Ernie said repeatedly that there was money left over in the budget but they couldn't find the right people. That to me shows that even the nix realised early in the season that recruitment was bad, and the fact that Sarpong was signed so late shows that he wasn't their first choice. I'm sure that they didn't realise how bad recruitment was but they knew it wasn't the best they could do.
At what stage did he say this?
History literally being rewritten as we speak Greenie
Don't be a dick.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/683...
Merrick has been given a budget to buy a striker, some cover in central defence for Andrew Durante and Ben Sigmund and he wouldn't mind a fullback as well.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/707...
"We do need to sign a key striker but I'm afraid we're no closer to that. Everybody in the world wants a goalscoring striker so if you target a player that's got a good record, there's a chance you can't afford him,"
"We got a financial gain and the board have been generous enough to give me the money to sign the right player, but even then you talk to an average striker and they want a $1million salary."
http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4021/a-league/2015/...
"We certainly will look around during the January window period," he told Fox Sports.
"We've got a spot, we've got the money, it's just finding the right player. That would be ideal really."
and then a few weeks later
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/754...
But Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick said there would be no January moves to bolster his squad, saying the team's search for more attacking threats will come from within.
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So if you look at above, reading between the lines, and coming to conclusions based on not much information then it seems that the series of events goes like this:
- They want to sign a striker, CB cover, and a full back, the money that they got from selling Burns has been put into the player budget so they have an increased budget to find these players.
- Then they are struggling to sign a striker, i.e. they are talking to people but everyone wants too much money - potentially it is because of the risk associated with going to a club without a long term future, who knows.
- Then they are going to make moves in the January window.
- Then they are looking within their squad for improvements and not moving in January.
That tells a tale of disappointment in the market to me.
In one of the articles above Merick said they have the money for a guest stint even, so it seems there was money, there was the will to sign, but signings were not forthcoming.