I'm a strong believer that the Phoenix won't be a proper club until a genuine youth/reserve academy type set up is established. However, that still appears to be some time away. At the same time NZ Footballl appears to have belatedly realised thatyouth is the way forward. However, aside from relying on american colleges, overseas academies and youngsters trained up by foreign FAs, very little progress has been achieved ind eveloping NZ youth players. Our one young promising professional based in NZ, Kosta Barbarouses has had to head overseas in search of football. What this shows is that 18 is too young to be introducing young players to the rigours of professional football, and with squad sizes limited to 23, young players need to be able to hold their own at that level.
So what is the solution? Obviously over time a genuine Phoenix academy similar to what is happening in Australia is a priority. But, as a short term solution why can't NZF fund the development of young players in partnership with the Phoenix.
NZF Football should fund the 4/6 best juniors to live in wellington and train with, but not play for, the Phoenix, say 2 at 15y.o level and 2 at 17 y.o level (or possibly 16 and 18, or possibly 4 ages from 15-18). They would live in Wellington and play for local clubs during the winter but would train with the club as much as school allowed, and a secondary school would have to be involved and be willing to give them time off. Basically they would get experience at a professional level from a much younger age. NZF would fund this, the Phoenix would allow them to train and would have first dibs on signing them at age 18. Each year 1 or two new graduates would enter and exit, at 18 you'd have to stand on your own two feet. They could fill in for the Phoenix reserve fixtures also as they aren't offical and they wouldn't be required to be registered.
The key thing is that NZF funds and selects the players based on who it thinks has a shot of succeeding somewhere, not just at the Phoenix who might have different motivations. This programme would be overseen by the high performance manager and each should be on individual prgrammes designed by both the club and NZF. I think you'd assess their progress every 2 years and may release guys after the first 2 years if they aren't progressing properly. The Phoenix have no track record of developing or blooding youngsters so shouldn't be in charge of this programme completely and have entirely different motivations. The benefit for them is the availability of NZ's best talenttraining and playing for them at a younger age funded by NZF.
I know this is an AllWhiteBeliever esc rant but if people take the time and post constructively I'd be interested ot hear your thoughts. Or any other suggestions as to how NZF can start to take youth development seriously.