Signings Aloisi Brown Paston Johnson Ferrante

Signings Aloisi Brown Paston Johnson Ferrante

Wellington Phoenix confirms former Adelaide United skipper has signed.

Ross Aloisi has ended the speculation surrounding his playing future after joining new A-League franchise Wellington Phoenix.

The 34-year-old has been an instrumental figure at the South Australian club but left amid less-than-favourable circumstances; following inconsistent reasons cited as the reasons for his departure. Aloisi's last appearance for Adelaide was in the 2006/07 A-League Grand Final against Melbourne Victory when he was sent from the field after a challenge on Grant Brebner.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Aloisi will be Wellington's inaugural captain, however it is tipped he is one of the players in contention for the role.

The midfielder is looking for a fresh start in Wellington and has even signed with a new management team. Ritchie Hinton from Elite Sports Properties (ESP) is the man tasked with Aloisi's management.

Aloisi will be a new columnist in FourFourTwo magazine for the start of the new A-League season and spoke to au.fourfourtwo.com exclusively.

"I'm very pleased to be given this opportunity to play for Wellington in their first season," said Aloisi.

"The set-up is amazing and very professional. I can't actually believe how much the club has achieved in terms of infrastructure in such a short time. Westpac Stadium looks brilliant and I think it rivals Telstra Dome. The city is beautiful and Ricki has shown me he's a top bloke and first-class manager already. I'm 100% fit and looking forward to getting onto the park again."

PROAK2007-05-01 13:44:15

Players

phil_style2007-05-01 14:31:07

Aloisi, the key is fitness.

Aloisi looks to be a good signing one 1 yr deal, no more, while Brown and Paston are examples of NZ players we wanted to be signed as this is a NZ franchise, while Johnson had a good finish to the season and proved himself to Herbert, and i know very little about Ferrante but upon doing a bit of research seems to have a good pedigree

So four midfielders, are they all central midfielders, or can Brown or Ferrante play on the flanks?

My initial thoughts are that it is a very solid start. A decent goal keeper and four good midfielders, all proven in the A-League. Aloisi may be a little older than you would want, but he is a good pro, and an ideal clubman.

Darn good signings if you want my opinion. Its good that they only signed Aloisi for one year, then, if he wants another year, he will have to work extra hard to get a new contract. Hats off to Ricki Herbert.

Great signings really, Im loving them all! Suprised Noah hasn't yet been annouced.  The midfield is solid, now a creative CM thats off high quality would really top it off!

Well done Sherbert!

How did Sherb pull that off?! thats a quality group of players, looking forward to seeing the rest of the line up!

Next lot of signgins - Malik Buari, Darren Bazeley, Neil Emblen and Fernando De Moraes

Great start, even with these 5 im almost certain well make it mid table!!!

Hmmmmm well I like all our signings except ross aloisi. he's on his last legs and yes, we need experience but we don't want him doing what he did last year?

I do like this lot, a very good start, We have to remember that there is the pressure to perform from day 1 with other teams having 2 years to meld something over time. Reliance on experience is probably to be expected.

Ross will do his bit, and with a 1 year deal he will be kept honest.

Mark is a good keeper, needs someone organised in front though.

Ferrante is a surprising one for me, but pleasing. He seemed good on the ball and was quite creative.

Richard Johnson was a must for me if we didnt sign Aloisi, Need to be careful we dont bog down the midfield with enforcers

Tim Brown was a favourite of most people on here, so good work to get him.

My biggest concern is pace. We saw last year that Marcina gave the Knights that bit extra up front wiht his pace and I think they were probably the slowest team overall in the league.

I know  Ricky will play a passing / possession game, but we need to have some explosiveness.

So overall, good news, cant wait for the next lot.

A nice group of first signings.

from what ive seen and heard its a good start in agreement to most about aloisi being in for a year. i'm quite sure there are a few more already verbally confirmed if they havent put pen to paper yet. You build a team around a strong midfield and thats a good start. First games are not that far away so hope he gets em all togeather sooner rather than later.

woohoo - at least we have lift off!!

Good group of core signings Ricki.

Like the look of the first 5 lets hope the others make us happy as well.Seems like Hickey wont be one of them if you believe the news.

Why whats wrong with him?

They didnt say, just that he is holding a press conference tomorrow and it looks unlikely he will be heading to Wellington.That was on 3 news tonite.

Oh for f**ks sake. Is the offer not good enough? maybe he wants to head overseas and see what that holds for him. DannyPHOENIX2007-05-01 19:44:28

melburn-victory2007-05-01 19:53:31

Yet but we dont take any advice from Melbourne fans anymore - you think Thompson is your best player

Just maybe Ricky thinks he can do something with him that you guys couldnt.Have no doubt this will not be the last of our signings rubbished from the Island off our coast.

Darren Bazeley is f**king crap, he should be playing golden oldies!!! wake up

if hickey's offer wasn't good enough as reported, that can only mean good things.  ricki must be signing a better right back and a better right midfielder.

Would Coveny and Kovacevic be next?

kovacevic would be a great signing!  surprised to see perth let him go; hi and tarka were excellent last season.

I think these first 5 signings are quality. Paston has potential with the right guidance.  Johnson and Ferrante bring in great skill and Brown can score goals aswell. Aloisi is the wrong Aloisi, but he does bring in passion. What else can you call it?! Great signings, the line up is on it's way to be complete.

Ross will bring ALOT of experience to the Pheonix.