Transfer Talk - 2018/19 Season

Definitely, wouldn't sign a visa goalkeeper just to sit on the bench

I hope he's good. We really need a solid GK.

So this guy and Kopczynski - I really hope Rudan doesn't have a lust for Poles which will bring us to a bad end as much as DK's lust for Serbs and Croats did.

The oggie he scored that was posted a few pages back was gold. Hopefully he doesn't get onto the blooper reel as a Nix keeper.

more Poles than Dreamgirls

Better be better than good

Yeah I definitely hope the same downfalls won't happen but it can't be understated how important it is to have someone to connect to in the dressing room. Affects everything about your game, part of the reason Drogba flopped in his first season in Chelsea.

Would be awful lonely to be some random Pole in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

wow. My brother almost made the wrong decision after college in the states. But not quite in the long run.

I don't know how many Poles there are in Welly. I live round the corner from the Polish Society in Auckland. They have good bakesales.

Were loads near Pahiatua in late 1940’s.

Love this if he is as good as is painted.

Championship winning teams are built around solid defence. 

If you are winning 4-3 a lot, the days come when you don't get the four but they still get the three.  

Look back in history.  Champions have the ability to win 50/50 tight games 1-0.

Taylor now Kurto is starting to look like a strong rearguard and also leaders.  Something we have really lacked for a couple of years to be fair.

Membership renewal coming up

Ok Kurto chat can be taken to contracted players now that he is a signed Nix player 

Pretty strong Polish community in Wellington and they have an active Polish society.Can make him feel at home with our home brew vodka which is going to be made from an old Polish recipe.If we can get it to come out as good as the stuff we had in Poland we will be well happy.

All these Poles...

Can build our new stadium through the week and play on the weekend! 

It's a WIN/WIN

Rudan using his visa purchases for the spine. Like this. 

Maybe Joel Stevens is trialling?

Thought I would post another TL;DR update of the thread

Rosters Spots used: 14/23 (Assuming Smith is re-signed on a senior contract)
Visa Spots used: 3/5 (Krishna's citizenship still hasn't been confirmed)

Confirmed Transfers:
Steven Taylor
Filip Kurto

Rumoured Transfers:
Michał Kopczyński (Sauce)
Mitch Nichols (Sauce) (Sauce 2)
Jacob Tratt (Sauce)

Confirmed Trialists:
Andre De Jong
Callan Elliot
Justin Gulley
Joseph Harris
Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi
Jack-Henry Sinclair
Joshua Wallen

Rumoured Trialists:
Alex Rufer

Plus @BenJStrang reckons Rufer has been invited back

— Phillip Rollo (@ByPhillipRollo) July 18, 2018

Was basically just a guess, seemed like the sort of player we'd go for, and I saw a story of him training in his phoenix gear. Didn't realise he had just played for husqvarna.

I noticed Georgios Samaras is without a club again. His career has fallen off a cliff recently, maybe its time he looks towards the A-League for one last payday?

I understand why Rudan wants to take this approach, but it must be tough for guys like Rufer and Rogerson to be asked to trial for a club that they have been part of for so long.

the blame should be pointed squarely at the owners for taking months to appoint a coach

I for one don't think it's that bad. Neither of the two were established first team players and I think the club have learned their lessons in regards to re-signing players without the coach's approval.  Sure, it hurts the ego, but at the end of the day you're an off-contract footballer and it's only fair on the club to not commit to paying your wages until the new coach says so.

I have very bad memories around home brew vodka but I trust your recipe is a lot better than the dodgy students I got mine off!

Home brew in Poland used to be typically made from potatoes rather than grain.

Proper Polish vodka is rye based, either plain (Wyborowa, Belvedere, etc) or flavoured (a classic one is Zubrowka with bison grass). Zubrowka is readily available in New Zealand although not as much as it used to be say ten years ago.  Best drank chilled.

Far more important that owners got the new coaching appointment right, than worrying too much about whether a young player like Rogerson needed to be contracted quickly or not. Maybe the negotiations with Rudan, just took time - plus from memory he also applied for role at Sydney.

Sure Nix could maybe have handled it better, but is Rogerson currently that great a loss? Isn’t it also potentially a bit of longer term win for NZ football. A young Kiwi gets signed in Europe, hopefully develops nicely in Germany - and could be a handy future AW.

Meanwhile is a decent chance that his squad spot at the Nix, is effectively offered to another young Kiwi. McGarry, Rogerson (and possibly Mata) have gone from Nix (sure not directly if Mata gets there) to Europe. Who knows if that would have happened if the Nix didn’t exist. So important for NZ football, that the Phoenix survive on so many fronts.

Well if rumours are correct, the first coach the Phoenix hired got a five match ban so they may have had to start from scratch.

I'm very happy that he did get a ban. Rudan seems like the real deal and has the right mindset of being hungry to prove himself. He's got a 2 year (at least) window to prove him as a high level coach so he's gotta come out guns blazing.

We needed a shake up and I think he's the man to do it. 

both?

Thanks RR, an excellent summary

And if I recall, he MAY have an Australian passport..

"Samaras was eligible to play for the Australian national team. His father, Ioannis, was born in Melbourne, but moved to Greece at the age of 13, and had a successful football career, playing for OFI Crete, Panathinaikos, and the Greek national team.[162] Additionally, his grandfather (also Georgios) was one of the founding members of South Melbourne FC. Although Samaras considered playing for Australia, he was never approached by Football Federation Australia and chose to play for the country of his birth.[163]"

I remember watching him play abysmally at WBA but he's a target man with bucketloads of experience, could be just what we need...

We definitely need a lot more possession in the team, so maybe Nichols is our man?

March 26th:

Heard from a mate of a mate who's in touch with Justin Gulley, apparently he didn't make it past his trial. He's now back at Stop Out. 

Wow really? Gulley was one of the Handy players I thought would definitely make it. 

Wonder if de Jong's absence from Masterton the other night suggests the same for him.

Yeah I thought that if there was a sure bet on one of the Handy players making it, it would be Gulley.