Manny Muscat of the Phoenix is congratulated by team mates after scoring a goal during the round seven A-League match between Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix. Photo / Getty Images.
Manny Muscat of the Phoenix is congratulated by team mates after scoring a goal during the round seven A-League match between Western Sydney Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix. Photo / Getty Images.
Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick hasn't let the club's uncertain future deter him from making plans for next season.
The Phoenix have already begun their process of re-signing players for next year, planning their pre-season itinerary and they have also appointed a new academy coach, Paul Temple.
The future ofthe Phoenix looked very unstable a month ago when Football Federation Australia claimed the club had failed to meet a list of "metrics", and denied the owners a 10-year licence extension.
But a powerful "Save the Nix" campaign has left the club's future in the balance, and the FFA is now privately urging the Phoenix to apply for a four-year extension and has cooled on the idea of cutting them loose at the end of the season. But the WelNix consortium still need to decide whether a four-year stint with no long-term guarantees is good enough.
"What I know is that we'll be playing next year in this league and I've already started to re-sign players, look at new players and plan for pre-season. The board is totally supportive of that," Merrick told Fairfax media. "I'd say it's almost business as usual, at least from my point of view. I have absolutely no reason not to plan ahead. We've appointed a new academy coach, Paul Temple, we now have an under-20 team in the New Zealand national league team and nothing will stop us moving forward."
The Phoenix are currently staying at their Coogee base in preparation for the second leg of their Sydney road trip against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night.
Sydney FC returned to training on Monday after playing in a sapping 34-degree heat on a sunny afternoon in Perth, with some players still feeling the effects of a game that was almost unplayable due to the conditions.
Merrick has ruled out defender Ben Sigmund, who went down during the second half on the weekend with a virus.
