Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA

And in more recent news - Gareth has called for the eradication of domestic cats. All domestic cats.

Yes.

Reading Jason Pine's blog the main question I still have is when did Ricki's presentation to the Board occur? Unless it was a long time ago I am inclined to have some sympathy for Ricki if he was trying to implement something in a more measured way and maybe wasn't yet ready to really go public with it. He may not have even discussed it fully with the players, knowing the current crop's limitations. I remember that it seemed to take ages for Sanchez and Smith to get confirmation of 1-year extensions during the off-season. Maybe that was the pivotal moment for Ricki? If he had been able to get two decent midfield options for the money available then he would push fully ahead with the style change this season. If not, then just make do this season and try and quietly lay some ground work instead. That would explain some of the player's comments anyway.

Instead, Gareth gets excited, blurts out something about being more attacking to Veitch (still not the worst crime in the word IMO), media, fans etc jump all over it, and the rest if history.

Yes .. fur will be flying ... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10860618

Hmmm..subliminal message here about cats and Phoenix...? :>)

and on another note interesting article in DomPost this morning where Roar talk up their chances of getting 30 out of 30 points to make top 6 and still win title (yeah right)....whereas...

Fever cat!

If you're into conservation of NZ native species etc then it makes more sense - though I suspect most NZ people don't really care too much about the environment as a priority. He probably should have focussed on promoting eradication/control of feral cats and better control of the impact of domestic cats. He is doing good work for conservation overall though.

yeah getting rid of all domestic cats is a little bit of a "greenie overreaction" - controlling the existing population of pet cats and eradicating the feral ones is the key.

There have been some good posts regarding the way forward for the Phoenix.

I agree this season isn't going anywhere and needs to be used to blood new talent. Therefore give Boxall and Hogg decent game time to see if they can hack it in the A League. Start the rebuild now.

Next season drop the ageing fading performers and bring in the best of ASBP/All Whites available and add some good Aussies and then look to the UK to replace Ifill with a couple of good signings.

As for dropping Ricki. Plenty of other A League sides have sacked coaches after poor runs and prospered as a result. Why not the Phoenix? Why does Herbert have special protection no other A League coach has?

Spam Campbell Live with Phoenix messages!

How many NZ managers have an A Licence coaching certificate (which is a requirement for anyone taking up a head coach role in the A-League)?

Danny Hay

Because plenty of other A League sides have sacked coaches after poor runs and not prospered as a result. Also, the "pay 'em out and get rid" mentality does not seem to fit with Welnix' overall approach.

I also suspect that, behind the scenes at least, Welnix are aware they have played their own part in this season being a balls up.

Personally, I don't see much to be gained by sacking Herbert right now. A new coach would be an interim only and still be a long shot to get us into the play-offs. Better to tough this out and see if Ricki can actually make something out of this season. Like you I would like to see a bit more experimentation with the side at this point.

Siggy to pair up with Brockie up front? His finishing can't be much worse than the rest of the strikers at the moment...

siggy at the far post. thats his position

Just tell him to stand there, then when our crosses are constantly peppering that far post, someone will be there

Okay, that's freakin' it. I've given Welnix the benefit of the doubt, but... SACK GARETH . I will boo him whenever I see him.

I'm really disappointed that you didn't trigger one of the filters that replaces 'Sack blah' with the cat in your post there Doloras. Would have been hilarious.

Also, FortTimes just started a nice thread about Gareth and his cats, all your cat talk can go in there from now on: http://forums.yellowfever.co.nz/categories/off-topic/topics/the-cat-thread?page=1#post_826308

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/8207547/Phoenix-rudderless-confused-directionless

Great article in DomPost just now.

You say great, I say incredibly unsubstantiated and poor.

I agree with this bit:

Herbert might be the right man to go forward, but he might not be. There needs to be rigorous and informed debate at board level.

 Yeah it's a hard read for fever fans, but it's sadly where it's at.

Sad seeing articles like this. People just waiting to stick the knife into the club.

Gareth's cat-bashing is all just a distraction from him answering questions about the nix.

Anyway, there's only one species that's ultimately responsible for the decline of New Zealand's native species: HOMO SAPIENS

kill 'em all! 

(then we won't have to endure performances like last week's again)

The guys an idiot. Probably broke a forum rule there but his attitude to cats speaks for itself and requires no justification here. Maybe he will insert a no cats rules into players contracts?

If he inserted a "no pussies" rule in the contracts, I wouldn't object, frankly.

I normally respect Fred as a football journalist but he spent the first half of the article spouting the same untruths as the rest of the journalists at the Doom Post. WELNIX DID NOT ORDER THE NIX TO START PLAYING LIKE BARCELONA MID SEASON. FFS do these people need to be told over and over again. Its been well documented what actually happened...read Pineys account. I would trust Piney more then any of those gossip columnists. Its lazy journalism and it does not help the present situation. It has just given those that oppose the club more ammunition. Headlines like "rudderless, confused, directionless" are going to kill off any hope of getting any sort of crowd this weekend. Are these people trying to drive the club under? And then will these guys be happy....they will have no football to report on and will have to go back to the level they crawled up from....writing obituaries and covering Council meetings.

I largely agreed with the second half of Freds piece.

I think there's just confusion about the confusion.

Piney's blog still doesn't say whether the planning meeting occurred pre-season or during the season.

And it still doesn't explain why RH held a meeting with the players after round 6 where he told the players that he would be changing style after Gareth gave his mid-season interview (as told by Brockie to 4-4-2)

none of that is explained, or fits in nicely, with Piney's account

A totally plausible scenario is that Ricki was just taking a low-key approach to the changes with the players - having failed to secure better midfield options than Sanchez and Smith in the off-season, and not wanting to cause any disquiet until he knew he had the personnel to do the job. Would have been good man management if Gareth hadn't got excited and forced the issue.

Speculation admittedly, but not a stretch and fits in nicely with everything else we've been told (including the fact that Sanchez and Smith were not offered one year contract extensions until quite late in the pre-season).

You probably need to borrow my rose-tinted glasses to see it though.

And I think there was a demonstrable change in the way the Nix played after the time of the announcement.