Soccer: Knights send Mason packing

Tommy Mason

New Zealand Knights assistant coach Tommy Mason has walked the plank as the cleanout begins at the Auckland-based A-League franchise.

Chief executive Steve O'Hara yesterday confirmed Mason's contract will not be renewed and that the club is poised to restructure.

"John Adshead will stay as football manager but we will be looking to appoint a head coach to work with him," said O'Hara. "We are reviewing all roles at this stage. We have to lift our game."

Asked where Mason's replacement was likely to come from, O'Hara was coy.

"We have been talking to a whole bunch of people but we haven't reached a final decision.

"It could be we appoint someone from within New Zealand."

Asked whether [All Whites coach] Ricki Herbert was in the frame, O'Hara said: "I'm not going to deny anything", adding "we have spoken to a number of people".

Questioned whether someone such as dumped Socceroos coach Frank Farina had been considered, O'Hara said he was not prepared to comment.

There have been suggestions the new coach could be recruited in England.

The feeling is that, given the experience of some A-League clubs across the Tasman, that could be tantamount to disaster and that someone more conversant with football in this part of the world would be a better bet.

There has been a suggestion that Farina might be poised to return to Brisbane, and the Queensland Roar job, which would free up current coach Miron Bleiberg who is renowned for the attractive football he encourages.

Herbert's reaction in being linked with the job was one of "you've got to be joking", adding he had had no discussions with the Knights and that he has got a job as New Zealand Soccer's high-performance manager which includes hands-on roles in coaching the All Whites and the under-23 Olympic team.

Asked what other changes, including playing, coaching and managerial staff, were being looked at, O'Hara said: "All roles are being looked at. We have got so many things wrong. We have done pretty poorly right across the field."

On why it had been decided to make the announcement of Mason's departure three days before their last game of the season, O'Hara said it was just the way it had worked out and that Mason wanted the players to know.

"Maybe the players will find an extra 5 per cent for him in Melbourne as a fitting farewell," said O'Hara.

He said the Knights were in the A-League for the term of their licence (five years) "but we don't need them to tell us that we have to lift our game".

Hardly surprising, according to O'Hara, that benefactor Brian Katzen is bitterly disappointed in the Knights' dismal season.

O'Hara said he was not sure when the extent of their financial loss would be known but he doubted whether it would be made public, adding "there is a very positive outlook".

Mason was typically honest in accepting the decision.

"I am gutted that things haven't worked out as I had hoped, not just for me but for the Knights," he said. "Obviously, I am disappointed in the decision but that is football. If the time has come to move on, so be it."