HARD ACT TO FOLLOW

Michael from Trentham

The Phoenix football "club" is most certainly an hard act to follow for any other NZ outfit wanting to enter into a similar realm of competition.

There seems likely an Auckland bid to put together an Auckland-based men's team to compete in the Australian football A-League.
Now the Wellington-based Phoenix has only been a moderately successful team in the A-League but boy is it growing blocks of structure. There is the emerging players team too back up the A-side, there is the women's team which only entered the comp this season and of late enjoying closely fought matches and two win and three draws.

Backing all of this is an experienced management, sponsorship and financial backing great enough to help fund the entire operation which runs into many millions of dollars annually, and the comprehensive new facilities in Heretaunga, Upper Hutt that are world class and unlikely to be replicated elsewhere in NZ for years to come.

The Auckland interests will have to come up with $25 million as a kind of entry fee plus the millions required to cover annual costs including recruitment of players, coaching staff and other staff.

Auckland has been there before and both its teams in the A-League folded. But now much more is asked of a franchise for the A-League - especially so for another NZ enterprise being compared to the Wellington Phoenix model that is so proudly displayable.