Danny Hay's time as All Whites coach comes to an end. Photo / Photosport
Danny Hay's time as All Whites coach comes to an end. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
As sporting shocks go, Danny Hay's decision not to seek reappointment as All Whites coach is nowhere near the high end of the scale.
It had been clear for some time a rift had formed between Hay and New Zealand Football to the point where the two parties havewalked away from one another with no apparent regret. In short, NZ Football and Danny Hay have fallen out. Instead of reappointing him, NZF have decided to go to the market, but told Hay he's free to apply for the role.
In the history of sport or business, it is rare for someone to successfully reapply for the job they already have. Running a recruitment process, but inviting the incumbent to apply, tends to end one way. Hay – as many others have in his position – has simply sped up the process.
It's debatable whether he even wanted to stay. Who wants to be in charge of a team that never plays? The response from NZF president Johanna Wood to the players' recent request for clarity around future fixtures was brief and cold to the point of being insulting. Our elite sides are just one of many shareholders for NZF, but are a crucial part of the health of the game, providing an aspirational pathway for tens of thousands of children across the country.
A desire by NZF for the All Whites to play regularly has only ever been framed in very vague terms, with little in the way of evidence to back it up. The All Whites should meet Australia every year, but last month's matches were the first in over a decade. Games were offered to New Zealand in the upcoming pre-World Cup window, but were declined. Those are not the actions of an organisation that wants its top teams playing as often as possible.
Danny Hay. Photo / Photosport
The All Whites must play. Last month's game in Auckland showed the appetite from both the footballing public and the players. Ask any of those All Whites, young or old, and they'll tell you they want to come together as often as possible and appear on New Zealand soil whenever they can, making plenty of concessions in order to do so. A little clarity was the least they deserved.
But, back to Hay. He is a good coach and did many things well, most notably placing his faith in youngsters. He handed international debuts to Marko Stamenic, Joe Bell, Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Matt Garbett, Alex Greive, Ben Old, Nando Pijnaker and Ben Waine, all of whom should represent New Zealand for the next decade.
He also wanted New Zealand to throw off the shackles of their predecessors and employ a brave, possession-based style. He wanted them to have the ball as often as they didn't have it. He wanted them to play through the thirds and create goalscoring opportunities in ways other than the long-ball approach. He wanted to defend positively, rather than just physically.
But not everything he did was right. His critics point to a glaring lack of goals in big matches, most notably the intercontinental playoff against Costa Rica, the two games that preceded it against Peru and Oman and the recent internationals against the Socceroos. Cut and slice it any way you want, but New Zealand haven't scored a goal in their last five outings.
And while Chris Wood made his feelings abundantly clear following the home Australia clash, backing Hay to the hilt, there will be others within the All Whites squad who won't be upset a new coach will take them forward. Hay is nothing if not forthright and many a player felt his wrath, sometimes – they thought – unfairly.
Danny Hay and Chris Wood. Photo / Photosport
Within the All Whites, as with any team at any level, there are different cliques, often based on experience. When there's a 15-year age spread in a squad, that's bound to happen, but some of the younger players weren't huge fans of the old-school approach often used in an attempt to motivate them, believing there were better, more modern ways of going about things.
One good measure of someone's tenure is whether they leave an organisation in a better place than they found it. Are the All Whites in a better place now than when Hay was appointed in 2019? In many ways, absolutely. But there's still work to do and what's abundantly clear is some serious bridge-building must be undertaken between the All Whites and New Zealand Football, at both staff and board level.
For the All Whites to be successful, they must have the backing of their national body. Hay clearly didn't believe he had that and the two drifted irrevocably apart. Whoever replaces him needs absolute confidence the side will be together at every possible opportunity and be given the chance to build on what has been achieved in the last three years. The thawing of a frosty relationship between boardroom table and playing field is a crucial first step to ensuring that happens.
