McGlinchey playing for his future
Anthony Hudson may be a big fan of Michael McGlinchey but the experienced Wellington Phoenix midfielder says he won’t be packing his bags for the United States anytime soon.
Hudson has brought three All Whites with him to Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids, with centre-back Tommy Smith confirming his move away from boyhood club Ipswich Town yesterday.
McGlinchey said he was not surprised that Hudson made a play for the 27-year-old, who made 268 appearances for Ipswich across 11 seasons.
‘‘He’s had 250 games under his belt and is a leader in the dressing room, sort of like [Andrew] Durante. So I think the gaffer was wanting that sort of figure in his team and I’m not surprised he’s went for him,’’ McGlinchey said.
But McGlinchey, one of 14 Wellington players off contract at the end of the season, revealed he will not be joining Hudson, Smith and fellow New Zealand internationals Deklan Wynne and Kip Colvey in Colorado, laughing off any talk of a potential reunion.
However, when quizzed on his future plans, the 31-year-old, who was a regular for the All Whites during Hudson’s tenure, was giving little away.
‘‘There’s a lot of people in that dressing room and around the league that are coming off contract and the next 10 games are massive for everyone. We want to get in the top six and the best way to get contract offers or what not is to perform on the pitch and that’s what we’ll try to do,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve been really happy here the last three-four years and if that continues then so be it. I’m 31 now so I’ve got a lot of different factors to look at; wife and kids. But we’ve been really settled here so we’ll see how it goes.’’
McGlinchey said there was renewed confidence in the Phoenix camp following Saturday’s 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets, with new signings Nathan Burns and Matija Ljujic sparking the team’s mid-season revival.
But although Burns and Ljujic have been grabbing the headlines, McGlinchey singled out midfield partner Matthew Ridenton, who was tasked with marking Dimitri Petratos out of the game, as Saturday’s top performer.
‘‘I thought that was his best game. He was given a specific role to do on a top player in the league and he completely controlled him,’’ he said.
‘‘I think Matt just has to keep learning from that and each game he plays he gets better and better so he’s one for the future, definitely.’’
The Phoenix are within reach of the top six now, just five points off, and have a chance to close the gap even further when they host Adelaide United at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
Adelaide head into the game on the back of a heavy 5-0 defeat to Melbourne City.
‘‘The results have been going our way and you look at the table and think ‘there’s a chance now with 10 games to go that we could have a good run in.’’’
The Phoenix will have to shuffle their defensive unit for the match, with Daniel Mullen the latest centre-back in doubt through injury. With Marco Rossi suspended and Dylan Fox out for another week with a hamstring injury, coach Darije Kalezic will be sweating on the fitness of Mullen, who was due for a scan yesterday.