Tribulietx snub is misguided
OPINION: Ramon Tribulietx should be the next All Whites coach, but New Zealand Football don’t see it that way and will probably plump for another overseas up-and-comer.
NZF are expected to stand fast on their requirement for the next senior national team coach to have a Pro Licence, and want that coach in place by March.
Tribulietx is understood to be completing his Pro Licence in May. It is understood one NZF official has already told Tribulietx that his lack of a Pro Licence will all but rule him out of the running. That would be misguided. Tribulietx is understood to be keen on the role, under the right circumstances and conditions, and deserves his crack due to his success with Auckland City.
In his seven seasons as coach (the first was as co-coach) his team has gone to the Club World Cup on seven consecutive occasions, finished top of the national league regular season table five times and won the grand final twice.
Say what you want about how well resourced his squad has been compared to others, or the level of competition he is up against, no other domestic coach has enjoyed similar success.
He took the club to third at the Club World Cup in 2014, and they impressed during this year’s competition with their dominant performance against UAE champions Al-Jazira.
That might have ended in a 1-0 loss, but the attractive, possessionbased style of play was there for all to see and would be a welcome approach for the All Whites to take.
Perhaps even more important than his track record is that Tribulietx has the respect and backing of many of his peers around the game in New Zealand.
They will be willing to support and work with him to advance the game in New Zealand – a massive contrast to the negative light former All Whites coach Anthony Hudson was seen in by a lot of toplevel coaches in this country.
NZF are about to enter a period of financial belt-tightening, leaving their options for Anthony Hudson’s successor limited.
That’s not to say Tribulietx will come cheap, but what sort of international coach are they going to be able to get for similar money?
It would have to be another upand-comer like Hudson, a coach looking for a stepping stone to bigger things.
And the same four-year cycle will happen again. The young coach will come in all excited, with a vision about what he wants to achieve. He might even have a Powerpoint presentation, as Hudson did, to describe what great football the team will play. Then he will get worn down by the lack of resources and support over the first two years and start complaining, before finally being revitalised by a looming World Cup playoff and the chance to market himself to a club team.
Such an approach will get people offside again. They don’t want another stone stepper, another CV builder. They want someone who genuinely wants to take the game forward in this country.
Tribulietx’s approach would be different. If given the scope to do so, he could oversee the under-17s and under-20s, with those teams playing the same style as the All Whites. There are coaches out there willing to back him.
Ole Football Academy technical director Declan Edge, whose young players are up there with the best in New Zealand, has backed Tribulietx publicly on Twitter. The last under-17s coach, Danny Hay, backs him and could be lured back to the national teams setup, after saying this week he doesn’t want to be involved under the current regime.
There will be others, but it is doubtful that NZF will listen to them. They look more likely to repeat past mistakes.
One final, long question to end on: What message does it send to all New Zealand-based coaches if the most successful domestic coach of the last seven years isn’t even considered for the All Whites because he is two months short of getting a licence which has no material influence on his quality as a coach?