‘Clumsy’ Heraf is safe for now: boss
Under-fire Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf is safe in his job — for now.
New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin said yesterday he would not be seeking the resignation of Heraf from either of his positions, following the unprecedented fallout after a series of controversial statements from the Austrian, in the wake of the Ferns’ 3-1 loss to Japan in Wellington last Sunday.
However, Martin admitted he was surprised by some of Heraf’s negative post-match comments, saying no representative of NZF should espouse such pessimistic views.
Martin, who is in Russia for the Fifa congress and was speaking for the first time since the Japan match, said Heraf was still the right man for the technical director role and needed to be given time to effect the changes he wanted to make.
“He was brought in as a technical director with a particular purpose,” said Martin.
“He was head and shoulders the strongest candidate, having worked in that area. He presented a very strong plan that has been endorsed by the executive committee and he is going to be judged on his ability to deliver that technical plan.”
As Ferns coach, Martin said that like the team, Heraf would live or die by his results.
“It’s way too early to judge Andreas,” said Martin. “We have a plan that everyone has endorsed. Time will tell what that gives us. We are trying to find a style of play that is consistent with the quality that we have got, so that we can win.”
But Martin also admitted Heraf’s views after the match, where he said that a country like New Zealand could “never compete” with Japan and other top tier nations were disappointing.
“That was a strange comment and it is on my list to talk to him about when I get back,” said Martin. “It’s about transition . . . right now we don’t have the technical skills to challenge the top teams but we have to be striving to get there. It wasn’t a smart press conference and we will all learn from that.”
Martin, who is due back in New Zealand next week, also cautioned the football community against an overreaction from Sunday’s events.
“We have lost one game of football,” said Martin. “Clearly we played a negative style but let’s keep things in context, we lost a game of football. I’m not defending the comments afterwards, it was clumsy and it’s certainly not what I would expect one of my staff to talk
It’s way too early to judge Andreas. We have a plan that everyone has endorsed. Time will tell what that gives us. We are trying to find a style of play that is consistent with the quality that we have got, so that we can win. New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin (above)
to . . . and we will make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Martin also shrugged off the publicly expressed opinions of high profile former Ferns such as Abby Erceg and Katie Duncan, who have both said there are major problems within the Ferns environment.
“They were high quality players who made a strong contribution over a long period,” said Martin. “But we are moving on. [New captain] Ali Riley has been very supportive [of Heraf] and I am sure she would let me know if there has been any issues. If she did, we would respond to them.”
Martin also said he had been in regular contact with Heraf since Sunday.
“I’ve spoken to him a lot,” said Martin. “He is feeling really bruised. I’m not going to defend that we were clumsy in the press conference. But we have someone with real capability and he has to perform. Our job is to support him and give him every opportunity.”