NZ Football lists ‘a dozen names’ for All Whites job
probably beyond what we can do as a country.
‘‘What we’re trying to find is what’s the middle ground, and what you need is them coached and playing in great competitions. We’re not there yet, we’ve got a lot of proposals and a lot of options.
‘‘We’ve got to get through 2018 with this up and running. We’ve got to have something working by the end of 2018.’’
Heraf has signalled his intent to start setting up the national academy as soon as he returns to work in the new year.
There is sure to be demand from the football community for clarity sooner rather than later on what exactly is planned, and what it will mean for existing private academies, clubs, and coaches.
‘‘You go to Iceland, you go to Belgium, and the blueprint’s very simple – you get lots of great coaches qualified, with the very best youth, and you see what happens, and then the added dimension for us is those people then need to go offshore and play in professional environments,’’ Martin said.
Adapting that blueprint for New Zealand could mean that the governing body takes existing academies and clubs and makes them part of its plans.
‘‘That’s where we’re sort of looking and saying: ‘What’s right for New Zealand?’’’ Martin said.
‘‘And it could be that there’s two or three places that we can get to that standard very quickly with a central national academy on top.
‘‘There’s lots of good stuff there, but we need to make sure that the best coaches are seeing the best players regularly.’’ Fittingly, for this time of year, New Zealand Football chief Andy Martin is making a list.
He wants a new All Whites coach in place by March, in time for the next international window, and he has ‘‘a dozen names’’ that have piqued his interest.
‘‘We’ve seen some people who we’ll never afford, some big names who are surprising who agents have put forward,’’ Martin said this week.
‘‘We’ve seen a lot of young upand-coming coaches who have a pro licence who are looking for a break. We’ve seen some interesting names.’’
Martin director whittled
There’s no secret here the issue is cost. Andy Martin
and national technical Andreas Heraf have those names down to a dozen and asked recruitment agency Global Elite Sports to check them out.
They have also identified some people they know they want to talk to, and have set the wheels in motion for that to happen as well.
The only pre-requisite NZ Football has made public is that the new hire must have a pro licence, the highest level of coaching qualification, and one that very few local coaches have.
That pre-requisite means the next coach will likely come from abroad, and run into the same teething issues that the last coach, Anthony Hudson, did in getting up to speed with New Zealand’s uniqu landscape, where resources – financial or otherwise – and matches are at a premium.
Defending the pro licence requirement, Martin made an argument that compared being licensed to coach a football team with being licensed to drive a Formula One car.
‘‘You show me a sport where you have somebody who’s not qualified doing your top job,’’ he said. ‘‘Go to Formula One – there’s no Formula One drivers who haven’t got a Formula One licence.’’
As Martin sees it, having anything less than a pro licence means that a coach isn’t qualified to coach the All Whites, the world’s 121stranked team.
‘‘You don’t want me hiring someone who’s not qualified for the job. You look around the world, and a pro licence is a pre requisite for being a national coach.
‘‘That’s why we’ve got Anthony in, and we’re not going to change that. It’s gone well with Anthony, we didn’t quite hit the final hurdle [qualifying for the World Cup], but he’s done a good job of professionalising us and taking us to a good place, and that’s got to be a minimum standard.’’
Hudson’s professionalisation of the All Whites came with a hefty price tag, as the programme cost between $8 million and $9 million during his three years and three months in charge.
The environment under Hudson has previously been described as of a Premier League standard, but that certainly hasn’t translated into results – the All Whites have managed one win against nonOceania opponents in the past three years – and there is a debate to be had as to whether it is necessary and sustainable, given NZ Football’s limited financial resources.
In Martin’s eyes, however, a standard has been set that must be maintained. ‘‘I’ll challenge anyone to say why we would drop our standards. I don’t think any of us in the game, you included, would want me to drop our standards to accommodate somebody. Let’s get the best we can.
‘‘We know we can’t pay the money that England pay or Germany pay, but we can find a way to find a good candidate.’’
We’ve seen a lot of young upand-coming coaches who have a pro licence who are looking for a break. Andy Martin, NZ Football