Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison, left, and departing coach Ernie Merrick, face the media yesteday after Merrick's sudden decision to resign. Photo / Photosport
Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison, left, and departing coach Ernie Merrick, face the media yesteday after Merrick's sudden decision to resign. Photo / Photosport
Ernie Merrick's seat is still warm, but already the contenders to replace him are circling.
The Wellington Phoenix football coach only resigned late on Sunday night, but according to chairman Rob Morrison, the CVs started to flood in to general manager David Dome's inbox almost immediately.
"Obviously we'll discard some of those and we'll look at some of them," said Morrison. "We've got a bit of an idea as to what we think we need. We've drawn up a little shortlist."
When Merrick was hired in 2013, the recruitment panel had the luxury of an entire off-season to conduct a thorough process. By contrast, time is now of the essence.
"It's a very compressed time-frame, but we certainly want to make the decision before Christmas," said Morrison.
"We went through a pretty rigorous sort of process three years ago when we hired Ernie. That worked for us; Ernie was the right choice. In a much, much shorter time-frame, we'll run a similar process."
"Obviously it's possible that we could make a decision before Christmas but the coach can't arrive until after Christmas and we'd understand that. But we're in-season, things are moving, we've got a really good team, we've got a lot of potential and we want to get it unlocked as quickly as possible so the onus is on us to make a quick decision."
Early favourites for the job include successful Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx and former Sydney FC captain and ex-Sydney United coach Mark Rudan. Former Phoenix assistant coach Luciano Trani has also confirmed he has applied for the position.
But Morrison indicated that coaching ability was just one part of the recruitment puzzle.
"You obviously want a quality coach, but you also want someone (for who) it's not about them; it's about the club," he said.
"The way we've tried to build and develop this club is that no-one is more important than the club. There are far too many football clubs " and some other sports clubs " where it's all about the coach. We don't want that. We want a coach who understands what the club is trying to achieve and wants to align themselves with the success of the club."
Merrick's assistants, Chris Greenacre and Des Buckingham, will guide the team in Saturday's clash with the Central Coast Mariners in Hamilton and probably the game against Western Sydney the following weekend. Neither has indicated whether they are interested in the job.
Phoenix's head coach Ernie Merrick. Photo / Photosport
Engaging Ernie walks away from club with a quip on his shoulders
Ernie Merrick's last Phoenix press conference was unlike any I'd ever seen.
This was less a wake and more a fond farewell.
Merrick sat flanked by Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison and skipper Andrew Durante and left the football club in the same way he'd conducted himself during his entire 3-year stay in Wellington. With class and humour.
"Typical, isn't it?" he quipped. "We just get ourselves a beer sponsor and now I'm leaving!"
Usually coaches who depart mid-contract aren't even afforded the courtesy of a public goodbye, mainly because it's rare for them to leave on their own terms.
Typically, these decisions are made for them and delivered by the chairman in a dark stadium tunnel, usually after a defeat which has proven to be the last straw.
To preserve any shred of dignity they have remaining, they're ushered out a side door, spared the ignominy of fronting the media and drift quietly away from the club they've invested so much of their time and energy in to during their stay.
It's almost cruel, but it made what happened here even more unique.
There was emotion, sure, but most obviously from Durante who was close to tears as he contemplated the events of the past 48 hours.
If there was ever any thought of Merrick "losing" the dressing room or jumping before he could be pushed, they were dispelled by Durante's softly-spoken words.
"We have to accept that we are responsible for this," he said.
"When he told us, the players' reaction was silence. No-one said anything. When Ernie left the room, Mossy (Glen Moss) stood up and said, 'This is on us' and it is. We let him down. We need to accept that. The players have to own this."
As his now-former captain said those words, I wondered what Merrick was thinking and more specifically, whether he was sure he'd done the right thing. The conclusion I drew is he's probably not absolutely certain, but he's done what the ego of other coaches hasn't allowed them to do in similar " or worse " predicaments.
He made a decision based not on what was best for him, but what he believes to be best for the football club. He truly believes the Phoenix will be better served with someone else completing the job he described as being about three-quarters done.
His final on-the-record words were to request a bottle of wine from his chairman as a leaving gift and to ask if he was allowed to keep his sponsor-supplied watch. And with that, the curtain came down on Ernie Merrick's Phoenix tenure.
Engaging, honest, humble and humorous. A lover of football. A pleasure to deal with.
