Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA (Part 2)

Domey's been on Radio Sport the last couple of days

Yesterday (in time order)

After the news... https://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/radiosport/2017....

Continues here https://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/radiosport/2017....

and wraps up here https://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/radiosport/2017....

Sunday

Very end of this https://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2017...

Continues here https://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2017...

The Nix are the only reason I got into Football.

It was a sport I played as a child and paid no mind as I got older.  Went to one Nix game in the YF zone and fell in love.  Now I attend Central League games as often as I can, All Whites games where I can and watch a decent amount of NZ football.

The Nix from both a supporter perspective and a pathway to professional football is IMO good for NZ football.

Good interview - lot's of good info.

Starts 11 minutes in on the first link.

good interview from Buck. They looking out the Hutt for training space too?

Talk of getting the football clubs and players onside as supporters.

I laughed at how keen we for the video referees. No doubt Domey's looking for an even playing field.

All that says to me is that Roy deserves to be playing for a better side unfortunately.

SHHHHH don't tell him.

Fixed....

I do understand that the stats show he is making a much better contribution than Cahill but I don't think it says he should be playing for a "better side". He is performing for us, because of us, we trusted him, gave him the chance. He's ours.

Dear Gareth, love your Opportunity Party. Really, what's not to like about giving everyone the opportunity to succeed? Talking of success... any chance you could divert a few extra dollars to help the Nix succeed? Just enough to buy a top drawer coach and enough top-drawer players to take them out of the A-League cellar and make them an A-League powerhouse. And maybe secure their future beyond the next couple of seasons at the same time? It could be your first job as Prime Minster, although I'm not sure anyone on this forum, or the club, can wait that long. Cheers...

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/90547321/who-can-save-the-phoenix-wellington-on-borrowed-time-after-failing-to-learn-their-lesson

when are we gonna know where we stand, can we collaborate with an aussie city and keep the nix but half the home games played here .. dont talk sharke .... why cant we just have a frakin footy team. ifeel sorry for the english, german etc fans who move over here , i wouldnt move to this non football lovin sharkehole..

            sorry too many woodys

I see where you're coming from, but have to disagree.  I moved to NZ for non-footballing reasons twenty-odd years ago and I choose to support the Nix, the local club I have, rather than a club somewhere in Europe.  Sure I enjoy seeing the odd game or two at the top level on telly, say the Champions League etc, but I watch it dispassionately. In contrast, nothing beats the sheer emotional rollercoaster of being a committed Phoenix supporter.

As a migrant you accept to take the bad with the good. So if you move here from Europe then you know that football is not the #1 sport here. Yes you can support a continental club instead, and just look down your nose at Phoenix, or Auckland City FC, or Ferrymead Bays for that matter, but all that means is that in your heart you're just a tourist.

If the FFA use effective Metrics and are guided by metrics Adelaide would be in bigger trouble than the Nix. 

i know and i support the nix ,i love being there, what it would be to feel the atmosphere of fans that are there win or lose , or sit down for smoko  and talk about them nix. honestly formula one gets more chat over a cuppa? . two home games left lets make an effort....

Why

AU crowd average 10,160 Nix crowd average 6,308

Memberships..AU 10, 088 Nix memberships 4,791

The last time I saw the ratings AU were about fifth, Nix were 10th 

Adelaide 1.25 million, Wellington 0.22 million

I thought the article was good and spelt out a few home truths including the travelling circus. Drop the one eted anti aussie sentiments and Cockrill is correct. There is a difference  in being prudent and being tight.

NZ 4.4 million

Per capita doesn't matter for shark to the FFA, that's why they want teams in big cities. It might make us feel smug but the fact we are getting better crowds per capita than the runaway league leaders is irrelevant to the FFA's bottom line.

There's no way we're going to get crowds consistently above 10k so if that is the criteria that our crowds are judged on that is simply insanity.

They put the team here, the team has lost money year after year while the FFA has profited from them being in the A-League, and the team was around when they needed them.

In every competition there's going to be big teams and small teams and big cities and small cities. 

I'm not smug about crowd per population, but the fact is the population of Wellington is small and can't sustain big crowds.

Regardless, Dome said that our metrics are to be in the same ball park as CCM and the Jets so why we're comparing ourselves to Adelaide I have no idea.

Obviously you have to be within close proximity to a game to attend.

Yeah, but I get the feeling you'd vote for Donald Trump if he said that the travelling circus was "sad, bigly".

Greater Wellington 0.45 million is probably the appropriate figure (i.e "people who have to drive less than an hour to make the game").

Is this still true? Have WelNix not staunched the bleeding of $$$?

Haven't they always said 10k was the break even point? Two marquees and a reserve team can't be cheap.

what are the economics of using westpac stadium over the stadium up the valley ? besides nice toilets... it dosent feel good looking at empty seats. i wonder how the all whites will go on crowd numbers?

There is no other suitable stadium in the region, they built a temporary one a few years ago but that was a one off.

not one that can hold 6-10000 people withn an hour or train away thats pretty poor for a capitol city

 So I agree with what you are saying. Problem is that the FFA don't think like that - which is why they are dismissive of regional bids and are constantly talking up new teams for big city derbies.

Here's a fun fact: Monaco are currently top of Ligue 1 and in the quarterfinals of the champions league but their metrics are barely better than ours - crowds of less than 7000 several times in the league this year. 4300 for one game even. 

maybe the phoenix should have started in hamilton  ,its central, rugby park is a good size ""i guess its rugby park"" ,populations good dont know about culture .i like wellington but it has its limits. maybe to help the nix shine we need a second south island based team or hamilton but not orcland..

100%

I feel lucky that my parents who were immigrants from Holland and England, took me to see the local matches in Nelson as a kid. This was from the mid-seventies on at a great time for football in Nelson with promotion to the national league, winning the Chatham Cup etc.

This got me hooked on following football, in conjunction with the All Whites run to the '82 World Cup with five of the NZ team having played for Nelson plus assistant coach Fallon.

My parents were both football fans before immigrating but didn't maintain much interest in football in their home countries compared to interest in football in NZ (apart from 'Big League soccer" on TV every Sunday and watching Holland on TV in the '74 and '78 World Cups). 

We would walk as a family the twenty minutes down to Rutherford Park from our home to see Nelson United play.

My mum, a nurse and first aid instructor even eventually became the team's medical personnel. Once she had to rush on to the field to treat a broken leg with the broken bone sticking through the skin.   

The immigrants continue to contribute in a big way to football in places like Nelson and Christchurch.

There's so much more football to follow now in NZ with the Phoenix as well as the national league and regional leagues.

My Dutch cousins have been here and seen the Phoenix play and thought the standard was pretty good and the games exciting (admittedly they did strike it lucky in the games they saw on TV and at Westpac).

It's also easy to meet the players and coaching staff here after national league or regional league games which you can't do at matches in the UK or Europe. I had a good chat with Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx this season after a game and Canterbury United coach Willy Gerdsen a few times, Aaron Spain yesterday at a Mainland Premier match, Ben Sigmund, Tom Schwarz previously at games. And I've met several former All Whites over the years at matches such as Wynton Rufer, Fred de Jong, Steve Sumner, Steve Wooddin, Bobby Almond, Richard Wilson, former All Whites coach Ian Marshall etc. All approachable and interesting to talk to.

Yes Pete, the accessibility to players and coaches is amazing for us in New Zealand. We probably have no idea how hard it would be to talk to anyone in a football mad country overseas.

Leading on from my post above and getting back on topic, another bloke I've met at a match in Christchurch in the past is Michael Cockerill, the A-League commentator and FFA website head.

It should be noted that Mike has close Kiwi connections and in fact started his journalism career in NZ, in Christchurch in fact as football reporter for the Christchurch Star (then an evening daily) 1980 - 1986.

He holidays here regularly still and keeps in touch with Kiwi journalists like Tony Smith. I'm not sure but he might be an Aussie of NZ descent. 

Hence his opinion piece commissioned by the Dom Post this week on the Phoenix and their owners:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/90547321/who-...

Don't know how much of what Cockerill says is speculation but seems to make some good points on needing to get it together marketing-wise, player-wise etc.:

"Who can save the Wellington Phoenix? Not Rob Morrison, I fear. The chairman of a club which almost passed into history last season is showing few signs of learning from the bruising experience..

...So whether it's a slow death, or a quick one, the Phoenix seem to be on borrowed time in terms of the FFA's thinking. The body language, the inferences, coming out of Whitlam Square every time Wellington are mentioned reveals the truth. The FFA are still willing to kill off the club. Maybe it's simply a question of when.

So Morrison's continued unwillingness to embrace the top-end projects which could well deliver the 'metrics' the FFA is obsessed with remains his Achilles heel. There are others in the Welnix group who recognise this, principally Gareth Morgan and perhaps Henry Tait.

For whatever reason, they've been unable to get Morrison on board in matters like a genuine marquee star, a major marketing campaign, and even the boutique stadium project at Petone. Indeed it's believed they've had to fund some of Wellington's recent recruits out of their own pocket because Morrison runs such a tight budget. Then there's the question of whether a number of recent departures from the front office reflect growing frustration with the way the club is evolving..."

Interesting that Cockerill also mentions Nix chairman Morrison being part of talks going on between "a group of four club owners discussing the future of a semi-autonomous A-League with the FFA." On the English Premier League model I guess.

your barkin up the wrong tree most of you self called imagrunts have experenced a atmosphere of a top class crowd , thats the experiance  that i envy , singing laughing, cryin pissin in their bovril while they sh1te in our shoes "'billy connelly'". the closest ive got is having a glass smashed on my head by a man city cock in the maukau pub kapiti because i had a mufc scarf on. enjoyed every minute until the next day. my best pal was a kiwi pom and from 5 we played every day if it wasnt for his tribe id probably played darts