Soccer: Dreaded exodus is under way

The knights have correctly said they must get things right next season but the events of the last few days have raised doubts about whether they're really on track.

On Wednesday, midfielder Jeremy Christie lost patience with the club and signed a two-year deal with A-League rivals Perth Glory, and the signs suggest Jeremy Brockie is about to follow him across the Tasman to team up with Newcastle or Perth.

Unless the Knights are about to assemble a team capable of lifting the A-League title (and we can only hope they are), the two Jeremys are players the Auckland-based club should have been working hard to hang on to.

Brockie was one of the finds of the season and, at 18, would still qualify as one of the three under-20 players each club must have.

It's hard to imagine there are many better youngsters knocking around this country and the fact he's commanding interest from other clubs would suggest they see potential in the All White.

He's reportedly considering a deal from Australian clubs worth about $60,000 a season - the Knights are not prepared to go beyond $45,000. It's not exactly a king's ransom he's demanding.

Christie had been promised a new contract with the Knights but, five weeks after their season finished, he had still not heard anything from them. When Perth came knocking, he said it was not a difficult decision to make.

"They knew I was being linked with Perth and I don't really think I should be chasing them," Christie said of the Knights management. "It got to a point that I couldn't wait any longer.

"I'm not sure how it's meant to work from their point of view but I would have thought they would try to tie down the local boys."

The future's not looking all that rosy for another local boy, Glen Moss, who was shocked to find the club had signed former Australian under-20 and under-23 goalkeeper Michael Turnbull this week.

Although Danny Milosevic is looking to move on after an unhappy time last season, he still has two years left on his present deal and won't move unless another club comes in for him. That leaves Moss, the incumbent All Whites stopper, seemingly out in the cold, even though he had also been told he would be offered another deal.

After calls for more Kiwis to be involved this season, even from A-League officials, letting three of the better ones go seems curious at best.

Knights chief executive Steve O'Hara, in a response that is becoming a common one, said on Thursday that he didn't know Christie had signed with Perth. Earlier in the week he was bemused to hear Brockie was in talks with other clubs and that he could soon be passing through the international departures lounge.

Really? He could simply have read a Herald on Sunday piece that ran on February 19 headlined 'Knights could lose two Jeremys'.

If the club were truly interested in keeping the pair, they should have been in constant contact in the hope of knocking out deals.

O'Hara countered that it was vital for the Knights to seriously turn things around this year and, given signs out of Australia that they could be turfed form the competition if they don't step up this season, he's right. "I can understand that players don't want to wait around forever but we won't be rushed into anything because we have to get it right this year," he said. "This year is about winning."

There is a danger, however, with hanging around too long. Last season the Knights were slow out of the blocks when it came to recruitment and we all know what happened. And it's a bit naive of O'Hara to expect loyalty in professional sport.

On a proactive front, Knights manager John Adshead has been in touch with Leo Bertos, who stood out for the All Whites in their recent series against Malaysia but who's having an unhappy time in the UK. "We haven't really talked about contracts yet," Bertos said, "but I'm definitely interested."

Reports out of the UK also suggest the Knights have been in talks with 33-year-old former Northern Ireland, Manchester City, West Ham and Ipswich midfielder Kevin Horlock.

And O'Hara was quick to point out that players they had approached had also fielded enquiries from other A-League clubs. "That in itself is a huge endorsement compared to the situation last year," he said. Now he just needs to get them to sign on the dotted line so we can truly look forward to next season.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY