Soccer: Don't expect another Smeltz

Chris Greenacre was handed the dreaded pink shirt for donkey of the week for an indiscretion soon after arriving at the Phoenix but it is a different shirt which will draw significantly more scrutiny.

Greenacre will wear the No 9 jersey worn by Shane Smeltz in Wellington's opening two seasons and he knows he will be compared with a player judged the A-League's best last season.

It's a task that sits comfortably on the 31-year-old Englishman's shoulders. After all, he's been all about proving himself for most of his career.

"Since I've come to the country, that's all I've heard, Shane Smeltz," he says. "He did fantastically well for the Phoenix. People have asked me, 'are you not nervous about all the pressure and hype?' It's not half as much pressure you put on yourself.

"I've had pressure wherever I've gone. It comes with the territory being a striker. When I moved to Tranmere, I replaced Iain Hume, who was their top scorer [and was sold to Barnsley, via Leicester, for £1.2 million]. I'm a different type of striker to Ian Hume, and Shane Smeltz. If I start to worry about what Shane Smeltz did, it will affect my game. I just hope people like what they see. If they don't, I'm sorry, but I'm me."

What people are likely to see is an "old-fashioned" striker who holds the ball up and brings others into play and he also has a reputation for scoring "ugly" goals. He's not a target man, but he's not someone who is going to beat myriad defenders from halfway. "I'm not," as he says, "a Ronaldo who's going to bend it in from 35 yards."

It didn't seem to matter at Tranmere because he quickly became a fan's favourite - the terraces sang Oh Lord, Greenacre to the tune of Kumbaya - and finished as top scorer in three of his four seasons at the League One club.

In all he scored 107 goals in 313 league games at Manchester City, Cardiff, Blackpool, Scarborough, Northampton, Mansfield, Stoke City and Tranmere.

He came close to playing in the Premier League when at Manchester City, occasionally being in the travelling squad, but most of his career has been spent in League One.

Greenacre had a wretched time last season with Tranmere, however.

He saw little game time in the opening five months of the season, finding himself inexplicably down the pecking order, and then fractured a foot last December. After three months of rehabilitation, he then tore knee ligaments in a testimonial game in his first match back.

He hasn't played since and is still fighting his way back to full fitness.

It has led some to question his credentials and wonder if he might be another ageing, English professional straight from the bad, old days of the New Zealand Knights.

"I don't want to be labelled as an ageing English pro," Greenacre says indignantly. "I haven't come for a jolly-up at the end of my career. I am hungry to do well and people who know me in England will tell you I am a good pro. I work hard.

"I don't know anything else and want to be a professional footballer for as long as my body stands up to it. I owe it to the club after the way they signed me."

Greenacre was on a shortlist of targeted players and coach Ricki Herbert and chief executive Tony Pignata travelled to the UK to talk with him in March.

It didn't take long for him to book his tickets for Wellington.

"I didn't think anyone in the Australian league would know who I am," he says. "But a couple of teams were keen to talk to me after I put the feelers out.

"I have always wanted to play abroad. If I didn't take this opportunity, it might not come around again. I don't want to live with regrets."

And Greenacre's crime that saw him named donkey of the week? Not wearing jandals in the shower.

If that's as heinous as it gets this season, Greenacre might have won over a few Phoenix fans as well.