Phoenix steer clear of licensing issue,
FOOTBALL Federation Australia (FFA) will not join the discussion about the Wellington Phoenix’s A-League licence.
Depending on who’s telling the story, the Phoenix either will or will not take part in next season’s competition, with the club’s licence due to expire at the end of the current campaign. Negotiations between the Phoenix and FFA are ongoing but are yet to yield a licence extension.
The Phoenix’s position is that the FFA have offered them a fiveyear licence, but they’d prefer 10 years. The FFA responded to a request for comment yesterday by saying they would ‘‘be in touch when it is appropriate’’ but had nothing to say in the meantime.
The club, which coach Ernie Merrick spoke on behalf of yesterday, insists it’s business as usual and everyone’s attention is focused solely on football. The Phoenix host the league-leading Brisbane Roar tonight and having players distracted by thoughts of job security won’t aid the chances of victory.
‘‘My focus is on being at this club for the next three years. That’s [the term of] my contract and the players are contracted . . . and we’re aiming to do well and finish in the finals and nothing will distract us from that,’’ Merrick said.
No-one could envy Merrick’s position. It’s only natural for the club to say ‘there’s nothing to see here, nothing’s changed, we’re a stable organisation and confident of a licence extension, let’s just talk about the game’.
But unlike everyone else in the league, they didn’t get a 20-year licence extension last year.
If the Phoenix are to get punted from the league, the usual suspects of low attendances and insufficient broadcast money and minimal contribution to the development of Australian football might not be wholly responsible.
So until the FFA do have something to say about the Phoenix, the club is going to have to play very What: A-League round three Who: Wellington Phoenix v Brisbane Roar Where and when: Westpac Stadium and Sky Sport 2, 7.30pm today Referee: Jarred Gillett TAB odds: Phoenix $2.30, Roar $2.85, Draw $3.30 Phoenix (from): Glen Moss, Louis Fenton, Ben Sigmund (c), Manny Muscat, Tom Doyle, Vince Lia, Albert Riera, Roly Bonevacia, Jeffrey Sarpong, Roy Krishna, Michael McGlinchey, Lewis Italiano, Justin Gulley, Blake Powell, Kwabena Appiah, Alex Rodriguez Roar (from): Jamie Young, Corey Brown, Jade North, Daniel Bowles, Jack Hingert, Corona, Matt McKay (c), Steve Lustica, Thomas Broich, Brandon Borrello, Jamie McLaren, Andrew Jannise, George Lambadaridis, Dimi Petratos, Devante Clut, Jerome Polenz. well, or very poorly, to generate a story more compelling than the status of their licence.
Which makes for an interesting time to welcome one of the league’s great attacking forces to Westpac Stadium.
‘‘The strength of Brisbane is they go at teams home and away,’’ said Merrick.
‘‘They’ve also got a very good midfield and their strikers have been scoring goals and that’s a credit to John Aloisi, the coach. But we think we can match that and we just love teams that come here and have a go at us and play an open game.
‘‘There’s nothing worse than a team that just park the bus and play a very defensive counterattacking game.’’
The Phoenix look likely to stick to the side that beat Perth 2-1 last Sunday. Andrew Durante is still getting over his calf complaint, although Merrick said the skipper might be back for the November 2 trip to play the Melbourne Victory.