve become? 

All I see is a football club and things within the circle of expectation of being a football club happening. 

Bullion

Marto

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

To get a new coach means we are likely to have a bad season - so are you hoping for a bad season?

 
I can’t see any better then 5/6th. To me that signals time for someone new.

The season could go anywhere. I suspect it will be a roller coaster with bad defeats and good wins.
Its been a thoroughly entertaining season and at times our play is very good, and other times....bah!
Im happy for Chiefy to see out the season. Ive seen enough that suggests he is adapting his tactics.
Id also like to see this team play with everyone available. 
You can see in the last couple of games the difference in subbing on an experianced pro like Retre rather than a kid from the academy.
If we can get our best 11 on the park every week we should be OK

Yeh I agree. We’re suffering an injury crisis again. However, our depth is just slightly better than last season. And Eze, James and Armiento are new and bring a bit of a buzz and something different. Piper up front and fit is like a new player. 

And so Nagasawa has some targets to hit with passes. And he and Rufer have played together more now. As has the backline. Which makes things a bit more comfortable for McCarron.

Hoping Edwards is available next week with Armiento out. Another test for that depth…

Depending how you count our last few games we’re: 
2 wins from 3 games
2 wins from 4 games
2 from 5 games 
3 from 6

We’ve either put 3 past our opponents twice in our last 3 games or had 3 put past us 3 times in our last 5 games! 

All these things can be true.

Lies, damn lies and statistics and certainly rollercoaster results. I’d love us to go on a run of successes though! 

Marto

Bullion

Marto

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

To get a new coach means we are likely to have a bad season - so are you hoping for a bad season?

 
I can’t see any better then 5/6th. To me that signals time for someone new.

If we can get back to top 6 AND get back players like Retre at full availability, Mileusnic, Edwards, Oluwayemi and maybe Payne late in the season then we might do better than before in the playoffs. And if we do find an Ishige replacement that's a further positive.

The football has been far more entertaining albeit with ups and downs.

But lose anybody like Eze, Nagasawa, Rufer, Armiento and we'll be back in trouble. That won't be Italiano's fault. It is a risk of our academy focused approach and our bringing through the next batch of kids.

It's pretty clear the squad is still positive and they're with Chief. We just need enough of our better players available.

imanixsupporter

We have indeed slipped to 9th. Still a long way to go for Chiefy to prove he is good enough to stay on beyond this year.

But what am I kidding, Welnix will never get rid of him

Take a look at the table, 9th is 1 win away from 5th place. Another 3-0 vicotry and we are back in the chase. 11th and 12th places should be worried, they are almost out of the running for the 6. Buth there is only 6 points separating 1st to 10th!

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i bought a season one signed and framed nix shirt off him many years ago for a very reasonable price

ballane

theprof

Buffon II

theprof

exactly, engaging with R Ball and his lapdog Goran simoply feeds their self-inflated egos and encourages them to carry on
nothing more than a hype dog for AFC.

I thought Goran was a Nix fan?

Was being the key word here, just eed to watch Ball and he in their tAB chats and he's clearly changed his stripes.

Was a time when Riccardo used to come to Nix games as well in fact pretty sure he also was on one of the early 12 Pubs of Lockhead. Has happen over the years there have have been plenty that have come and gone through the revolving doors. Just gotta wait for the day they want to jump aboard again i have no doubts it will happen. 

Did I read someone was upset about the expression " happy clappers " ??
Don't worry , they're just from " made up " religions .

Marto

Bullion

Marto

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

To get a new coach means we are likely to have a bad season - so are you hoping for a bad season?

 
I can’t see any better then 5/6th. To me that signals time for someone new.

No, unless we splurge on a coach well above the league average.  And I do not think we can afford one like that, or be prepared to wait for them to bed in their vision.  I would rather pay over the odds to extend the contracts of Eze and James and Nagasawa, all visa players, let alone Armiento, who will one day return to Australia.  

We shouldnt be paying over the odds to extend Nagasawa. He is 34 and I cannot imagine other A-League sides will be in for him. It is debatable whether he is worth one of our import slots

imanixsupporter

We shouldnt be paying over the odds to extend Nagasawa. He is 34 and I cannot imagine other A-League sides will be in for him. It is debatable whether he is worth one of our import slots

As I said in the other thread, if rufer does indeed move on, then we need some sort of consistency in there and if he’s (Nagasawa) happy on the wage he’s likely on, then I’d see it as a shrewd move to extend it for another year

martinb

Ninja

martinb

Ninja

Man the state of this club… what have we become.

What are you talking about? 
We’ve got a coach who had a bad year trying to win over the supporters. 

We’re not owned by a petro-state, we haven’t gone looking for dodgy bridging finance or crypto-bros to prop us up, we have got players fighting each other on the park, we don’t have an absentee owner who doesn’t invest in the teams, we aren’t going bankrupt, we pay our players, we have a ground to play on…

Our women’s team on a 10-0 streak and as of today our men are on a 3-0 streak. 

There were some employment issues last season as we cleared out after terrible results and terrible football. It’s a matter of debate that the coach should have gone too. 

Our main issue is a series of home losses early in the season has seen low home crowds. 

What are you talking about? 

Are you saying we should shutter the club because we have a coach who was/is unpopular and trying to redeem himself ?

I mean exactly what I said. The club is not in a good state.

I know I get accused of talking too much, but would you care to elaborate? And compared to? 

This club has gone through so much. Metrics and Gallop. George. Terry’s finances. Terry looking for dodgy finance. Senior players staying too long. Kalezic. And Rado and Dario Vidosic.  Handball goals. Relocating the team to Woollongong for the pandemic. Drinking and golf carting. The last seasons for Ernie and Uffie. Fox sport breaking their contract and the league pay out dropping off a cliff. Any number of beatings in Adelaide and Melbourne.

Are you saying Chief being coach is worse than all of these times? That he personally is more toxic than a pandemic, David Gallop and Darjie Kalezic put together? And the fact the club has backed him this season will damage it more than those things?

It’s clearly not salad days. But we’ve done better on our imports this season on the men’s side and we’ve improved the football we’re playing. 

And if in the end, he’s not quite up to it (and I thought that last week and I’m aware it is a popular opinion, though I am much more on the fence again after today) we replace him and start again. 

And also Central Coast had two last place finishes and a third bottom before it finished 1st and second. And they’ve had ownership challenges because the guy who spent money on them for those years couldn’t cope in the current environment. He burnt out in 2-3 years. Welnix certainly haven’t done that. And I don’t recall us finishing last in back to back seasons.

I feel you can’t spray and walk away. What are you talking about? What in your-Johnny Cash-sings-Hurt-state do you think we’ve become? 

All I see is a football club and things within the circle of expectation of being a football club happening. 

I’ve got no idea what you’re on about mate. You’re just rambling.

No. You’re slagging off the club without explaining yourself and now you’re slagging off me instead. What is it that’s so terrible about the club? 

Marto

Bullion

Marto

Todays been a good result but was it a blip or have we turned a corner?

I think the former but hope for the later. 


I also hope for a new Gaffer for next season.

To get a new coach means we are likely to have a bad season - so are you hoping for a bad season?

 
I can’t see any better then 5/6th. To me that signals time for someone new.

a 5th place would be our 6th best season ever.

martinb

No. You’re slagging off the club without explaining yourself and now you’re slagging off me instead. What is it that’s so terrible about the club? 

 
You’re putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say any of the above. 

not directly, but it has been well implied!

The club isn't in a very good state though. Historically low crowds, being utterly dominated and shown up by our "rivals", and we are 9th in a 12 team league. We had one good season of young player sales and it doesn't look like we will be getting any more of those any time soon, unless we can get LBS shining by the end of this season (with it being the last transfer window we can get demand a good fee for him in). 

To put a positive spin, our recent losses have come against some of the form teams of the comp (Mac being the team with better form than NUJ)

.

imanixsupporter

The club isn't in a very good state though. Historically low crowds, being utterly dominated and shown up by our "rivals", and we are 9th in a 12 team league. We had one good season of young player sales and it doesn't look like we will be getting any more of those any time soon, unless we can get LBS shining by the end of this season (with it being the last transfer window we can get demand a good fee for him in). 

I mean sure. 

But in the league half the league is the same or worse. 

We’re all suffering from losing the TV deal. There’s a lot of clubs suffering. 

This is business as usual. The league has made bad choices in a tough environment. TV viewership is apparently up, though. 

We’re still fielding a team. We’re fighting for the season. We’ve brought in new players and some good ones. Sure we’re not perfect, but omg this doom and gloom is getting to me. This is normal for football. 

Sorry should have made a table, but we aren’t outside the average of the non cashed up teams. 

Premierships/ In the race/bottom

Sure we’d like to have had seasons more like CC, but they also had 3 back to back dead last finishes. You guys who are down on the club wouldn’t have liked that! 

I’d love us to do better, but we’re not some hugely poorly performed club over ten years. We haven’t performed brilliantly either. But that’s the gamble of being a fan, not a bandwagonner.

And I think we were marginally better the decade ish before. We had two bright sparks under Ricki and Ernie where we were competing for a trophy and some lean times in between. 

If you think we should be spending more and being more aggressive, protest like they do overseas. And we end up like WSW. In the race twice and second bottom once, with all the ex-Nix players.

I don’t quite know what that interesting table is meant to show but sure. 

Love the ITR interpretation and little comments however.

You should send this to Chief to use next time he is up for a contract extension and negotiation 

What does “in the race” mean? Is it making finals? Cause if it is, we might be in the “race” but have not won a finals game since 2012 

martinb

Sorry should have made a table, but we aren’t outside the average of the non cashed up teams. 

Premierships/ In the race/bottom

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Sure we’d like to have had seasons more like CC, but they also had 3 back to back dead last finishes. You guys who are down on the club wouldn’t have liked that! 

I’d love us to do better, but we’re not some hugely poorly performed club over ten years. We haven’t performed brilliantly either. But that’s the gamble of being a fan, not a bandwagonner.

And I think we were marginally better the decade ish before. We had two bright sparks under Ricki and Ernie where we were competing for a trophy and some lean times in between. 

If you think we should be spending more and being more aggressive, protest like they do overseas. And we end up like WSW. In the race twice and second bottom once, with all the ex-Nix players.

Totally agree.
People do tend to  see their own faults in others.

ballane

Never ceases to amaze me how many people think their opinion carries more weight or means more than someone who dares to have a different view than them.
There are some truley toxic people across social media and i just dont get why things have to be said with so much venom and hate just because some dare  to think differently to what they do.

Where's the charismatic leader?!

Simon B

number8 wrote:

Fans allowed to be critical, but for the friends with the rose tinted glasses you need to careful not become part of cult

Fair point, but imagine for a moment you were an anthropologist studying supporter groups like the Fever.

We turn up at large gatherings where we all dress the same to show we belong, we engage in ritualistic chanting, and while we shun opposing groups we’re always on the lookout for new members to join our own.

Face it, we’re already a cult :)

CCM with a big win last night. The A League is all over the place result wise.