Interim coaches deserve to stay says Nix veteran
Foundation Phoenix player Vince Lia believes the club’s interim managers should claim the role on a permanent basis.
Assistant managers Chris Greenacre and Des Buckingham took the reins when Ernie Merrick stepped aside last week, leading a team highly motivated by the shock resignation to a 3-0 rout of the Central Coast Mariners in Hamilton.
Speculation has swirled since Merrick stood down in the wake of a slow start to the season, with the Wellington outfit stating they wanted to appoint a replacement by Christmas.
With that deadline rapidly approaching, and no firm news out of Phoenix headquarters, the only member of the team present for all nine years of the club’s existence had his say on the situation.
‘‘It’s up to the guys up at the top but Greeny and Des are doing great job,’’ Lia said ahead of their game against the Western Sydney Wanderers in Auckland today.
‘‘I think they deserve their crack at doing it. They know the playing group and they’re just following on from Ernie’s attacking football brand, which now is instilled in the club. ‘‘I’d like to see them stay on.’’ The men in question were less forthcoming on the issue after the team’s final training run on a pristine Mt Smart Stadium surface yesterday.
Buckingham said they had been told the same as everyone who was interested in the situation, that the club wanted a decision made by Christmas and until then he and Greenacre were in charge.
While last week’s result against the Mariners can only have strengthened their claims for the role, the interim duo were giving little away on where they stood.
Asked if their partnership was something they would like to continue on with at the Phoenix, Buckingham said they were focussing on what they could control.
‘‘Whether it be Chris and I, either of us or neither of us, [we want] this team in the best possible position to kick on for the rest of the season.
‘‘There is still a long way to go, and we want to finish in the top four.
‘‘If we can leave [the team] in a strong position for us to carry on with, great, if it’s someone else then at least the team and club are in a strong position to finish where we wanted to at the start.’’
The next step in that process was victory over Wanderers, who have also struggled during the first 10 rounds with just two wins and five draws placing them just two ahead of the Phoenix in sixth.
Greenacre, though, insisted they were anything but complacent and it would take a similarly inspired display as last week from the home team to secure back-to-back wins.
Whether that would happen with the shock of Merrick’s departure fading was the great unknown.
But, according to Greenacre, the players were ready and willing to take on that challenge.
‘‘The boys have been in a really good mood, really buoyant and all in positive frame of mind. Hopefully we take that into tomorrow.
‘‘[Wanderers] are a real threat but we need to concentrate on what we’re good at, and that is that attacking brand football.’’