Soccer: Coach to cast wide for Knights errant

John Adshead is prepared to cast the net far and wide for players but not until he has "taken a long look in New Zealand".

Adshead, who took the All Whites to the 1982 World Cup finals, returned to the country yesterday to take up his role as football manager/coach of the New Zealand Knights in the new-look Australian Hyundai A-League, promising he will go to the local market first.

The 62-year-old, his wife Pauline and their 12-year-old son Blair, are back in Auckland for the first time in seven years. They had a year in Perth, where Adshead had a brief stint with a state league side after recovering from a heart attack, before taking up a coaching/development role in Oman.

"It has been pretty hectic since I agreed to come back," he said.

"I worked through to the first week in January, when I had to mark exam papers after finishing a B-level coaching course for 27 coaches.

"That was something different as all the written work was done in Arabic and I had to get someone to read it back to me.

"It was good to do something like that," he said. "You need a refresher every so often."

Asked whether he preferred working with coaches or players, Adshead said: "Players, all the time."

He said there was "shock, horror" in Oman when he told the federation he was returning to New Zealand.

"The president kept calling me saying 'We will pray you will stay' but in the end they accepted I was going.

"I have felt comfortable with the decision all the way. We felt it was not so much leaving a job but a lifestyle."

Pauline Adshead said she enjoyed her time in Oman.

"The only time I was at all apprehensive was when the first Afghanistan war broke out and John was away," she said. "But we have had lots of exciting times."

Before he left the Middle East, players called Adshead to ask him about playing here.

"For the first time players in Oman are looking to play elsewhere. One of my goalkeepers is off to England and will become the first to play in the premier league."

Clubs in Saudi, Qatar and the Emirates were offering big money, "but I have warned players to make sure they have everything signed before they agree to anything".

"But before I would consider any players from over there or anywhere else, I want to have a good look around here."