Phoenix want Rudan long term

The Wellington Phoenix are actively working to keep Mark Rudan at the club beyond the end of his contract, which expires at the end of next season.

Rudan has impressed in his first season coaching in the A-league, turning the Phoenix around and putting them on track for a place in the top six and the playoffs for the first time since 2015 and just the second time since 2012.

That has led to a flurry of speculation that other clubs are interested in bringing him on board, with expansion club Western Melbourne reportedly interested in having him in charge when they enter the competition next year.

Rudan was asked in two separate interviews in mid-january whether he will be at the Phoenix next year, and on both occasions he pointed to his two-year contract while not actually answering the question.

The same answer came when chairman Rob Morrison spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald this week, though he did add that [Rudan] ‘‘won’t be at Western Melbourne’’ and that he had ‘‘no issues, no worries there’’.

When general manager David Dome was asked by Stuff yesterday if Rudan would be at the club next season, he replied that the coach was ‘‘contracted for two seasons, correct’’.

‘‘Let’s put it this way,’’ said Dome, after the repeated use of that particular answer was queried.

‘‘He’s an honourable man. Mark is an honourable man, and he has said that he’s come here and he wants to make a difference and he’s signed a piece of paper which says he wants to be here – that he will be here for two years.

‘‘We’re working extremely hard to pull together something that would make Mark want to say there’s a long-term future for him here as well.

‘‘Ideally that’s what we all want, because once you find a coach that can deliver the results that the board has been demanding for some time, you want to try and hold onto them, and we will do our utmost to try and pull together something that is going to keep Mark interested and keep him here.

‘‘Now there are challenges with his family [who live in Sydney] and we’ll have to try and resolve those in due course as well. But ultimately you come back to the fact that Mark’s his own person, and you can’t absolutely say anything these days, because people’s lives change.

‘‘But he signed a contract which says he’s here for two years and you’ve seen him, how he is in front of the camera, he’s a very honest and open person, and if there were other people chasing him, he has certainly not said anything to anyone within the club.

‘‘I, for one, trust Mark, and that if there was some realism to any of that stuff that he would have mentioned that.’’

Rudan and the Phoenix were in action away to the Newcastle Jets last night, where a win would go a long way to securing them a place in the top six.

They currently sit eight points clear of the seventh-placed Jets.