Brett Angell doesn't think he was much different from other coaches in the national summer league but for some reason he got pinged more often then they did. Photo/Warren Buckland
English footballing figure Bobby Gould once suggested Brett Angell needed a minder to keep him on a leash when he got out of control on the sidelines as Hawke's Bay United coach.
But Angell argues there are many misconceptions or preconceptions about who he is and what he is as a person.
He courted controversy but Brett Angell also delivered in three of his five seasons when it mattered most to shut up his critics.
His mindset and antics often have football fans juxtaposing him with the pugnacious personality of Declan Edge, the Ole Academy coach who has paved the way for several New Zealand youngsters to ply their trade on the global stage.
Akin to Edge, Angell is adamant he's more a case of a misunderstood man rather than someone who is irascible amid outcry from some, including ropeable parents, who don't want their children anywhere within cooee distance of a park when the Englishman is ranting and raving on the sidelines.
"I think there are times when there are misconceptions or preconceptions about who I am and what I am as a person," he says. "What they see is, yes, I'm quite emotive in a football situation but that's the passion and the glory that has kept me basically involved in the game for as long as I have.
"Yes, there were times when I needed to buckle the lips a little bit but, in certain instances, I've never been afraid to say something that may impact on what they actually believe."
He is of the view that sometimes mentors ask questions nobody wants to answer because it may have an impact on the rights or wrongs of acceptable norms.
"Yes I've got into scrapes and issues but I don't think I'm any different to a lot of other people in the national league teams but, maybe, it's been categorised for me a lot stronger than others," he says, singling out Waitakere United and ex-NZ U20 coach Chris Milicich and Southern United mentor Paul O'Reilly as birds of the same feather.
"I think they are exactly the same but, in certain instances, it's only me who has been given that sort of pigeon-holed [treatment]. Paul's sort of very hot under the collar but we all are because at the end of the day we care."
Angell says everyone's different although he shows a lot more drive on the sidelines than others.
"That doesn't mean Ramon doesn't have that same drive but it's just the way that he shows it," he says of Auckland City FC counterpart Ramon Tribulietx.
"I'm sure Ramon's disappointed with the refereeing decisions sometimes as I am but, maybe, he doesn't show it quite the same way as myself."
While that earns him a reputation, Angell feels all he's done is sought consistency from refs.
With the advent of video technology, he feels, the governing body shouldn't rely solely on officials' reports.
"That's what'll always drive me on to try to achieve things ... not just the game but the federation," says Angell who also is the development manger of the amateur regional body, Central Football.
The other frustration for Angell was having teams making playoffs but not the spectator base, feeling aggrieved the media didn't do enough to bring them through the turnstiles.
The franchise had imposed a ban on Hawke's Bay Today after an outburst from Angell in 2016-17 had resulted in a $1000 fine and four-match ban.
"There seemed to be a lack of information going out so maybe that was the problem.
Whether there was or will be, I don't know, but I'd like to believe people who came enjoyed what they saw and enjoyed the way we played and what we did."
Perhaps what got Angell even more off side with the fans was his inability to select Bill Robertson last season.
Robertson, who had won two crowns with Team Wellington and embarked on O-League campaigns, is revered not just in the province but in the Central Football and Capital Football catchment areas for not just his defensive prowess but his leadership and, most of all, people skills.
His omission as the captain had left many gobsmacked and some saw it as Angell turning him into a scapegoat for not making the premiership playoffs for the first time.
But Angell insists it's smoke and mirrors.
"I think people want to make things up," he argues. "Look, I make decisions based around football."
Angell reiterates he had identified defenders he felt had filled those voids although losing the "chosen ones" shortly after last Christmas had put the spanner in the works in his bid to justify his selections.
"You live and die by the decisions you make," he says. "I just felt I needed more mobility defensively in those areas of the pitch."
Angell says people went off on a tangent about "imported players".
"If you look at it now that individual club has more imported players than it can actually play with," he says of Napier City Rovers which employs Robertson as its head of academy and also player/coach of the Central League champions side, the Thirsty Whale-sponsored Blues on the top of the table this winter and playing Wellington Olympic today.
"I've never said anything or that this or that's not right but people will have an opinion and that's no problem but at the end of the day you have to have your records right."
He points out players in the mould of Gavin Hoy and Saul Halpin had started with Bay United but ended up playing for the Rovers.
"All that's good for the game but let's not kid ourselves — we can't throw stones [ when we live in glass houses]".
Of the six imports in Bay United, Angell says Japan import Sho Goto was coming as a Rovers recruit.
"That's what annoys me. The facts are not actually factual and very one sided so no one asked me about it and that sort of comment just goes out as fact."
He believes Bay United will struggle to find a Utopian state in trying to have purely homegrown talent fly the flag nationally and in the O-League.
During his reign, players such as Sean Liddicoat, Ross Willox, Karan Mandair and Jorge Akers had put their hands up.
"Although we want them to be footballers the reality is they're going to earn their living outside of football to make a career."
Angell says for them to maintain their presence season in, season out will be very difficult.
"The smattering of players should be blooded at an age now of 16 to 18, not 19 and 20."
Luis Toomey, 17, of Napier, isn't just playing in the national league but has made the starting XI.
"If you look at any international structure and they say if we can get even one through every two to three years then the structure is actually working.
"We got through virtually one every year in the five [seasons]."
Angell says the game here will not be able to support itself in the national league because the structures aren't professional.
"What we have to accept is that we've got to help them grow and leave the nest," he says, taking pride in turning run-of-the-mill players here into "names".
Former Rover Angus Kilkolly "was an issue" when he first started, he says, but returned minus "all that silly nonsense" when he finished with Waitakere United. Kilkolly now plays for Team Wellington.
"Tom Biss also went to Waitakere and came back to me and had a successful season before moving on [overseas]," he says of ex-Rover Biss who turned out for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League a couple of times.
"All of those people, when I first took the role, were never going to play for me but they all eventually came to me for an experience and, hopefully, enjoyed that."
Frenchman Maxime Oliveri, Saul Halpin and fellow Englishman Mason-Smith, he says, fit that mould of players who couldn't play in the country but built reputations that opened doors.
"In Saul's case he moved and then came back," he says, adding it was always a pleasure to mentor them.
"Every player I've had experience with has found the experience grafted on to them or which may make a bit more sense now to them than when we working with them."
Spreading the gospel to find talent that can foot it at the national level is Angell's philosophy.
It was great to see ex-Bay United and Team Wellington midfielder Mario Alberto Barcia, of Argentina, now plying his trade in Indonesia with Semen Pedang, not to mention Wellington striker Hamish Watson who had received a lifeline to showcase his talent here before the Phoenix used him sparingly in the A-League.
Ditto Mason-Smith who played in South Africa but has a "top status" in the premiership here.
"They aren't imports because they've been in New Zealand for a number of years in Wellington and elsewhere.
"They wear the black and white with the same passion as Fergus [Neil] or Karan or Jorge who have been born in Napier so that's where the misconception is on where these people are coming from."
Angell asks what's a "local"?
"Are saying you want to pick a squad from people who are born within Napier. If that's the case then you're going to have a young one because there are no senior players in that situation."
Napier City Rovers' hopes of making the National League final are in their own hands.