KEY POINTS:
All Whites soccer coach Ricki Herbert is still the preferred coaching choice of the Wellington-based consortium likely to assume an A-League franchise next week.
Prominent Wellington events manager John Dow, who has been heading the bid by the group, confirmed he would be arranging to meet Herbert soon after next week's confirmation that the new team would be based in Wellington.
New Zealand Soccer (NZS) has provisionally backed the capital as the home of the successor to the Auckland-based New Zealand Knights.
Chief executive Graham Seatter said the Wellington group had to secure further funding by Thursday.
He said the group were "pretty close" to the minimum capital investment needed of $2 million and NZS was confident it could help them "get this over the line".
"Wellington have said that, when they have certainty, they believe they will bring home more funding, so they've got that level of certainty," he said.
"Secondly, we believe we can help them in getting that funding together."
Seatter said he was 80 to 90 per cent confident of New Zealand continuing to have an A-League side, saying most of the hard work had been done and that the Wellington group had the support of the Wellington City Council.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) offered NZS an A-League licence after the demise of the Knights, whose owners had their licence revoked five games before the end of last season.
A rival Auckland bid confirmed to NZS yesterday that it had pulled out of the race.
Seatter said he hoped to have a sub-lease agreement signed with the Wellington group by next Thursday.
He said NZS also wanted Herbert as coach of the new franchise, although that is likely to mean Herbert moving from Auckland.
"Ricki has indicated that he's a professional.
"At this early stage he's not saying to me "can't do', but obviously there's a bit of work to be done in this area."
Herbert took over as caretaker for the Knights' last five matches of the season, sparking the club to their best run in their two-year history, with three wins and draw.
Dow said he was confident an A-League team would be based in Wellington by Thursday.
He is meeting Seatter in Wellington on Monday.
"It has been a complicated process, with plenty of twists and turns, but I think we've done well. It's been fairly stressful at times but I guess we've been rewarded for our commitment to this," Dow said.
FFA operations manager Matt Carroll said he has agreed to NZS request for a week's extension of the deadline.
"They are confident they can still meet our requirements. They (NZS) now have to be absolutely confident accepting the (franchise) licence," he said.
- NZPA
