Paul Ifill

If the article is right and he is now a kiwi, he must be close to becoming a citizen and losing his import status??

He's said similar before.

It also says

"Merrick has convinced his former Melbourne Victory gun Carlos Hernandez to sign on for Wellington"

High quality research smh.

edit - see its already been mentioned above. Found this very funny though.

Has finished 4th year with the club the coming season will be his 5th so I guess prior to the start of the next season he would be classifi9ed as a local for A-League purposes, or am I totally wrong?

Paul Ifill....came off after 10 mins in the weekend. Diagnosed as grade 1 hamstring tear....minimum 3 weeks. Tough luck Paul.

Sure hope we can get plenty of action out of Ifill this season but this injury...which is not a major injury, makes it tough for him to make the first game. Hammies are tricky..especially for older players so I hope he is 100% berfore he comes back.

Paul will be 34 next month...which is getting up there in years for a wide attacking player. Would love him to tear up the A-league on what could well be his last season

just as well the off season is so long - still has 4 weeks before the real games start

what warmups were done by the second half subs for this game?  None came out during break.  Did they warmup elsewhere? 

... and THIS is why we have lots and lots of options up front and on the wing. Because Iffy is fragile.

I only saw two..didnt think any were subs used incl Ifill.

I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes chatting with Paul at the Family Day yesterday. It confirmed everything I always suspected- a totally down to earth and spot-on bloke. Total pleasure to meet you, mate.

Just posting to bump Ifill up the ranking in the postings as his lack of ability to start games has been much commented on.

Seems he's more use as an impact player now off the bench.

Is it lack of fitness / or just poor form or what?

Why has he been so disappointing this season?

Guess he was sacrificed for tactical reasons on Sunday too.

BTW - on the Ifill issue, I don't think it's an Ifill issue at all.

He got the Huysegems hook on the weekend because we weren't getting enough out of our defensive midfield players. So off comes an attacking player and on goes Hicks/Riera to tighten things up.

We need to sort that if we're going to play Ifill and Huysegems and Brockie.

My pick: Riera to start the next game to see if he goes better.

There was no one on the bus we could have mistaken him with. But Ifill & Carlos have certainly shed some serious weight. I still think that they will click and the opposition better look out when it happens! last season for Ifill? Perhaps. Let's hope it is remembered for all the right reasons.

I think Bertos, Cunningham, Brockie and Hernandez need to up their game to take pressure off him to create, but I think he still has the ability to beat players and has that better than probably any other player in our team, as well as a football x-factor. Think a half at most from him at the moment is best for the team, but hopefully he can start getting on the scoresheet or combining with Brockie/Hgsmz/Hernandez to make some.

Hazy memory. But I remember saying to Marshy when he came off at halftime, that Ifill was involved in the very few chances we created in the first half. But at the same time understood why the change was made - just thought he'd have been better taking waffles (again) or Brockie off instead. 

I don't know, he had one good shot but delayed that a little too long IMHO [I was directly behind him]. He spent a lot of time falling over, hobbling around and just seemed off the pace. I had an American with me who made the comment that he wasn't very good and from that performance I agreed with him. He was the right guy to sub at halftime, I actually thought it might of been Cunningham come on. I made an earlier comment that he should look to retire and I don't think he's far off that. I recall several people saying last year that the import spots should be for starters and its a waste if he's used as an impact player. Certainly still capable of little touches of magic and class, like the pass to Brockie vs WSW but we need more I reckon.

Ifill also got hit early in some leg twisting tackles. 

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/wellingtonphoenix/news-display/Paul%20Ifill/77904

Take a bow - club legend.

Fantastic person and family - great ambassador for the club and for Wellington.

('triffic guy.  You'd want him in your team etc)

100 game man! Congratulations on this one Paul.

Look. Paul Ifill is a great player, but he is not his exquisite-self when he joined. We are gradually starting to cut him slack due to his age and fitness. We must look at the bigger picture. Soon he will have to survey his options, and playing in the next few years shouldn't be one of them, that is evident as we see him this year. 

We have had several players join their countries on international duty recently, but he is not one of them, so if he is still a game winner, then why after 8 weeks have the Phoenix not won any games? It's not entirely his fault I know, but if we see him as a player who can win games, then we see him incorrectly, at the moment. He must start or at least get some decent game time. There is a standard we must uphold at Wellington Phoenix, and I truly believe under Merrick, tactically we can still finish in the top 4.

Perhaps Ernie needs to look at his positioning. Ifill (another classic pun) that maybe he could join Brockie up front and we could look at a 4-4-2 when he makes an appearance. Paul has a tremendous ability to out-smart his opponent especially on the edge of the box, and we know of his shooting ability. Then we don't have to rely on him to drop back and help defend, because we know that Jeremy has an aggressive and efficient defensive ability considering his usual goal-scoring talents.

Stein is also to blame for our lack of goals, and I would like to see more from Kenny Cunningham who I think is still yet to score after 8 weeks. 

This all is spoken from someone who sees this great club as a side who can actually win the title. We have the coach to get us there, so how about the players start producing. Anywhere outside the top 6 at the conclusion of the season is absolutely unacceptable, and at the moment Ernie's game-plans cannot be blamed. The players need to step up, and Ifill is a primary target in that genre.

COYN

Logan

Jeremy has a what?

There are plenty of other players who would be replaced before Ifill or who we might expect more out of to date.

Other than Carlos who do you rate as being able to read the game and make an intelligent pass, better than Paul?

Surgery today then 8 to 12 months rehab.

The best player tower a Nix shirt. End of.

He'll be back

Thanks for some great contributions Paul. We want to see you back.

Paul Ifill - proof that we don't need to break the "no cocks" rule to have a true star in Nix colours.

Love ya Iffy, good luck for your op and all