Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA

indeed we do, even piney - the ever positive suppoter has identified this!

Good luck. He's just a fan defending the empire in case it falls over completely. In fact Radio Sport failed to ask yesterday and today the one question that FOOTBALL people are all asking right now. How long can Herbert survive ?  The path is so clear - it may take a while - but in business you won't get dramatic change unless you make dramatic change. If they don't move Herbert on to focus on the AW role, then it's all over rover down the track for the Phoenix. The A League is leaving them behind. And this form is terminal with current setup.

News flash

2015 - The Phoenix have won the A League

1. They have the best defensive record in the League

2. They have an Australian coaching staff

3. They have a marquee striker

4. The other imports/Aussies are all midfielders     

5. The rest of the starting lineup/backup is made up of Kiwis and Kiwi kids from the academy.

Warriors have reached the Grand Final twice - both times with Oz coaches/staff - and significant Oz players in squad - they have rarely looked like it with Kiwi coaches and reliant on New Zealand players. Same scenario as Barba and Rojas - their young players take their game to another level when they leave NZ and play for an Oz club.  Almost without exception.

I agree, for the most part, with the points raised but those are mid to long term strategies. Our problem is that we need to find a short term fix, or the Club won't be sustainable.

yep CCM and Roar have utilised the youth team setup exceedingly well. Unfotunately the nix are unlikely to get a post in the youth league. The welnix guys are doing what they can for the long term, but you can't ignore the immediate pressing need of results - if you do then the youth will have no senior team to join.

I don't like that there seems to be too much emphasis on the long term, and little to no emphasis on the short term and the current season. I'm thinking quite a few players feel that way too. 

yup, it's kind of like the players are asking "what about me?, you've asked me to do a job and now your saying I'm not good enough but your not going to spend any money on helping me???"

...and in terms of a fanbase and the value of the club, you risk losing it all now only to have to build it all up again in a few years when (if) the longterm plans start to bear fruit. It's admirable that they are thinking longterm but they should also be aware of the damage the current situation is doing to the club's brand (as awful as it is to put it in those terms). If you look to far ahead you risk tripping over the object right in front of you.

totally, I applaud the idealism of securing the nix's future, but our present dramas need to be curtaileed or will have sunk before the future arrives.

the hardcore fans will stay no matter what - this is needed by the club, however the causal fan, needs a winning team to support, they will not turn up to a losing team that's in a rebuilding phasae - Gareth and co will not tolerate this kind of attitude for long - therefore why should we as hardcore fans accept the bollocks excuse of rebuilding. We NEED results now in order to keep the team here - Gareth has said as much so for me he needs to show that he actually wants the results to happen now.

that was supposed to have occurred this season.

The last two clubs to have won the wooden spoon have been folded by FFA soon after the conclusion of their season. Sort of like relegation. Let's hope that doesn't happen to us.

 I think that the FFA wants us to stay. Something like the Oz v NZ thing.

I think they would want us to stay also, but if we turn into GCU with terrible crowds, despite our focus on bringing through youth players, they could have no choice but to kick us out.

Plans for what?

Financial sustainability.

Not something I would raise my glass to, may say "good", but not raise my glass.

I thought this piece in Jason Pine's write-up was of interest

"What hasn’t been understood (or clearly stated) is that Herbert was asked by the owners to provide a blueprint for A-League success for the Phoenix in the next five years. He prepared his thoughts and took a presentation to the board outlining what would be required to win the competition. This included a more attacking style of play. After that meeting, when practically all of Herbert’s ideas were greeted positively, Gareth Morgan’s comments to the media were interpreted as a directive from he and the other owners to play that way right now, or risk the chop."

I think the FFA will give us every opportunity to remain in the League - as they did when we were going through Terry's trials and tribulations. I also think the owners have a strong commitment to their vision of a range of financially healthy sporting franchises, based in Wellington, and leveraging off each other - part of their commitment to a vibrant city. They signed on for 5 years and are longer term by nature so I don't doubt they will ride out the current storm.

I'm also confident that once the club gets its shit together (on and off the field) supporters will return - we're bordering on a joke at the moment but there is still a lot of good will for the Nix in the broader community.

This season is all but a write-off - whether it can be turned around for next season will depend on the owners making both the tough and right calls (i.e. coach and squad) - I'm confident they will, that's their expertise and how they built their businesses.

Personally I want to see them;

Stay committed to a better standard of football (not enough people will pay to watch our standard fare and we are falling further and further off the pace in terms of what is required to win the league)

Continue to invest in the youth development system and network

Think carefully about Herbert's future role, if they retain him, thinking very carefully about who will drive recruitment next off season to make sure we don't again fail to deliver our recruitment objectives and who will trial players, formations and run the pre-season program when Herbert is off with the All Whites

Re-assess their position on a marquee - even through an ROI lense I can't see how a Shinji Ono doesn't stake up.

Cull the squad of those who are not capable of playing a higher standard or have reached their best by date

Use our import spots a hell of a lot smarter than we have

Get communications under control - have a clear message on where the club is going now and in the future, appoint a spokesman and tell all other club employees to stfu on such matters (that includes players and their twitter accounts - these should be limited to more innocuous communications)

Nice post WB - totally agree!

What annoys me is players coming out and saying shit. You know what happens when players in the EPL talk about the club, owners, manager, style of play negatively ? 

They end up playing for the reserve teams reserves.

You know who I'm talking about.....

The club really desperately needs a media manager.

True...but it could have been knocked on the head quite quickly if someone at the club put out a press release clarifying that in actual fact the process was a concensus approach and that Ricki had advised the Board that the best way to win the A-League was to play more attacking football and the board agreed with his assessment. In the vacuum that followed Gareths statement, the media(as they often do) put their own slant on the story and ran with it. Hamish.."pitch invasion" Bidwell has run two stories in the Doom post this week which are factually incorrect and are completely contradictory to Jason Pines assessment......my money is with Pineys version. I would now never trust anything I read in the Doom Post, about anything....especially from that other toe rag Sam "gossip columnist" Worthington

Trouble is now the whole ferken planet thinks the Nix are shiite now because the owners ordered them to change style in midseason.

So I just got back from a few days camping, no mobile coverage.

Anything interesting happening?

Na bro, all good

People will come if we win.

Most of the casuals will not know the difference between good and bad football.  Put some casuals down in front of an old Roar (1st championship) match and a lot will say it is boring, they are just passing round the back and not going anywhere with it.  Our style of football has not changed much between the season that we made the prelim final (10k + average crowds) and the last 2 seasons.  The main difference - we won.  I'm all for playing good football as I enjoy watching it, and I hope we go that way medium to long term (through smart recruitment) but that on its own will not solve the crowd problem.

People will come if we win.

 yep, plying pretty and losing aint helping anyone. (not saying we are playing pretty)

Total football.