His ambitions reach beyond these shores

For starters, I don’t think Anthony Hudson even wants to stay. His relationship with chief executive Andy Martin is understood to have been up and down in recent times. New Zealand Football are about to go through funding cutbacks, which will mean fewer games for the coach to take.

Hudson probably already has a job to go to, with his name swirling around in rumours for club jobs in recent months, most notably the Colorado Rapids. The only way he stays is if he has no other job to go. He’s always said he is an ambitious coach, so staying in a backwater of the football world would run counter to that sentiment.

Really, apart from the last month, Hudson has been at odds with a lot of the New Zealand football community. He has got offside with plenty of people due to his prickly nature and the unpredictability of his selections throughout the last three years.

Moses Dyer’s name was never far away in that regard as many struggled to understand how the 20-year-old Eastern Suburbs player continued to get picked over players competing in bigger leagues around the world.

When you look at Hudson’s record, there wasn’t a lot to suggest the team has taken that big a step under his guidance.

Granted, he inherited a shambles of a squad after the disastrous 2013 World Cup playoff against Mexico, but under Hudson their record against nonoceania opposition was one win (1-0 against Oman in 2015), four draws and 11 losses. The style of play is no better than it was under Ricki Herbert, even though the squad is much more talented.

There is a bigger picture to consider here as well.

New Zealand needs to develop its own style of football, away from the hoof-andhope approach of recent memory.

To develop one coherent style, the newly appointed technical director Andreas Heraf should be given oversight of the All Whites, under-23s, under-20s and under-17s. He should dictate the style they should all play and appoint coaches who can deliver that.

That way players can easily make the transition through the age groups, and by the time they are All Whites they know exactly what the approach will be. It would make the All Whites coach’s job so much easier, not having to try implement their approach in limited timeframes during international windows.

At the moment, it’s so disjointed. The under-17s played four at the back, looked to keep the ball and play football. The under-20s played three at the back and hoofed the crap out of it, while the All Whites were somewhere in between.

I can’t see Hudson being a part of that. He likes to be in control and the big man on campus. That’s understandable given his ambitious nature, but it means his days wearing a fern on his work attire are numbered.