Nix vs Knights thus far
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
I posted this below in the NZFC forum in reply to a comment there.
I thought I'd copy it to somewhere more relevant and see if anyone
wanted to comment.
The problem for me with the
Knights was the underlying assumption that because I was a
football fan I would follow them as a given. They never did
anything to entice me or anyone I know to games. I would have loved
to have had a couple of players come to my school and run a
coaching clinic for the kids - a one off - that could have secured
them some more support but it never happened. They announced a Kick
Bullying Out Of School's progamme that disappeared as fast as it
was announced.
If I wanted to watch a bunch of
lower-league UK cast-offs I'd get Conference DVDs sent out to me.
They misread the public's wishes and, after season one, had a
second chance to correct that but contrived to make all the same
mistakes all over again.
They were mismanaged at all
levels, and frankly I wanted no part of it.
The reason I'm getting by The Nix so
much is that I like the way they are doing things. They have a
good, marketable name that means something (The Knights? What the
frig has that got to do with anything?), are signing the sort of
players I want to see play and thus far appear to be a very well
run organisation. Time will tell, but they've got my support all
the way.
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
good comments...I agree that most of their players were very hard
to be enthusiastic about and that made them difficult to follow
from afar with any sense of commitment. Combine that with poor
results and weak performances...
:) they never did much on the field that enticed me to watch
their games on TV either...
The Phoenix need to have marketable players and
personalities...not just in advertising, but in the local
community...some good local talent trying to make it, some
interesting aussies and someone or two with a bit of the excitement
factor...
Have to say, my reasons for travelling to watch them was more a
chance to catch up with the Bloc and enjoy some banter... the on
field displays were pretty dire at times.
After travelling for 5 years to watch the Kingz I was hoping for
better (on field results) with the Knights. I got totally p*ssed
off with the way the management treated the fans. The Kingz had
their problems but at least they got out into the community and did
give the time of day to the fans, both the players and management.
You'd always be made welcome but the Knights just didnt want
to know you. The fact that I was previously a season ticket holder
and supporters club member with the Kingz seemed to mean to the
Knights management that I would just turn up. They were a bunch of
arrogant c 
ts. I'm
so glad they got kicked out.
I'm happy to see that the Phoenix seem to be taking a new and
more inclusive road. A club is it's fans, they will be around
longer than any players will, so keep up the good work and dont
ever forget us. 
A dog with a bone :)
Yeah the best thing about the Knights were the Bloc 5 - the next
best thing was laughing at Buari
I think with the Phoenix we can expect alot more, cant wait till
season kicks off.
Well, I'm surprised at the total anti posts here about the Knights.
I enjoyed watching them in most games, traveled many hours to watch
them, sure being with the Bloc Five lads was great fun too. I was
very happy to pay money to watch Leilei Gao leaving defenders in
his wake, Jonas and Johnson smashing people in the midfield, Embers
using good ball control and vision to never waste the ball, Noah
giving it heaps, whole hearted defenders like Buncey and Tambo
keeping us safe. The Knights were the form team in the last round
of the A League and before you say how totally useless they were,
just beware that the Phoenix might not live up to that, to begin
with. So far the signings are only average, so take it easy !
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
So far the signings are only average, so take it easy !
Average...BIG CALL!!! I can safely say that the PHOENIX look
alot better, already, than the Knights did, and with the managment
we got and the support, i think we will take off. Only a matter of
time.
So far the signings are only average, so take it easy !
Average...BIG CALL!!! I can safely say that the PHOENIX look
alot better, already, than the Knights did, and with the managment
we got and the support, i think we will take off. Only a matter of
time.
I actually like the signings, but if I were to take a pesimistic approach you would see this:
Paston - Always injured, makes lots of blunders, cost you goals
Moss - Knights reject
Lochhead - MLS reject.
Old - I dont like him without being pesimistic!
O'Dor - I wondder why the aussie sides havnt picked him up
Ferrante - Melbourne reject - almost came last when he played!
Lia - As above, but worse!
Aloisi - Do I need to say?
Daniel - Havnt even see him play - could be Claudihno
Well, I'm surprised at the total anti posts
here about the Knights. I enjoyed watching them in most games,
traveled many hours to watch them, sure being with the Bloc Five
lads was great fun too.
Some people "enjoy" having electrodes attached to their
testicles. I don't, but after some of the fare served up by the
Knights last season, that was starting to look to be a preferable
pastime. You might have enjoyed the occasion, the comradeship of
the crowd, fair enough, but until Ricki Herbert took over the
actual football was at times akin to watching a gazelle get torn
apart by a pack of lions.
The Knights were the form team in
the last round of the A League and before you say how totally
useless they were, just beware that the Phoenix might not live up
to that, to begin with. So far the signings are only average, so
take it easy
And I too don't consider the signings
thus far to be average, far from it. I can feel a decent squad
being put together here, certainly (word on loan from Sky Sports
Football Commentary Team) a squad that when on the pitch won't make
you feel ashamed to be an NZ football fan.
Nix, Leyton Orient and Alloa Athletic supporting schmuck.
I agree..The squad right now is far from average..There is a great
blend of youth, experience and flair in it already, and the whole
squad is yet to be announced..Things thus far look far better
than how the knights looked going into V2.
Phoenix ahead by alot of goalsd at the moment.
It wasn't all the signings, it was the thing as a whole. Ricki proved with the end of season high that they could be class when everything came together. And everything's coming together much nice for the Phoenix. Sure, they might (or might not) take some time to find their groove as a team, but it just has promise written all over it. Though I'm less about expectation, and more about commitment and support.
Plus, Lochhead's not an MLS reject, he cut his contract short
to come back (and then they rejected him 
)
)
Some people "enjoy" having electrodes attached to their testicles.
I don't, but after some of the fare served up by the Knights last
season, that was starting to look to be a preferable pastime. You
might have enjoyed the occasion, the comradeship of the crowd, fair
enough, but until Ricki Herbert took over the actual football was
at times akin to watching a gazelle get torn apart by a pack of
lions.
...and it was still better than the V1 Knights.
i enjoyed the whole existance of the kingzzzzzzzzz and
knights. what i didn't enjoy was the mocking that they opened
our sport up to by the general public and media. to me the
rufer years were the best. hopefully the herbert phoenix
years can at least match that.
Looking back we were all bitterly dissapointed when the Kingz under
Rufer just missed out on the play offs, but since then we would
kill just to not finish last!
I think it's very hard to follow a side that has always been bad, it's just very difficult to have anything other than doom and gloom. If you have a short history and it's poor you're pushing sh*t rom there. Mind yo, I loved watching NZ football and when they started winning it was pretty bloody good to hear the Willy Lose's of this world choking as the read out the sports news headlines.
I think the Knights biggest problem was that it felt like the
Kingz without the Z, there wasn't enough distance to make people
give them another chance. As history has shown, both the
public and the media turned on them very quickly.
Normo's coming home
Didnt they charge $25 for a seat, if they did they should have opened 1 of the hills for cheaper prices.
I was very happy to pay money to watch Leilei Gao leaving defenders
in his wake, Jonas and Johnson smashing people in the midfield,
Embers using good ball control and vision to never waste the ball,
Noah giving it heaps, whole hearted defenders like Buncey and Tambo
keeping us safe.
As well as Devine's "sublime" accuracy and speed?
Um.... yeh! well he did run his butt off!
Nah, the ones I really paid to see were the ones I mentioned.
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
buari > coveny !
Are all tards this dumb? Rhetorical question... I know the answer
In light of how the squad is looking now, it'd be good to do a man
for man comparison between the Knights V2 season opening Squad
and the Phoenix V3 squad, as it stands.
So, If we can source a V2 squad list for the Knights, and rate
each player out of 10 (totally subjective of course!), then do the
same for the Phoenix, and see which team comes out better, and by
how much. Unfortunately I don't have such a list., . .
anyone?
Just for a laugh.
This is from memory, so don't shoot me if there are mistakes,
omissions etc:
Goalkeepers:
Danny Milosevic
Michael Turnbull
Mark Paston
Defenders:
Che Bunce
Sime Kovacevic
John Tambouras
Gregory Duruz
Darren Bazeley
Dean Gordon
Steven O�Dor
Midfielders:
Richard Johnson
Scott Gemmill
Jonty Richter
Jonas Salley
Malik Buari
Leilei Gao
Dustin Wells
Michael White
Strikers:
Sean Devine
Dani Rodrigues
Adam Casey
Alen Marcena
Utility:
Neil Emblen
Noah Hickey
Happy scoring
football tragic for too long
Depends on where in the season you take the squad from.
Campbell banks, Jeff Flemming, Fernando de Moraes, Frank van Eijs
even Matt Carbon were all on the payroll at some point.
Trouble is, how do we rate some of the Phoenix players ? I mean Felipe has never been seen so how can we give an honest rating ?
Trouble is, how do we rate some of the Phoenix players ? I mean Felipe has never been seen so how can we give an honest rating ?
You said: "Felipe has never been seen so how can we give an honest
rating?"
True, so maybe the better approach would be to ask re match-ups of
players we do know, e.g.:
Who would you rather have:
Jonas Salley (Knights) or Ross Aloisi (Phoenix)?John Tambouras (Knights) or Steve O'Dor (Phoenix)?Noah Hickey (Knights) or Tony Lockhead (Phoenix)?Leilei Gao (Knights) or Daniel (Phoenix)?Alen Marcena (Knights) or Vaughan Coveny (Phoenix)?Alen Marcena (Knights) or Costa Barbarouses (Phoenix)?Buari/White (Knights) or Ferrante/Lia (Phoenix)?
Not all direct comparisons position for position, but
somewhere to start ...
football tragic for too long
Salley and Tambo (when is he going to be signed????) and Marcina
definitely
Daniel will have to be good to be better than Chinese
Geezer
Dunno bout the other match ups.
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
Straight up I'd take Salley.
Agreed. Was all class. In truth I think the only wins for the Phoenix are Daniel, Lochhead and Ferrante/Lia.
I still think they should bring back Dennis Ibrahim
You said: "Felipe has never been seen so how can we give an honest
rating?"
True, so maybe the better approach would be to ask re match-ups of
players we do know, e.g.:
Who would you rather have:
Jonas Salley (Knights) or Ross Aloisi (Phoenix)?John Tambouras (Knights) or Steve O'Dor (Phoenix)?Noah Hickey (Knights) or Tony Lochhead (Phoenix)?Leilei Gao (Knights) or Daniel (Phoenix)? Both very good (not sure about Daniel)Alen Marcina (Knights) or Vaughan Coveny (Phoenix)?Alen Marcena (Knights) or Costa Barbarouses (Phoenix)?Buari/White (Knights) or Ferrante/Lia (Phoenix)?
Not all direct comparisons position for position, but
somewhere to start ...
In the above you arent comparing similar players, therefore
its unbalanced.
That comparison is favouring the Knights though, try this one:
Milosovich (Knights) vs. Mosss (Phoenix)
Sean Devine (Knights) vs. Vaughan Coveny (Phoenix)
Simmi Kovacevic (Knights) vs. Steven O'Dor (Phoenix)
That comparison is favouring the Knights though, try this one:
Milosovich (Knights) vs. Mosss (Phoenix)
Sean Devine (Knights) vs. Vaughan Coveny (Phoenix)
Simmi Kovacevic (Knights) vs. Steven O'Dor (Phoenix)