What a w**ker. f**k Joel Porter. What a waste of the clubs time.
Big nosed prick.
This is a cruel blow to our recruitment campaign
Big nosed prick.
This is a cruel blow to our recruitment campaign
I have to admit...that was my first reaction. But now I have cooled down a bit.
This is the real world folks...Trying to get quality players to transfer half way around the world to a new club in a fledgling competition is always going to be tough. In five or six years time when the A-League has truely developed and there is a new TV deal, there will be lots more money sloshing around and it will be easier to attract quality players.
I always thought it would be difficult to recruit out of the UK, especially for a half decent striker. The wages are too high and every player dreams of getting spotted by a Premier league club. NZ is out of sight, too far away for many.
So what now for the Phoenix. In terms of player availibility,cost and ease of recruitment then the player factory of Brazil is an obvious option. But as we saw last season it is a minefield....I don't think we will go there again. Preseason games start next month. It is hard to imagine there is a quality experianced striker sitting out there waiting for a call from the Phoenix.
So unless Tony P has a rabbit that he is going to pull out of the hat soon ,we may have to make do with the current squad. I personally think they should throw Costa in the deep end and play him as the number two striker with Smeltz. If you are good enough then you are old enough. We do have plenty of attacking options. Moving Gao or Hearfield forward are also possibilities.