New coach has big task on his hands

Fritz Schmid has his work cut out to earn the respect of the New Zealand football community. The announcement yesterday that the 58-year-old from Switzerland was the new All Whites coach was expected to be met with instant opposition in some parts of the New Zealand football landscape.

There have been threats swirling around for weeks from certain groups, saying they would rebel against New Zealand Football if their ‘‘worldwide search’’ for a new coach ended with the hiring of a mate of technical director Andreas Heraf.

And that, it appeared, was exactly what happened.

The pair know each other from their time at the Austrian Football Association during the early part of this decade, with Heraf an agegroup teams coach and Schmid assistant coach of the senior national team.

There was a fear from some that Heraf had surrounded himself with yes men who would not challenge him on his approach. Whether that’s the case, or even if it’s a bad thing, remains to be seen.

There was also annoyance that one of their own, Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx, was ruled out almost immediately because he would not acquire his pro licence until May.

While he is not a Kiwi coach, he has put a huge amount of personal investment into the game here, having coached at City for a decade, leading them to unprecedented success both domestically and at the Club World Cup.

His knowledge of the New Zealand football landscape and respect from coaches around the country is vast. He’s shown he’s not just here for a job or one World Cup cycle, and the way he was rejected sent a clear message to any aspiring coach in New Zealand: the top job will not be yours if you keep coaching here. So what of Schmid?

Well, he hasn’t been a head coach for 16 years, since he was in charge of Swiss second-division team SC Kriens. His career has predominantly been as an assistant coach at clubs such as Swiss heavyweights Basel, while he spent the last three years as technical director at the Football Association of Malaysia.

That job ended in October, so he has been out of fulltime work since, although perhaps Heraf sounded him out at that stage, knowing former coach Anthony Hudson was unlikely to stay on if they lost the World Cup qualifier against Peru. That ended in a 2-0 aggregate loss in November.

Schmid’s resume is solid enough to say he could be a decent All Whites coach.

It would be good to give him the benefit of the doubt and an opportunity to prove his worth, but the chances of that happening, at least in some sectors of the New Zealand football community, are unlikely.

He has his first chance to create an impression when the All Whites take on Canada in Spain on March 24, although few people will see that game, as it will be played behind closed doors.

What Schmid really needs to do is get out and face those already against him. That’s how he will create an impression. Heraf tried that, but failed, turning an array of football figures against him.

That shouldn’t dishearten Schmid though, who must prove he’s his own man, or else risk facing a tough four years for him and his age-group coaches/ assistants.