Hay: From player to captain, now coach
When the All Whites last qualified for the Fifa World Cup, in South Africa in 2010, they had a former player at the helm in the form of Ricki Herbert, and a strong culture based around what it meant to represent New Zealand.
In appointing former captain Danny Hay as the new coach of the men’s national team yesterday, NZ Football has made it clear it wants to recapture that feeling.
Hay follows Herbert as the second former player to take charge of the All Whites, who have failed to recapture the highs of 2010 in the decade since, and has been given a contract until the end of the current World Cup cycle.
His first games in charge will come in November against the Republic of Ireland and Lithuania, the two fixtures marking the start of a journey that will hopefully end at the next World Cup three years from now.
Hay declared his interest in the All Whites job as soon as the position became vacant in June, when Fritz Schmid departed after 18 low-profile months in the role, and he said his experience as a former player was a big part of his pitch.
‘‘First of all it was about reconnecting with who the All Whites are and I think I’ve got a very good understanding of that, having been an All White myself for a decent part of 11 years and having captained the side.
‘‘It’s about culture and engaging with the players and understanding the quality of the young players that are starting to emerge as well as the established ones and how we can mould those two groups together and get a really exciting group going.’’
Hay’s goal will be to qualify the All Whites for a third World Cup, a process that is set to begin at the end of next year and culminate in an intercontinental playoff in March, 2022, ahead of the tournament in Qatar in November that year.
The presence of coaching staff who had played for the team was viewed as a key factor at the 2010 World Cup, where the All Whites finished undefeated after drawing with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay, but failed to advance to the knockout stages.
Hay said he had been able to witness the team’s culture at the time and was keen to recapture that feeling going forward.
‘‘I was lucky enough to work with Ricki and Brian [Turner, another former All White on Herbert’s staff] in the first few years of their tenure, and then after retiring, I went over and was there in 2010, and I remember going into their compound and the sense of self belief that had been generated, the sense of camaraderie, the sense of Kiwi– ness that had been there, was something that stuck with me. ‘‘You’ve got the likes of Winston Reid and Chris Wood who were a part of that and it’s about recreating that sense that we can do something really special, so I’ve got to surround myself with people who understand that as well and who share the same vision.’’
Hay was chosen ahead of three other shortlisted candidates, one of whom is understood to have been Des Buckingham, an Englishman who has been based in New Zealand for most of the past five years and had placed an emphasis on embracing Kiwi culture in his time in charge of the national under-20 and under-23 teams.
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said they needed somebody ‘‘who was going to fit in with the team really quickly’’ and ‘‘who had knowledge of the playing style in New Zealand,’’ boxes Hay and Buckingham both would have ticked.
While Pragnell was keen to stress that ‘‘it wasn’t necessarily about [the prospective coach’s] nationality,’’ it would appear Hay’s status as a former All White and a born-and-bred New Zealander helped give him an edge over the Buckingham.
‘‘There are thousands of people that want to be head coaches,’’ Pragnell said yesterday, after revealing there had been 178 applicants.
‘‘But there aren’t that many people who want to be the All Whites head coach and Danny was one of those and that was really important to us.’’
Hay will have to work closely with Buckingham, who is an All Whites assistant coach as part of his role as coach of the under-23 team, which is seeking to qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.