Soccer: Fast work needed to save Kingz

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Wannabe Football Kingz owners Chris Turner and Ted Midlane laid their cards out with New Zealand Soccer last week.

That nothing has come of the meeting is no surprise. Nothing has worked at any great pace with the Kingz.

Neither party would comment, apart from a meaningless "things are progressing" post-meeting statement.

Turner is rarely in a hurry to say anything - remember the great "next week" saga surrounding the year-two sponsorship deal - while the normally forthcoming New Zealand Soccer chief executive, Bill MacGowan, said any comment would come from chairman Kevin Stratful.

New Zealand Soccer must tread carefully.

If Turner and Midlane fail to convince the national body that they have the readies to buy an 85 per cent stake in the Kingz from Sky Television, New Zealand Soccer has already indicated it is prepared to pitch in with a deal that has the support of four backers and an English club.

But MacGowan rightly insists Turner and Midlane must be afforded every chance to strike a deal before New Zealand Soccer mounted its bid.

Many, on both sides of the Tasman, have questioned the involvement of a national body running a club.

But MacGowan insists that, should the NZS bid eventually come to pass, it will be a management-only role, with no direct on-field input.

Turner, nice guy and one with his heart obviously in the right place but struggling at times to meet the demands of the chief executive role, and lawyer Midlane, the most anonymous of the original Kingz directors, have a battle.

While the club has two seasons left of an original five-year Fifa-backed licence to play in the National Soccer League, many Australian clubs want the Auckland-based franchise out.

They show no sympathy to a club that has made little impact on the field and struggles off it.

With other Australian clubs keen to play in the NSL, the pressure is on Soccer Australia to join its Australian Rugby Union mates in showing the red card to the enemy from New Zealand.

The Kingz have few friends in high places across the Tasman, as the Con Boutsianis affair has shown. With such forces working against the club, the end, as they say, may well be nigh.

Turner has long maintained the club is financially sound, but suggestions from him and MacGowan (depending on who ends up holding the reins) that the players' budget for the 2002-2003 season would be cut substantially have been pounced on by Soccer Australian chairman Ian Knop.

Speaking after his organisation's most recent board meeting, Knop said it had not received all the information it had requested, but was taking a close look at the club's future.

"Selling down the club and then halving the playing budget tends to put the credibility of the Kingz at stake. We are about raising standards, not lowering them."

The Kingz' shocking on-field record this season has done little for the club's survival hopes.

Turner says nothing will be done about next season until this one is over.

Even then - and the Kingz' season has just two games left - it might be too late.

The coaching staff and players want to know where their futures lie.

Already, Australian coaches are making moves. The Kingz are sitting on their hands.

Turner admits it is not an ideal situation, but one he has little control over given the uncertainties.

Ever the optimist, Turner talks confidently of taking the club into the new season and beyond, but one has the feeling much must happen before that becomes a reality.

Having the Kingz booted out of the NSL would be a tragedy for the game in New Zealand.

While the club has fallen way short of hoped-for objectives, the Kingz remain the only hope - given the standard of the home-grown national league this season - of affording at least semi-professional football to aspiring players and, in turn, a path to the international playing field.

New Zealand Soccer must do everything to ensure that the Kingz survive.