Phoenix coach had offered to resign earlier in season
Ernie Merrick finished his reign as Wellington Phoenix coach the way only he could.
Few coaches would have fronted for a press conference after a resignation, but he did just that yesterday, a day after his shock resignation was revealed to the public.
It was a mix of humour and poignant moments, but throughout the 30 minutes Merrick was adamant about one thing: this is a good Phoenix team.
‘‘The team is not where they should be, we’ve got a really good squad and really good staff and we’re near the bottom of the league...i’ve got to take responsibility for that.’’
The players were first to hear Merrick would be resigning when he informed them over dinner after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Adelaide United, a result which saw the club sink to last on the Hyundai A-league ladder.
In part, that was because he didn’t want club chairman Rob Morrison to persuade him to stay, as he did when he informally resigned following the club’s 6-1 loss to Melbourne Victory on October 31.
‘‘I actually told Rob via text and he wasn’t the first one I told because the last time I spoke to him about resigning was after the Victory game and he talked me out of it.
‘‘So this time I told the players first and it was very positive because they’re a good team and they can play good football, it’s just we’re not doing it consistently.
‘‘I told Rob after I told the players and then all the important people that need to know these things and I feel as though I’m leaving the club in good hands.’’
Morrison said he did not accept the initial resignation because he felt Merrick could still turn things around.
‘‘I think one of the things you see in life, I’ve seen it in business, is sometimes you can get most of your ducks aligned, but there is a sort of X-factor that sits there that you can’t quite figure out.
‘‘The great thing for Ernie is it’s never been about him, it’s always been about the club and in this particular case he’s said really honestly ‘I don’t think I can find that X-factor which is going to get these players winning’. Very few people do that, very few people admit there is something they can’t deliver on.’’
A criticism of the Morrisonmerrick relationship was the latter was only this year given the requisite funds to build enough squad depth to compete properly. It was not a view held by Morrison.
‘‘We sit in the middle of the league in terms of financial investment relative to the other teams, so it hasn’t been about financial investment. Sydney FC with the second or third biggest investment finished seventh last season, Adelaide with about the same as us won the league, we came ninth.
‘‘It’s not about the investment, it’s about what you do with the money and it’s about how you get there with the players.’’
On a possible Merrick replacement, don’t expect it to be from interim coaches Chris Greenacre and Des Buckingham. They’re likely to run the next two matches before a fulltime replacement is found. Morrison said a new coach would be in place before Christmas.
For Merrick, yesterday was about taking the blame for the club’s failings and wishing players, club, fans, sponsors and media well as he departed with his now trademark wit.
‘‘It’s been good that people have seen a different side of me and you guys wrote about my jokes and they’re hilarious. I’ve used all the jokes I used before but the Melbourne media didn’t use them.
‘‘It will take me a couple of weeks to meet up with all the people who have sent me texts for a beer. I’ll be an alcoholic in two weeks and I’ll probably leave about then. And I want some wine too Rob [Morrison], Palliser’s. Garage Project, Huawei, Singapore Airlines, Adidas, gifts will be accepted thank you.’’
And with that he was off. To do what, he did not know.
He didn’t rule out another coaching gig, but said for now it was just nice to have Christmas off.