Danny Hay's exit is the latest in a long history of gaffes by New Zealand Football, writes Michael Burgess. Photo / Photosport
Danny Hay's exit is the latest in a long history of gaffes by New Zealand Football, writes Michael Burgess. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Another day, another bewildering decision by New Zealand Football.
Just when the All Whites machine is humming along – and on the verge of a bright future – NZF decide to heave an almighty spanner in the works by getting rid of Danny Hay as national coach.
Though they have tried to slant it as his decision not to reapply for the role, everyone understands the reality. Asking an incumbent coach to throw his name in the hat generally only leads to one outcome, especially in high performance sport.
On the surface, it's another gaffe by the governing body and the NZF board, joining a long history, from prising John Adshead and Kevin Fallon out of their roles immediately after the historic 1982 campaign to the bizarre appointment of Swiss Fritz Schmid in 2018.
As one long time football analyst observed on Wednesday - "When are NZF going to get out of their own way?"
Hay was relatively inexperienced as a senior head coach and had a long way to go, but he was tracking in the right direction, shown by the Oly Whites performances at the Tokyo Olympics and most importantly the playoff match against Costa Rica. Even the recent display against Australia in Brisbane was highly encouraging, even if the team physically hit the wall a few days later at Eden Park.
Danny Hay during the All Whites' homecoming match against Australia at Eden Park in September. Photo / Photosport
Hay ticked a lot of boxes. He was a proud Kiwi, who understood the football culture here, the limitations and the potential. He was heavily involved in the pathways with the national age group teams, even to the point of officiating matches at Under-17 talent identification camps.
Hay also understood the importance to getting players to Europe and has been proactive in building networks over there. Having come through the local system, he could relate to youngsters here, while also empathising with those All Whites playing at a high level, from his time with Leeds United.
He had work to do on the tactical side of things, while the review mentions he had an autocratic style (though the majority of players were either fine with that, or accustomed to it, such is football). He had to evolve, but that is what the next cycle was going to be for.
Hay also had the backing of most players, with senior men expressing their support publicly, as well as privately to NZF and the board. They had no agenda; unlike the All Blacks' recent situation, none of them are going to lose their places with a new mentor because they are the best New Zealand have, within a much smaller pool. Quite simply, they had been under previous national regimes and could appreciate how much better things were.
Danny Hay had the backing of the players. Photo / Photosport
The independent review, which NZF have essentially used as justification to get rid of Hay (or push him into a corner) contains no major red flags. It's all icing, while the cake seems to be fine. NZF highlighted the lack of alignment between the All Whites and their high performance department in their release. That mostly came from feedback from former NZF high performance manager Gareth Jennings, who resigned after less than a year in the role. It was no secret that there was friction between Hay and Jennings, for various reasons, but why have NZF backed someone who has already gone? Especially as Jennings left in a hurry and refused multiple interview requests in his final weeks in the role.
Some players have questioned Hay's communication style, while there are recommendations for a more formalised leadership group and more player feedback, but overall the review is largely positive about many aspects of the All Whites operation, while quite critical of NZF, with their planning, scheduling, investment and resourcing.
It feels like NZF and the board should have been doing a review into themselves, but instead they have chosen to undertake a forensic analysis of the one part of the operation that is actually going places.
Those who made the decision, which include the board, chief executive Andrew Pragnell, two High Performance Sport New Zealand advisors and NZF head of sport science Andrew Foskett, obviously have no idea how difficult it can be to find a talented All Whites coach, that both fits the environment and understands the limitations and challenges of playing out of New Zealand.
Their last two global searches yielded Anthony Hudson, who came highly touted and worked hard but also used the All Whites role as a springboard, and Schmid, who hadn't been a head coach for more than 15 years and resigned 16 months into a four-year contract.
