If the rumours are true, New Zealand Knights striker Simon Yeo is heading back to Football League Two in the UK. Yeo has been linked with a January move to his previous club Lincoln City or Oxford United, presumably on a free transfer deal following a mutually agreed upon termination of his contract with the Knights.
It's hard to judge if this would be bad news for the Knights or not. Yeo has been one of the better forwards at the team but that isn't saying a lot. Importantly, his departure would free a spot on the roster for a new recruit next season. We have to assume his wages are quite substantial, so freeing them would also be good for the club. Question marks about the recruitment strategies of the Knights persist, however. At this moment, there is no guarantee that a decent player will be signed to replace Yeo. The Knights have not released any statements regarding their prospective player clients for next year, meaning that they are once again asking for the faith of the FFA, the press and the fans, all of whom have had their confidence in the management of the club stretched to oblivion. It's too much, I feel, for the Knights administrator to continue their merry 'trust us, we'll get it right' attitude. I would like to see a great deal more transparency evoked, starting with answers to questions about the length of current player contracts (*), their wage bills, and proposed strategies (beyond the dartboard method) for signing quality individuals for next season.
To make matter worse, once rumours about Yeo's departure surfaced they were quickly followed by comments from Knights CEO Steve O'Hara to the effect that captain Danny Hay is not welcome back at the club!
I am a supporter of a New Zealand team in the compeititon, but given that doubt is rife in Auckland at a time when the Australian continent is right behind Oceania's A-League representative at the Club World Championship, all I can say is that the Knights have created their own miserable mess, a situation that is fast becoming an entirely negative and pathetic state of affairs.
* Update - contract lengths have in fact been disclosed to the New Zealand Herald. Players with loyality and/or performance problems are highlighted in red:
Three-year deals: Darren Bazeley, Danny Hay, Danny Milosevic, Simon Yeo
Two-year deals:
One-year deals: Jeremy Brockie, Zenon Caravella, Ben Collett, Naoki Imaya, Josh Maguire, Glen Moss, John Tambouras, Cole Tinkler, Xiaobin Zhang
I take it Jeremy Christie and Kris Bright have appeared on injury replacement contracts.
2 comments:
"I am a supporter of a New Zealand team in the compeititon"
How much more evidence do you need that it's a waste of time? The NZ Kingz were a joke, and this side is only marginally better. How long do you persist waiting for them to suddenly decide they love the game?
The only reason they'll survive is that there's nowhere else to put a side where there isn't a side who has a 5yr exclusivity agreement. I hope for the sake of the people running the league that they can crack 7000 by 2010.
New Zealand is part of a few ironing problems that the A-League has to sort out.
Everyone has been happily surprised by how well the first season has gone so far. However there are some issues that have to be resolved.
The New Zealand team is one. The FFA has stated that they want to keep them in the competition And I expect this is because it wouldn't look good if a team was to drop out after the first season.
My hunch is that the FFA and O'Neil who was familiar of the 'Super 12' Rugby model thought that having New Zealand could be the start of a international expansion of the League. But now that we are in a different confederation (with all the international club competitions that implies) that is no more such an imperative.
The other issue is the lack of success of Melbourne and Brisbane. Whether we like it or not we need the biggest cities in Australia to be in the finals to achieve exposure, crowds etc.
I am not familiar with the Roar, but Melbourne I think is now paying for its late preparation, both on and off the field. While Sydney was playing practice games in the Middle East, Melbourne was still getting players together.
Also the wariness of Melbourne towards football meant that there was no much money there. While Sydney had football-aware people in the board, Melbourne has Geoff Lord whose background is in AFL.
I wonder whether some choices of players and even coaching staff was influenced by lack of money at the early stages.
Of course financially things got better for Melbourne, but that was after the unexpected (for some) success in attracting crowds and the athmosphere created by the organised fans.
But even now Geoff Lord is suss. This was written by Steven Mayne in Crikey:
[i]Qualifying for the World Cup is thought to be worth about $40 million
in revenue for the Football Federation of Australia, but the deft
execution of the next seven months will be absolutely vital to really
put Australian soccer on the map.
While joining the Asian League is vital, the eight teams in the
Hyundai A League need to get their finances and structures completely
sorted out so there is a stable base going forward.
For instance, John Elliott's old Foster's mate Geoff Lord, who BRW
reckons is worth $120 million, needs to either write out a big cheque
or surrender control of the Melbourne Victory, which continues to
pull great crowds despite a recent form slump.
Lord has still only contributed $250,000 to the Victory and the $1
million licence fee is only half paid. The FFA board apparently
agreed to kick in $500,000 yesterday, bringing Victory's total
capital to about $2.5 million when it is meant to have $5 million.
The value of A League licences all leapt after the Socceroos
qualified, so surely Lord can afford to pay up and justify his
control, which has been achieved by installing various supporters in
key positions.
Promoter Glenn Wheatley wants to be involved but the poisonous
relationship with Lord and his syndicate has made him reluctant to
dive right in until the current situation is sorted out.[/i]
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