Where to for Phoenix?
OPINION: The Wellington Phoenix have big questions to answer about their future this offseason.
With the 1-1 draw to Sydney FC and Perth’s 3-1 win over Brisbane on Saturday, they are out of contention for the Hyundai A-League finals, missing out for the fourth time in five years.
The first, and most pressing, question, is who is going to coach the team next season?
‘‘What basically is going to happen is there will be the next two games and as soon as the Phoenix are out of the finals or out of the season, the club is going to move very quickly on a new coach, either the reappointment of Chris and Des, or an external,’’ general manager David Dome said last week.
Co-coaches Des Buckingham and Chris Greenacre have put a strong case forward with their sixwin, six-draw, six-loss record in charge, but their ability to recruit high-level talent, which will be crucial this off-season, is unknown.
Having the Video Assistant Referee in play on Saturday night certainly didn’t help the duo’s cause, with the VAR helping to award Sydney a penalty after Marco Rossi’s handball in the box was missed by on-field referee Shaun Evans.
If that happened last week, it would have been missed and the Phoenix might have won. The timing of the VAR trial at this crucial stage of the season could potentially have hurt the two coaches’ chances of keeping their jobs.
Bringing in an experienced coach with a proven track record of attracting talent seems the way to go. There haven’t been many indications as to who that might be, but it probably won’t be Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx. Phoenix-Tribulietx relations are understood to be very poor.
Which leads to the next, and more important, question of where is this all going?
Recruitment this off-season is vital as a better squad should help those often talked about metrics which the Phoenix signed up to when agreeing their conditional 10-year licence.
That comes up for review in three seasons’ time, but the indications from this season haven’t been positive. The club had their worst average attendance in their 10-year history of 6224 and the Sky television ratings were understood to be far, far away from the target. The only metric which was on track was memberships, which rose slightly this year.
But the metrics might soon become irrelevant if the team owners get their way.
The Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA) used talks with Football Federation Australia (FFA) in February to push for the A-League to operate separately from the FFA. What that would mean for the club licences, including the Phoenix’s conditional deal, is up for interpretation, but in an ideal world it would see the caveats to their continued inclusion scrapped.
What helps the Phoenix’s cause is club chairman Rob Morrison being well thought of among the heavy hitters of the APFCA. They’re also making good advancements with their academy and trying to get a women’s team in the W-League. But while Morri- son’s involvement might help the club stay afloat, he is also seen by many as the reason they haven’t been performing on the field, leaving the squad hamstrung by a lack of investment.
As Michael Cockerill pointed out in his column last month, there are serious questions to be asked about how the club is run. Similar assertions have been made by multiple sources, with most harking back to the original question of where this is all going.
The club lost head coach Ernie Merrick and four members of the eight-strong office staff this season.
Most appeared to juggle several roles outside of what they were employed to do. Even now, unpaid design interns help run the social media accounts on gameday, and do a good job too.
But you compare that to when the likes of the two Melbourne teams visit Westpac Stadium, bringing hordes of staff to ensure the needs of their coaches, players and fans are catered for. They’re professionally run outfits.
By comparison, the Phoenix have more of a small business, everyone muck in and get the job done feel. They have some very good people working extremely hard to keep the club going, but they can only do that for so long before they burn out.
And that’s really the point. If the Phoenix were an Australian club, then it would be fine to run the club on the memory of the smell of an oily rag, but they are visitors in a league not only outside of their country, but in a different confederation too. They have to be better than the likes of Newcastle and the Central Coast to justify their spot in the competition.
You only need to look as far as the treatment Fox Sports give them to know they’re not welcome. Fox hold a lot of power in the game across the Ditch and their negativity towards the Phoenix has noticeably increased this season.
The best way to answer that is with results on the field. Investment in the squad, which did increase this season, needs to go up another notch again over the coming months.
A formal request to interview Morrison about the future of the club was made on February 24, with several informal follow-ups, but he is yet to be made available.
● Meanwhile, veteran striker Shane Smeltz left on Sunday to take up a marquee deal with Indonesia club Pusamania Borneo.