Soccer: It's been a season from hell

Loyalty is a prime virtue for soccer fans. And, as
WARREN GAMBLE explains, supporters of New Zealand's only professional club need it in large doses.

The once catchy Football Kingz anthem is enough to make the club's hardiest fan hit the mute button.

"We're Kingz of the game, Football is our first name, singing easy, easy" brags the advertisement starring the terrier wearing the Kingz coat.

As in easybeats. As in dog of a season. Or as television commentator and former Kingz player Fred de Jong put it to guest player Mark Burton this week: "Where was the dog with the Kingz? You pulled out a chihuahua."

Borrowing the anthem from the theme song of Scotland's brave-but-doomed assault on the 1974 World Cup was, perhaps, a bad omen.

There has been precious little for Kingz fans to sing about this season, even for their most vocal supporters, the ultra-dedicated Bloc 5.

At Good Friday's final, and losing, home game at Ericsson Stadium, Bloc 5 founder Richard McIlroy admitted their repertoire was limited.

Well and truly sidelined were dittys such as, "When Harry (Harry Ngata) goes to lift the Cup, hurrah, hurrah", or the always improbable, "We are the greatest team the world has ever seen (x 3), And the Kingz go marching on", to the tune of Glory, Glory, Hallelujah.

"A lot of our songs can only be sung when we are winning," says McIlroy.

With only two home wins all season, and three overall, those lyrics have been gathering dust.

New Zealand's first professional soccer club will end its third season this weekend bottom of the 13-team Australian National Soccer League whatever the result against Sydney's Olympic Sharks.

The Kingz will also finish not knowing who will own the club, not knowing if coach Kevin Fallon will be replaced, and with only four players contracted for next year.

All this from a season which began with the bright promise of top Australian coach Mike Petersen and the matchwinning midfielder he brought from South Melbourne, Con Boutsianis.

The wider outlook is also bleak, given mutterings from some across the Tasman that the Kingz should be shown the door from a competition which is itself struggling to survive.

"It's just been a season from hell," says Grant Stantiall, one of a hard core of Bloc 5 fans who make the trip from Hamilton to each home game. "Most clubs go through one of these seasons, but it is not one you would go through again."

At his offices in Sky Television's Auckland headquarters this week Chris Turner, who prefers to be called a realist rather than be painted as a relentless optimist, says there is no hiding from the fact that the results this season have been abysmal, a disaster.

But the man who many thought would never get a professional Auckland-based soccer team off the ground four years ago believes it can fly again.

Turner says the key is the retention of Sky Television as broadcaster in a deal he and fellow director Ted Midlane put together last month.

Sky, which stepped in as 85 per cent owners when the fledgling club struggled to survive, announced last month it was selling its controlling interest to Turner and Midlane. The broadcaster will retain television rights for the Kingz games and a 10 per cent stakeholding.

Kingz chairman and consultant to Sky, Paul Smart, says the company never intended long- term ownership. He says despite the on and off-field problems, viewership of Kingz games has increased, even recording a marginal rise this season. The broadcaster has also expanded its soccer programming, including three local shows, Kidz Kingz, Soccer Central and House of Football.

Neither Turner nor Midlane will comment on suggestions that the deal involves purchase of the controlling interest for a nominal price, with Sky covering a $3.8 million debt through its broadcasting package.

Turner says the broadcaster's involvement was vital to lifting the profile of a game which struggled for any television time before the Kingz.

In turn, the higher profile has helped to attract sponsors.

Turner and Smart say the lacklustre performances were particularly frustrating because a good run this season could have lifted the club into a new tier of support and revenue.

Instead, the losing streak and negative publicity kept fans away, although the club still had the sixth highest attendances in the league.

"When you are winning it papers over every crack known to man," says Smart. "When you are losing everything comes out."

Turner is confident Soccer New Zealand and Soccer Australia will approve the new deal, despite concerns already expressed by Soccer Australia chairman Ian Knop.

Two weeks ago he said its board needed more information, but "selling down 85 per cent of the club and then halving the playing budget for next season tend to put the credibility of the Kingz at stake. We are about raising the credibility of the Kingz, not lowering them."

Turner says the budget is still being put together, but the Kingz will remain as a core of fulltime professionals with part-time players on the fringes, as they were this year.

He was confident his deal could meet the financial "going concern" test required of all clubs in the league.

Waiting in the wings if the Turner deal does not get approval is a proposal brokered by Soccer New Zealand chief executive Bill MacGowan.

It involves the backing of an unnamed English club, believed to be London-based, and a consortium of four businessmen, with the national body having a hands-off management role.

Some have seen this as a conflict of interest, particularly as Soccer New Zealand has to judge the Turner proposal.

MacGowan will not comment on the proposals, but says the bottom line for Soccer New Zealand is that the Kingz have to survive if the game is to grow here.

His personal view was that on top of the coaching upheavals, the Kingz were still adapting to a professional environment.

As former head of the Warriors, he says transtasman travel every second week and playing at times when the body clock was winding down for sleep was not an easy adjustment.

Respected Australian soccer commentator Kyle Patterson says there was still animosity among some clubs toward the Kingz concerned that Australian soccer should not be helping a World Cup rival to improve.

But the presenter of SBS On The Ball says the majority view was that the Kingz could be a boost to a league which desperately needed a higher profile.

Despite a shocking season, the Kingz had the stadiums and the potential to pull in large crowds, much like Perth Glory, a one-city team which regularly attracted 10,000 to 15,000 fans.

Patterson says the Kingz's survival will also help in the development of a regional South-east Asian league, mooted as the only way for the troubled Australian league to grow away from the shadows of rugby, league and Australian rules.

"There is no way soccer is going to knock off rugby union in New Zealand or league and AFL in Australia, so we have to look at Asia, where they already have professional leagues, as the future."

Patterson says Australian soccer clubs were having similar financial problems and drawing smaller crowds than the Kingz.

The New Zealand club had the advantage of a broadcaster as a partner, had excellent venues and a large potential fan base. "All the elements are there for the Kingz. They just have to get their act together."

Last June the club thought it had the right act to take it to the top-six playoffs after just missing out in its two debut seasons.

The Kingz boldly signed a new coach judged Australia's best from his work with beaten grand finalists South Melbourne last season. Mike Petersen brought with him attacking midfielder Con Boutsianis and clubmate Vas Kalogeracos, adding pace and goalscoring power to a squad which lacked a cutting edge.

Before kicking a ball in anger both were gone. Theories about Boutsianis' departure range from homesickness, particularly after a pre-season trip to a freezing Timaru, to a fallout with Petersen over his personal trainer.

Four games into the season Petersen followed, saying his heart was not in the club after the 7-2 home flogging by Perth Glory.

Chris Turner says Petersen's departure was a significant blow.

He believes the Boutsianis affair knocked Petersen emotionally because they were longstanding friends. It also undercut Petersen's plans to introduce a more attacking style.

"I don't believe anyone in hindsight would have picked the coach you have signed on a two-year deal walking out after four games," says Turner. "It didn't help the club."

After assistant coach Shane Rufer stepped into the breach, and saw the team pick up its first win, he was controversially passed over for Kevin Fallon in November.

Long the hard man of New Zealand soccer, Fallon's Fifa coaching credentials and passion for the game have not been questioned.

But within weeks there were reports of player disgruntlement at his hard-nosed approach to training and discipline.

On the field the Kingz were on the receiving end of a series of last-gasp goals which saw points slip away. By mid-December they had fallen to last.

At the same time off the field there was the messy end to the career of Wynton Rufer, the Oceania Player of the Century, after a stand-off with Fallon over his training regime. After speculation about his future, brother Shane remained as assistant coach.

As the club continued to lose games, attendances began dropping from a respectable 5000 down to around 2000, and more stories of disharmony emerged.

Last month midfielder Gerard Davis was released from his contract, allegedly after a training altercation with Fallon, although the club will only say it was "due to personal circumstances". Several sources have told the Weekend Herald that Davis threatened to take the issue to court unless he was released.

Two weekends ago fiery midfielder George Goutzioulis was also let go after turning up late and intoxicated for the team bus the morning after a 2-0 loss to Newcastle. He reportedly abused Fallon and some of his teammates.

And 10 days ago Shane Rufer was involved in a training ground incident with defender John Markovski which resulted in him leaving the ground. He was back coaching this week.

Fallon has no time for such distractions, or for what he says are people "going behind people's backs giving stories to newspapers and not having the guts to put their name on it".

As a fan who is prepared to be named, Stantiall says Fallon cannot be totally blamed. But he likens the big Yorkshireman to a sergeant-major.

"I think that kind of style these days is well and truly gone. The job is to get the best out of the players using a variety of methods, not just one.

"He also blames the players. He's never really stood up and said I have to look at myself."

Fallon says there are always going to be players who do not like a coach's style.

"If getting them to the ground on time ... getting them to keep off the grog at the right hours, training them on time, making sure of the discipline of the side on and off the field ... if that is wrong ...

"Whenever I take young players they respond tremendously, and they probably have a lot more training and less good treatment."

Several of those unnamed sources have said Fallon's training regime relies too much on commitment and fitness, not skill. They say his overly critical approach might work with youngsters, but is resented by older players.

Playmaker Mark Burton, who flourished last season but has been average this year, is one said not to have responded to the Fallon way.

One (unnamed) source close to the club even suggests some players have been so dispirited they have not given their best on the pitch.

"One of the players described it as like being in a prison cell, and ticking off the days."

Fallon will not get into names, but says some players have lacked commitment this season. It was highlighted in the frighteningly bad second half of 7-2 home loss to Parramatta Power last month.

"Every time I get up I think this is a great job, I am very privileged to be here, let's work hard. That's what I want the players to think, and some of the players have not."

Fallon says given the squad he inherited and the limited additions he has been able to make, he is satisfied he has done his best.

His first task was to shore up a leaky defence, but the improvements at the back with the addition of Australian Robbie Hooker and the conversion of former striker Markovski to centre back have been thwarted by a lack of firepower.

Apart from the Parramatta debacle and the 3-0 away loss to second-bottom Adelaide, the side has been competitive, losing eight times by one goal, a small consolation.

Fallon says the positives have been unsung, namely his introduction of regular reserve fixtures which have seen a young Kingz second eleven win 19 of 20 games against national and northern league opponents.

He has also started a schoolboy squad and, if he retains the role, plans to develop other age-group squads to feed the club.

Off the field he says the training facilities, medical staff, and travel arrangements have all been good.

"At the end of the day all our problems have been on the field. The other things are minor distractions, and we should be tough enough to put them aside."

Fallon is now waiting to hear in a few weeks whether he will be retained. His contract expires in June. If he is, his wish-list includes a British centre back, but possible budget cuts might limit him to promising young local players.

Already the uncertainty over the coach, ownership and players has led to Australian interest in snapping up Harry Ngata. One of the few players to impress this year, Ngata - who fans equate to the Warriors' Stacey Jones - has had five clubs expressing interest.

Turner insists that most of the players want to stay, and are waiting for offers. The waiting, for owners, coaches and players, is far from ideal. Turner, of course, remains unfazed.

"What keeps me going is that we have a broadcasting deal showing more soccer than ever, we have junior numbers growing at an amazing rate, and we have a professional team.

"No-one enjoyed where we finished up ... but what's an issue is how we bounce back."

Richard McIlroy is not so sure.

"From day one we always knew it could be pretty dodgy and the Kingz might not be there forever. We will support them until the end, and I hope they keep going."

Whatever happens, it won't be easy.