This is an interesting article. I personally think that it is a bit convenient to say this was always a plane when until last year we really never employed a coach with any intention of playing guys from our own academy. I do worry that the Phoenix seem to jump from one strategy to the next quite quickly, and it's unlikely we will be getting $1m fees every year.
It's also unclear as yet whether the club can execute this strategy while also being competitive on the pitch.
All I would say is if this is the long-term strategy, we are going to need more off field football nouse, because right from the top of the club to the bottom it needs to be aligned. Every coach has to know and understand that the job is to play players from the academy and I do wonder whether we can get coaches to buy into that when it may mean that on field performances suffer.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/11...
The latest piece of Nix in house Propaganda or some sense at last?
Okay, only recently has there been some good news about the future of the club, but it seems that it has taken an age for the owners to come to some realisation of the place of Wellington Phoenix in the football world. One can only wonder why it has taken so long.
Sure, there has been the recent pressure to get bums on seats, in general to increase the value of the 'product' as well as to reward the fans with entertaining football, and with the odd win... From my seat though, I see short sightedness and a failure to have a plan and culture that will take the club forward both in football and financially.
The short term signings of players and coaches are a big issue. The constant seeking of the bottom priced foreigner who might be the seasons saviour is risky in more ways than I wish to list.
I get the feeling that most of the A-League clubs believe they are destination clubs, only different from the major leagues of Europe in location, at the other end of the world. In looking for viable options, perhaps they should view some of the frequent Uefa champions league playing clubs in Holland and Portugal. The likes of PSV and Porto have business models that revolve around the development, exposure and sale of young talent. The Dutch clubs in particular, punch way above their weight in supporting and developing their countrie's players.
The Phoenix have at last had a wake up with Sarpreet Singh. So many others that could also have made good transfers have slipped through. Libby Cacace is on his last year. Others like McGarry and Would were not capitalised upon. This season Nix missed out on Gianni Stensness, a kid who had a great world cup and is now performing very well for the NZ U23's, as well as his new A-league club. The lad plays for NZ, but the one NZ A-league club that could have signed him and made money with a transfer later on, missed out.
The new Nix coach, someone with no pedigree whatsoever, and no history with the club or NZ, was apparently given a lot of power in the decision making processes with new players. In contrast to the spiel of Phillip Rollo's article, it seems like the same old merry go round to me.
You mean Michael Woud? A guy who was never at the Phoenix that I recall.
Stensness went to try his luck in Europe. Talay was disappointed and said that was his choice, but because he choose to leave there would not be a spot available for him at the club, if his Euro trials didn't work out. No reason for Talay to tell fibs.