Phoenix coach confirms interest in All Whites job
Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay says he is ‘‘serious’’ about wanting to become the next All Whites coach after confirming he has officially applied for the job.
New Zealand Football is on the hunt for a new senior men’s national team coach to replace Danny Hay, who was asked to reapply for his job, but chose not to, following a critical review of the All Whites’ failed World Cup qualifying campaign.
Applications for the position closed this week and NZ Football hopes to have a new coach in place by Christmas, but it must first find a new high performance manager as that is one of the key steps in the hiring process for the All Whites role.
Talay is likely to be a leading contender to succeed Hay, with noone else declaring their interest publicly as yet, though his success could rely on NZ Football’s willingness for the All Whites coach to also coach the country’s only professional club at the same time.
There is a precedent. Ricki Herbert took New Zealand to the World Cup in 2010 when he was also coach of the Phoenix.
Talay is off-contract with the Phoenix at the end of the current A-League Men season, his fourth at the club, but the opportunity to coach New Zealand on the international stage could entice him to stay.
Since flagging his interest in the All Whites job last month, Talay has repeatedly said his preference would be to remain Phoenix coach as well.
Talay coached Australia at under20 level and worked as an assistant at Sydney FC during their title-winning campaign in 2018-19 before joining the Phoenix.
With applications closed, Talay was asked whether he had applied for the job when he spoke to reporters prior to the Phoenix’s next game, against reigning champions Western United at Sky Stadium tomorrow.
‘‘What’s come out of my mouth
has been quite serious,’’ Talay said. ‘‘I think it works better if we align NZ Football with Wellington Phoenix.
‘‘If we have the Fifa international breaks like we do this season, why wouldn’t it work?’’
Talay is expected to face stiff competition from former New Zealand under-20 and under-23 coach Des Buckingham, who missed out on the job in 2019 and is currently the head coach of Mumbai City in the Indian Super League, while former Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx, another to have missed out previously, might also be interested.
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell told Stuff earlier this month that the high performance boss would be installed some time in November, with the final interviews for the All Whites job to take place at the end of the month or in early December, with a hiring announcement to follow before Christmas.
Pragnell was also bullish about locking in the All Whites’ fixture list for 2023 sooner rather than later. ‘‘I’d like to think that before Christmas we’ll be in a position to announce, or very close to announcing, a really exciting, strong lineup of fixtures for them for the whole year,’’ he said.
Tomorrow’s match against Western will be the Phoenix’s last before the A-League breaks for four weeks for the World Cup.
After crushing Macarthur 4-1 last weekend, they will be aiming to continue their best start in six years by locking away another three points.
Western won the A-League for the first time last season but have made a rocky start to their title defence, the only team yet to win a match.
Talay said he had promised his players an extra two days off during the World Cup break if they win.