Suspended Heraf: It’s a large-scale conspiracy
Phoenix secure former Premier League player
New Zealand’s women football players prefer a “family fun culture” to high standards and professionalism, according to suspended Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf.
Speaking for the first time since being placed on special leave following 13 complaints about him from players, Heraf told Austrian newspaper Der Standard that they opposed his style.
“The players oppose my European style, with high standards and high expectations of professionalism, and prefer a fun and family culture with a focus on making fun videos and opening up to social networking.
“It’s not a problem for me, fun culture and professionalism is not mutually exclusive if you say that we are 100 per cent committed to what we agreed to do, just as the players pretended to be in tactics, I told them that it would not be possible to have a say in the preparation and composition of the supervisor staff.”
New Zealand Football is conducting an independent review into Mark Rudan has made his first signing as Wellington Phoenix coach, securing former Premier League defender Steven Taylor.
The 32-year old Englishman spent 13 seasons at Newcastle United between 2003-04 and 2015-16, making more than 200 appearances, mostly in the Premier League.
He was part of the Newcastle side that visited New Zealand and played the Phoenix in 2014.
He also represented England at under-21 level, as well as being called into senior England squads without ever taking the field in a full international.
Taylor had a short spell in the MLS with the Portland Timbers and was briefly at Ipswich before a move to Peterborough last July. allegations of bullying and intimidation by Heraf. Chief executive Andy Martin has since left. Heraf told Der Standard there was a “large-scale conspiracy” and he was sure he could clear up the allegations. The Viennese also wants to stay in New Zealand after completing the investigation and continue to work as both women’s team coach and technical director of the association. He said there were different views on the achievement of goals. He wanted to lead the New Zealanders to a first World Cup win and to survive the group stage at the 2019 finals. On the allegations of bullying, he said they were “out of thin air”.
“Some people wrote in the letter that they would not be available [to play for Heraf] under these circumstances, you have to take note of that, but I’d talk to everyone again and try to change their minds, and I assume that, too, this thing is cooked hotter than it is eaten.”
He appeared 44 times for the League One side in 2017-18, helping them to ninth in English football’s third tier. Taylor is the 13th player on Rudan’s roster for the 2018-19 A-League season which gets under way in mid-October.
He fills one of the five allowed import spots, with hopes that Fijianborn striker Roy Krishna will soon qualify as a naturalised Kiwi. Confirmed Phoenix roster for 2018-19: Nathan Burns, Liberato Cacace, Tom Doyle, Andrew Durante, Louis Fenton, Dylan Fox, Roy Krishna, Ryan Lowry, Adam Parkhouse, Oli Sail, Sarpreet Singh, Keegan Smith, Steven Taylor.