Auckland Kings - A misnomer in the making

Auckland Kings - A misnomer in the making?

Talk of a New Zealand club side entering the current Ericsson Cup season was really starting to gather momentum earlier this year, before certain parties procrastinated so long the deal tripped over one deadline too many and the concept had to be put back on the shelf for another year.

Which was no bad thing. Witness the education Carlton treated itself to, using the extra twelve months (remember, they were originally going to commence EC duties with Collingwood before commonsense prevailed) to fully acquaint themselves with the requirements of a successful expansion team.

So could it be that the Auckland Kings will be ready to unleash themselves on Oz soil in October next year? Or could it be that the New Zealand national team will be looking to get two years worth of solid practice matches before getting down to the business of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup finals?

If an article in the latest Sitter! (see Bulletin Board) is any indication, the latter is certainly the preferred option of New Zealand Soccer technical director Roger Wilkinson. Which could mean bugger all, of course, as Wilkinson's relationship with NZS CEO Bob Patterson has deteriorated to the point where Wilkinson has lodged a formal protest with the Employment Tribunal over his treatment by Patterson. As they may well say, 'Wetch thes spece'..

But if Wilkinson remains as technical director it is fair to assume he would have a significant input into the initial direction of the Kings. Therefore, his 'vision' should not go unnoticed on this side of the Tasman. (The following is re-printed verbatim with full permission from Sitter!)

INTERNATIONAL CLUB PROGRAMME (AUCKLAND KINGS)

Mission Statement: To develop a well-managed and profitable club that provides a full time environment from which our best players can develop and compete at an international level.

Aims:

The All Whites to form the basis of the team. Suggest eight All Whites and three overseas stars.

The team to play in the summer time Australian league.

Players to be full time professionals in order to improve their overall playing standard.

The National team coaching staff should be the club coaches to enable them to implement their philosophies and style in a full time environment.

The club to run a second team that is based around the NZ Under 20 team and which plays in our domestic national league (winter).

The U20 players will be part time, training 4-5 evenings a week. They should be encouraged to take University/Polytechnic courses so as to create our own type of 'American University' system.

The club would also have an Under 17 team that would compete in a Regional (North) Summer Youth League.

The club should be run on a sound business basis with realistic wage and expenses structure. Part of the club psychology should be the development and transfer of players to the lucrative European market. This would enable the players to develop further and would generate much needed income to support future development.

Soccer New Zealand should have a substantial financial and managerial input into the club.

Identify a location where the tertiary infrastructure is convenient for the players.

Food for thought? Enough to choke on, in fact. Initial media reports suggested the application originally submitted by the Auckland consortium took on a far different mood, so it will be interesting to check out the reaction of the SocAus board if the All Whites take the field against the likes of Canberra and Newcastle in twelve months time.