OPINION: Timing right as Adshead signs off

ANENDRA SINGH
Time and timing are everything.
My Hibernian third division soccer team-mates realised the significance of that while trailing Marist 2-1 in the second half of a Hawke's Bay club league clash at Park Island on Saturday.
They appealed to the referee to stop his watch every time the opposition kicked the ball out but, deep down, they knew a more polished finish in the striking department was vital if we were to equalise, let alone clinch victory.
Alas, urgency turned to desperation when the opposition scored another goal and time became our enemy.
We conducted post-mortems, albeit jovially in the changing room, and took stock of the "what ifs", balanced with admission from most of the social graders that it was hard to achieve a sense of timing in passes without training.
Retirement is often an option but accepting it can be difficult.
Come this Easter weekend double-header, we'll rub liniment into those cramp spots and massage our fragile hammies to keep retirement at bay. Of course, by Monday the battle- weary bodies may succumb to the demands of contact sport and the unseasonal heat and put us out of action for at least three weeks.
Therefore, one can only admire outgoing New Zealand Knights manager John Adshead's sense of timing.
The former All Whites coach is bowing out of the game and, so far, gracefully and on his own terms.
"People might not understand this but I think I'm leaving the club in pretty good condition. A lot of work has gone on and the club is ready to move forward," said Adshead, under whose reign the Auckland-based club in the Australian A-League finished a distant last in the 2005-06 season.
That his decision caught club officials by surprise astounds me. What is interesting about his announcement is his statement that it had nothing to do with the Knights' struggle to establish themselves.
The 64-year-old, who last May was diagnosed with prostate cancer, lists his health and the need to spend more time with his family as key reasons to step down.
Few will be game to slight Adshead's glittering coaching career, including the memorable occasion when he guided the All Whites to New Zealand's only World Cup finals appearance in 1982.
However, it is difficult to live in past glories when the current statistics at the helm of the beleaguered Knights franchise is stacked up against him.
It's not something too many soccer fans in the country want to relive but, for the record, the Knights floundered in their maiden season, losing 20 of 21 A-League matches.
Two decades ago fans would have perhaps been more tolerant but in a cut-throat professional era, ending up on the wrong side of the ledger almost inevitably means the kiss of death.
Perhaps the turning point in Adshead's career was best reflected late last year in All White skipper Danny Hay's decision to abandon ship for a temporary stint with his old club, Perth Glory.
While Hay's contract muzzled him from revealing his frustrations, fans do not have to be rocket scientists to figure out why.
Adshead's preference for foreign players - after admitting he had underestimated the strength of the A-League - also drew the ire of disgruntled supporters, who were adamant that he should have shown more faith in home-grown talent. The jury is still out on that one.
It will be unfair that the soccer faithful in New Zealand will probably, and unfairly, judge and remember Adshead on his last stint.
The Knights approached Adshead in 2004, soon after he had finished coaching in the Middle East. While many would have turned down the offer, he took up the challenge.
He could have left the struggling Knights when the chips were down but he persevered. Now, his time is up but his sense of timing is impeccable.
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