Phoenix Fan Forum - 20th May @ The Grand

Very surprised this hasn't been posted yet

How long has it been advertised?

recieved email as well.. wonder if new coach will be known by then?

 They're going to apologise to us for hiring Merrick. :-(

Maybe they are going to unveil the new coach in the style of Undercover Boss. He will be pulling pints behind the bar cleverly disguised as a Wellington hipster. Then all of sudden "ha, sucked in, that's not a surly Wellington muso who thinks he's soooo much better than this stupid job, it's actually Ernie Merrick, the new coach of the Wellington Phoenix". And then everyone laughs and is a bit embarrassed and talks about what a good trick it was.

Damn. Wish I lived in Wellington.

I think they'll say something along the lines that they looked everywhere, but could not find anyone who ticked all the boxes and that Greenie was on balance the best option. Which I don't think would be the end of the world.

Will there be cookies? Om nom nom.

It would actually be a great piece of PR to announce this to 100 fans first, and would explain why this forum appears to have been arranged in a hurry.

Probably re-hired Ricki.

My guess is the announcement will happen at the Stadium at around lunchtime (like the Stein announcement) on Monday, and then head to the Grand to answer questions. The last thing anything wants is for the Forum to just be an hour of people asking "Who is the new coach?" "When  will you tell us who it is" etc etc.

After a worldwide search, there's no man better man than Ricki 

Way to steal my first two questions!

I am pretty sure that this is all related to the Wellington Phoenix greyhound

yeah they've got some chick

That would be giving it away. Wouldn't then have nearly as much impact. 

"And we unveil our new coach", now that makes me wet myself with excitement.

I hope they have the new coach emerge from a cloud of dry ice with "Eye of the Tiger" playing.

You simply cannot make something seem more exciting than that.

With Eye of the Tiger blasting from the surrounding speakers he emerges from an elevator beneath the floor, identity shrouded by the dry ice flowing across the stage. As the misty veil dissipates fireworks erupt from all corners of the room and all lights focus on the shadowy figure to reveal...

Brian Tamaki

Classic smart remark!

#SackNeilH

Many people heading along tonight?

I'm assuming Merrick will be there now ??

Have another commitment unfortunately. Would have loved to though.

So can any one give me a synopsis of tonight's event? Or did the cider flow a little too freely to be able to recall much?

 Struggling to remember everything.

- Season membership from June 16

- Looking at putting travel packages together for away games

- Unlikely to meet 3 year plan to break even, but will be pretty close

- Nix in talks with NZF on how the U20s will work with ASBP

-

I can't remember all of the questions, but here's some of the answers I can remember:

• Neither the club nor Ernie have looked at the off-contract players yet, that will happen over the next week or so and decisions will be made.
• It is unlikely that there will be another pre-season trip to India or anywhere else, Merrick would prefer to play local NZ sides (I guess he meant ASB Prem sides) and travel to Oz to play some A-League sides.
• Season pass renewal will start on June 17.
• Merrick doesn't think that only having 1 import slot available to be filled will be a problem for the squad he wants to build
• The club has spoken to NZF about the potential overlap between the U20 side in the ASB Prem and the Academy, discussions still ongoing.
• Merrick wants to implement a game plan where the ball is transitioned from defence to attack quickly, and then for the attackers to hold the ball outside the box and pass it around until the killer ball is there to be made.
• To do that, he wants to sign a fast-paced striker to complement Brockie/Stein/Ifill who'll be able to make the run to get on the end of the killer ball (a la Berisha).
• Ernie likes the idea of having Manny in the midfield, which means something will be needed to be done to fill the gap at RB.
• Merrick doesn't want to focus on turning the Ring of Fire into a fortress, he would prefer to get the team playing just as well away from home as they do at home. Doesn't want the travel factor to be used as an excuse for poor away form.
• Domey likes the idea of choosing an away game to encourage as many fans as possible to attend, will look at doing packages with airlines and accommodation to make the trip a bit cheaper.
• Club has asked for double headers in Sydney or Melbourne to help out travelling fans, not sure if this will be able to be built into the draw or not by the FFA.
• The club has asked for more Saturday night games this season, compared to previous years where games were nearly always played on Sunday afternoon.
  

"Double headers and Saturday night games for everyone - Hooray"

I personally was disappointed that Greenacre wasn't there for the whole night.

 Did you play?

made a game defining contribution - came on when we were 1-0 up, hobbled around for a bit and then strolled off when we were 2-1 down.  Now neither Brooklyn or Wharfies are 100% sure which team I have actually committed to for the season.