Phoenix keen to keep Talay
Wellington Phoenix say they will do their ‘‘very best’’ to keep Ufuk Talay at the club after the highly regarded A-league Men coach missed out on the All Whites job.
The Australian was one of a handful of candidates to interview for the role, but general manager David Dome said Talay was notified by New Zealand Football on Tuesday that his application was unsuccessful.
Talay had received the backing from his club to apply for the All Whites job under the proviso he would do it in addition to his Phoenix commitments, similar to what former coach Ricki Herbert did for six years.
Failure to secure the All Whites job has cast doubt over Talay’s future at the Phoenix.
Talay is off-contract at the end of the A-league season and the Phoenix felt the opportunity for him to coach on the international stage would help convince the former Sydney FC assistant to extend his stay.
Talay will be highly sought-after if any vacancies arise in the A-league after leading the Phoenix to the finals series twice in three years despite the challenge of playing away from Wellington for large periods.
They are on track for another top-six finish, sitting seven points off the table in fourth position.
‘‘We think Ufuk is a terrific coach and has a lot of talent, and he’s only a young coach who is only going to get better and better,’’ Dome said.
‘‘We’ll do our very best to keep him. He’s stated he’s an ambitious coach and he wants to move on and do different things but again we’ll try our very best to keep him no doubt about it.
‘‘I guess the question is what is the next challenge for him and is Wellington Phoenix part of that?’’
Talay has previously coached Australia at under-20 level and Dome believed he would have done a ‘‘wonderful’’ job as All Whites coach.
He was disappointed he had been overlooked.
‘‘We were 100% supportive of Ufuk putting his name in for that role mostly because as a football fan I think he would have done a fantastic job in that role and taken the All Whites to the next step.’’