History for Big Pete 65

Sorry, but I'm a bit skeptical about this dreamed-of promised land of future superior players.

Where are they going to come from? Ernie's already cleared-out several e.g. for fullbacks we now have Reece Caira and Louis Fenton, but are they really much of an improvement on what we had before in Lochhead and Bertos? I don't believe so. I think it's a shame Fenton, let's face  it one of NZ's best young attacking players, has been forced to try and play as a defender - he just doesn't have the defensive skills for the A-League, although he still looks good going forward at times. He'll never be a Roberto Carlos however as I remember Ernie bizarrely comparing him to a few months ago.

With a salary cap and an apparent reluctance on the part of the Welnix owners to pay for any big imports, instead preaching a philosophy of developing their own young players, I don't see a much stronger squad in fact arriving in the next several years. Few top Aussie players have ever shown much inclination to cross the ditch since the Phoenix arrived or before in the Kingz and Knights days (Durante in the current side - who was one of the top A-League players at Newcastle; Andy Vlahos was a class act at the Kingz and left them for the Belgian First Division where he played 59 matches for Cercle Brugge). Bigger money and the chance to play in a decent side are the only things that would motivate any decent Aussies to sign. So that's not going to happen.

We'd have to rely a lot on Aussie players to build a better side because there just aren't enough Kiwis of the required standard, nor likely to be in the near future. Any decent young Kiwi players get signed by foreign clubs - and that won't change even with the Asia-Pacific Football Academy moving to Wellington to be aligned with the Phoenix.

The talent the Phoenix have missed out on, developed in NZ and currently at overseas clubs: Cameron Howieson, Bill Tuiloma, Ryan Thomas, Scott Basalaj, Craig Henderson, Dan Keat, Chris Wood, Tim Payne, Jesse Edge, Judd Baker, Michael O'Keefe, Jake Gleeson, Michael Fitzgerald, Birhanu Taye, Rhys Jordan.

People say Alex Rufer and Michael Ridenton have ability - and lets hope they make it at the Phoenix alongside Tyler Boyd and Luke Adams who are in the first team squad. But there aren't many other young Kiwi players knocking on the door.

Some of the Kiwis playing professionally overseas won't make it or will decide to return home for varying reasons, just as happens with the much larger number of Aussies playing overseas. And as with them, some will possibly end up in the A-League. But it won't be many. Our very best players like Winston Reid, Chris Wood and Marco Rojas will probably follow in Ryan Nelsen's footsteps and never return to play for the Phoenix. It's not enticing when the level of both pay and play is so much higher overseas.

Although Australia has a similar problem that the majority of its very best players play overseas rather than in the A-League, I feel we are more adversely affected than they are because we produce a much lower number of quality young players than they do.

A NZ side entered in Australia's top football competition would have fared better in the period roughly 1977 - 1999 before so many of our best players left to play overseas. We could have fielded virtually an All Whites team bolstered by the kind of quality imports that were affordable in those days. Imports who played in our national league in the '70's and 80's to give some idea of the quality available then: 

Paul Mariner- ex-Ipswich and England international (an Auckland club in the national League in the 1980's); Sir Trevor Brooking- ex-West Ham and England (University of Auckland in the National League in the mid-1980s); John Fashanu- later of Wimbledon, Aston Villa and England (Mirimar in 1982- played in televised Chatham cup Final); Peter Mendham- of Norwich City (Two spells with NZ clubs in late 70s and early 80s);

Ricky Hill-went on to play for Watford when they were a top team in the old First Division (Christchurch United 1983);

Jonathan Gould- current Phoenix goalkeeper coach, prev. of Celtic and Scotland fame (played as a teenage centreback early in his career at Napier city Rovers and was one of the team's top-scorers in the mid-1980s);

Brian McAllister- ex-Wimbledon, Aston Villa and Scotland 1998 World Cup squad (Napier City Rovers centreback mid-1980s)

In the '70's and 80's several of the best All Whites played in the old NSL (Sumner, Woodin, Grant Turner, Wilson, Gosling, Wright, McGarry, Dods, Ironside, Herbert etc.) - but most would have returned if there was a NZ side then in the NSL. We only had a handful of Kiwis playing professionally in the UK and Europe then (Rufer, de Jong, Ceri Evans, Herbert, Declan Edge, Perry Cotton - Scunthorpe) Herbert and Edge only played a couple of years in the UK. 

Sorry, but I'm a bit skeptical about this dreamed-of promised land of future superior players.

Where are they going to come from? Ernie's already cleared-out several e.g. for fullbacks we now have Reece Caira and Louis Fenton, but are they really much of an improvement on what we had before in Lochhead and Bertos? I don't believe so. I think it's a shame Fenton, let's face  it one of NZ's best young attacking players, has been forced to try and play as a defender - he just doesn't have the defensive skills for the A-League, although he still looks good going forward at times. He'll never be a Roberto Carlos however as I remember Ernie bizarrely comparing him to a few months ago.

With a salary cap and an apparent reluctance on the part of the Welnix owners to pay for any big imports, instead preaching a philosophy of developing their own young players, I don't see a much stronger squad in fact arriving in the next several years. Few top Aussie players have ever shown much inclination to cross the ditch since the Phoenix arrived or before in the Kingz and Knights days (Durante in the current side - who was one of the top A-League players at Newcastle; Andy Vlahos was a class act at the Kingz and left them for the Belgian First Division where he played 59 matches for Cercle Brugge). Bigger money and the chance to play in a decent side are the only things that would motivate any decent Aussies to sign. So that's not going to happen.

We'd have to rely a lot on Aussie players to build a better side because there just aren't enough Kiwis of the required standard, nor likely to be in the near future. Any decent young Kiwi players get signed by foreign clubs - and that won't change even with the Asia-Pacific Football Academy moving to Wellington to be aligned with the Phoenix.

The talent the Phoenix have missed out on, developed in NZ and currently at overseas clubs: Cameron Howieson, Bill Tuiloma, Ryan Thomas, Scott Basalaj, Craig Henderson, Dan Keat, Chris Wood, Tim Payne, Jesse Edge, Judd Baker, Michael O'Keefe, Jake Gleeson, Michael Fitzgerald, Birhanu Taye, Rhys Jordan.

People say Alex Rufer and Michael Ridenton have ability - and lets hope they make it at the Phoenix alongside Tyler Boyd and Luke Adams who are in the first team squad. But there aren't many other young Kiwi players knocking on the door.

Some of the Kiwis playing professionally overseas won't make it or will decide to return home for varying reasons, just as happens with the much larger number of Aussies playing overseas. And as with them, some will possibly end up in the A-League. But it won't be many. Our very best players like Winston Reid, Chris Wood and Marco Rojas will probably follow in Ryan Nelsen's footsteps and never return to play for the Phoenix. It's not enticing when the level of both pay and play is so much higher overseas.

Although Australia has a similar problem that the majority of its very best players play overseas rather than in the A-League, I feel we are more adversely affected than they are because we produce a much lower number of quality young players than they do.

A NZ side entered in Australia's top football competition would have fared better in the period roughly 1977 - 1999 before so many of our best players left to play overseas. We could have fielded virtually an All Whites team bolstered by the kind of quality imports that were affordable in those days. Imports who played in our national league in the '70's and 80's to give some idea of the quality available then: 

Paul Mariner- ex-Ipswich and England international (an Auckland club in the national League in the 1980's); Sir Trevor Brooking- ex-West Ham and England ("University" (of Auckland) in the National League in the mid-1980s);John Fashanu- later of Wimbledon, Aston Villa and England (Mirimar in 1982- played in televised Chatham cup Final);Peter Mendham- of Norwich City (Two spells with NZ clubs in late 70s and early 80s);

Ricky Hill-went on to play for Watford when they were a top team in the old First Division (Christchurch United 1983);

Jonathan Gould- current Phoenix goalkeeper coach, prev. of Celtic and Scotland fame (played as a teenage centreback early in his career at Napier city Rovers and was one of the team's top-scorers in the mid-1980s);

Brian McAllister- ex-Wimbledon, Aston Villa and Scotland 1998 World Cup squad (Napier City Rovers centreback mid-1980s)

In the '70's and 80's several of the best All Whites played in the old NSL (Sumner, Woodin, Grant Turner, Wilson, Gosling, Wright, McGarry, Dods, Ironside, Herbert etc.) - but most would have returned if there was a NZ side then in the NSL. We only had a handful of Kiwis playing professionally in the UK and Europe then (Rufer, de Jong, Ceri Evans, Herbert, Declan Edge, Perry Cotton - Scunthorpe) Herbert and Edge only played a couple of years in the UK.