Herdman walks away; then there were two
Two former New Zealand Knights players are the only contenders on NZ Football’s All Whites shortlist not to have ruled themselves out – current under-20 coach Darren Bazeley and former Scottish international Scot Gemmill.
Canada men’s coach John Herdman is understood to have been the governing body’s preferred candidate, but he has now publicly committed to staying put as the North American nation prepares to co-host the next World Cup.
Herdman confirmed he had turned down a job offer from NZ
Football yesterday, less than 24 hours after Stuff and other media reported he was the man chief executive Andrew Pragnell had set his sights on.
‘‘Success at this level will always invite opportunity,’’ Herdman said in a statement. ‘‘I’ve received several offers in recent months, all of which I’ve turned down, including an offer from New Zealand Football’’.
Bazeley is set to have the chance to audition to become the permanent All Whites coach when he takes charge of the team on an interim basis for two friendlies against China next month, but the former Knights defender has confirmed he was told he wasn’t the preferred candidate.
His former Knights team-mate,
Gemmill, is understood to have been the one previously unreported candidate on NZ Football’s five-strong shortlist, which also featured Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay and former New Zealand under-20 and under-23 coach Des Buckingham.
Talay learned on Tuesday that he hadn’t got the job.
Buckingham ruled himself out when he signed a contract extension with Indian Super League club Mumbai City at the start of January.
It is not known whether Gemmill has been told he hasn’t got the job, like Talay, or if he still remains in contention, but compared with Herdman, Buckingham and Talay, the Scottish agegroup coach could not be
described as ‘‘an absolute standout’’.
Those were Pragnell’s words on Wednesday, when he spoke about the events leading to the interim appointment of Bazeley and made it clear his focus had been on one candidate, who had been presented a contract offer in early January.
Pragnell said on Wednesday that candidate had been ‘‘very close’’ to signing that contract, before a family health issue forced them to take a step back from the process.
Pragnell was unavailable for comment yesterday following Herdman’s statement, though NZ Football issued a statement of its own saying that it ‘‘remain[s] in positive dialogue with our pre
ferred candidate’’ and that it would ‘‘not be commenting on media speculation’’.
Unless talks are continuing between NZ Football and Herdman in private, despite his public statement to the contrary, the candidate being referred to yesterday isn’t the one that was NZ Football’s first preference.
It now faces the prospect of looking beyond its first preferred candidate and could potentially find itself starting its search all over again.
Pragnell said on Wednesday he remained optimistic of securing the signature of his first choice, but did say the end of the March international window would provide ‘‘a chance for [NZ Football] to step back and decide what’s next’’.