I'm actually finding it quite refreshing the level of transparency we're seeing from Greenie as we head towards the start of the season to be honest.
With regards to light being recently shed on these deals for visa players falling over, a lot of it just comes down to $$$ - This league simply doesn't have it - We're one of the lucky clubs that have managed a couple of sales that would offset the financial losses that every club is facing while also freeing up a chunk of cap space (Thanks Tim Payne).
You only have to look up the road to see this too, with Auckland having signed a visa midfielder in Normann for sub $100k per annum, and he was only playing for Manurewa a couple of years back! This all ties in to the league wide trend of picking up value for money visa players - Guys who will give you more value for less, while also trending towards the younger side of the ledger. It's the same deal when we're looking at picking up local/aussie players too - It's just the environment we're living in for this league at the moment.
I will say here too that there are a lot of things that the club could improve upon, but fair fucks to them in that they aren't a leaky ship - If they don't want things getting out in the public domain then generally it's like getting blood out of a stone.
Roll on the rest of the signings, there is still room for optimism around the place here guys and gals!
With regards to light being recently shed on these deals for visa players falling over, a lot of it just comes down to $$$ - This league simply doesn't have it - We're one of the lucky clubs that have managed a couple of sales that would offset the financial losses that every club is facing while also freeing up a chunk of cap space (Thanks Tim Payne).
You only have to look up the road to see this too, with Auckland having signed a visa midfielder in Normann for sub $100k per annum, and he was only playing for Manurewa a couple of years back! This all ties in to the league wide trend of picking up value for money visa players - Guys who will give you more value for less, while also trending towards the younger side of the ledger. It's the same deal when we're looking at picking up local/aussie players too - It's just the environment we're living in for this league at the moment.
I will say here too that there are a lot of things that the club could improve upon, but fair fucks to them in that they aren't a leaky ship - If they don't want things getting out in the public domain then generally it's like getting blood out of a stone.
Roll on the rest of the signings, there is still room for optimism around the place here guys and gals!