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9/12/09
Greeny's blog
Wellington, video evidence in football,
and making coffee for Les Parry!
Hello,
Chris Greenacre here,
I have
been approached to do a blog for the first time so bare with me.
Hopefully it will give you a little insight into my new venture
now that I am settled in the beautiful country of New Zealand.
I spent
four fantastic years at Tranmere Rovers but unfortunately in the
football world there comes a time when a player has to bid a sad
fair well and move on. This was not just any move.
My wife and I have been over in New Zealand for six months now.
I have played in England all of my career and out of the blue I
got the opportunity to come to the other side of the world and
ply my trade here.
I spoke to one of my team mates who had a contact here. He
had the chance to come over but decided it was not the right
time for him and his family at the stage he was at in his
career. He spoke to the agent and the agent checked out my
CV and made contact.
We had a
long discussion and I said I was interested but didn't think for
a moment there would have been much activity given that I had
been injured since Christmas at Tranmere. After a couple
of weeks we spoke again and thankfully there was interest from
Wellington Phoenix. In April I met with the manager Ricky
Herbert and the CEO Tony Pignata in the UK.
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"The small
things in a players life are taken care of. From
the outside these may seem very frivolous things, but
trust me, footballers moan so much you wouldn't believe
it!" |
My wife,
my agent and I had a very productive meeting. My mind was
very much made up but it was not just me this time. My
wife had the final say. She was sacrificing everything;
her family, her friends and her job. After the meeting we
had long, heartfelt discussions with our families (who
incidentally said go for it) and it was decided that New Zealand
was going to be our new home. Plus opportunities like this
don't come around very often for players of my age.
We play at the Westpac stadium, aka "The Cake Tin" which is a
32,000, all-seater, all singing and dancing stadium. The
legendary "Yellow Fever" fans fill your head with noise as you
come out of the tunnel. Despite the weather, when we are
winning they take there tops off for the last ten minutes of
games and bounce and swing them around there heads which really
spurs us on.
The club itself is owned by Terry Serepisos, a self-made
property entrepreneur. He saved New Zealand football from
the old knights in Auckland and brought a team to Wellington.
Terry is the beating heart of the club and is a very hands-on
type of guy and makes the team his number one priority.
The club, from a players point of view, is one of the best run
clubs I have been involved with. The small things in a
players life are taken care of. From the outside these may
seem very frivolous things, but trust me, footballers moan so
much you wouldn't believe it!
For
example, each player receives a timetable for the upcoming
month. This may seem trivial, but I have been at clubs
where you have things sprung on you on the day and players are
unable to arrange baby sitters, pick kids up from school etc.
With the amount of travelling we do, it's important that
everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.
Football is relatively new over here and so a big part of our
time as players is getting out in the local community and
promoting the Phoenix. This is typical of our owner who is
very passionate about his club, and rightly so. We visit
local schools, colleges, hospitals, family fun days, shopping
centres - you name it, we do it. The kids are the future
of this club, and in a passionate sporting nation, soccer needs
to be recognised.
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"A big
thanks has to go out to Les Parry who was fantastic in my rehab,
but he drinks coffee like its going out of fashion. I
know, because it was me making them!" |
When I arrived here in June I was not 100% fit. I was
still recovering from my knee ligament injury I sustained in
John Achterberg's testimonial game. Looking back, I should
of never played in that game, but hindsight is wonderful thing!
However,
it was the right time as I was recovering from the fracture in
my foot, and that game was perfect. But as testimonials
go, there were one or two more tackles flying around than I
would of liked! ha ha !
A big
thanks has to go out to Les Parry who was fantastic in my rehab,
but he drinks coffee like its going out of fashion. I
know, because it was me making them!
I was able to play in four games during our long pre-season, two
of which were in China. That was a tough trip!We played
two strong teams Tianjin Teda and Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals. The
humidity was horrendous, and the food was just as good!!
Our first game of the season was away at Newcastle Jets.
We were awful. We trained so well in the run-up to
the game that we thought we were unstoppable. How wrong
can you be?
The
pitch was terrible but we cannot use that as an excuse - we were
just terrible from front-to-back. I was disappointed for
three of our players in Andrew Durante, Tim Brown and Troy
Hearfield as they were former Jets' players. As an old
player, you want to go back to an old stomping ground and win.
From a
personal note it was a game which I will never forget as I
scored my first A-League goal. That reminds me - I still
owe there goalkeeper a hundred dollars for letting my shot run
under his body!! 3-1 was the final score.
When I arrived here I was not expecting to get into the
Guinness Book of Records. We nearly did though, for
the wrong reasons unfortunately. We had six draws on the
bounce - a couple more would of put us in there. Unbelievably,
Man City have gone one more than us!
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"For the first time
in my career we had apology from the referee. It didn't
help us, but fair play to him for admitting a mistake. " |
In that
run of games we have had some typically bad luck. We
played Melbourne Victory, who at the moment are at the top of
the league, away. We conceded a goal in the first five
minutes for about the fourth game in a row, and then went on to
take control of the game. That doesn't happen very often
at the Etihad Stadium. We drew 1-1.
Then
there was Adelaide United at home. We were winning until
the 93rd minute, had been fully in control of the game and
scored a valid goal. The referee decided Paul Ifill was
offside. He sprinted past me (which isn't hard I hear you
say!) to score. Video evidence proved it was valid.
For the
first time in my career we had apology from the referee. It
didn't help us, but fair play to him for admitting a mistake.
We all know referees have a tough job and it's not a job that I
want. My personal view is that video evidence should be
the future and I know that's an on-going debate.
Finally
in the record breaking run was Robbie Fowler's Queensland Fury.
Again, leading until the dying moments and then Robbie Fowler
miscued free-kick deflected into the path of their striker and,
bang, another draw!
From a
personal point of view, I have really enjoyed the football here,
although it took me a while to find my feet. Early on, I
operated in a lone striker position when, as many of you know, I
have always played in a pair. Some of the games were real
battles and at times didn't show what I am about. The
manager and I had a few chats, and after a couple of decent
performances we thought it was just a goal I was missing.
I went
seven games without a goal and previously in my career five
games was the longest drought I'd had, so I was in new
territory! I was battling away but to no reward. I would
go near post, the ball went far post. I couldn't buy a
goal.
It was
funny really as people started asking if I was getting "up tight
in front of goal" and I wasn't, as I felt wasn't getting chances
to miss. If I was missing two or three a game then yeah, I
would of been nervy. In training I was scoring so, no, I
wasn't nervy.
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"I was given a bit
of stick publicly by one journalist.
...I still have the article and have a look at it now
and again just to keep that hunger alive." |
Thankfully, the goal arrived in the biggest game of the season;
Gold Coast United. With the flamboyancy of their manager
Miron Blyberg, and there billionaire chairman, Clive Palmer.
They had spent big in the summer, signing Jason Cullina from
P.S.V, our golden-boot winner Shane Smeltz, and the more
familiar Joel Porter from Hartlepool United.
From
minute one we were all over them like a rash. Never in my
career have I been in a game when we have won 6-0! After
the first went in the flood gates opened and we were
unstoppable. I scored the fourth, rounded the keeper and
hit a left foot shot into the net from a tight angle.
It was a big game for me and Paul Ifill (who also scored), as
when we arrived the Phoenix had lost Shane Smeltz - the Golden
Boot winner from last season. Obviously replacing someone
of that stature in a team comes with a lot of pressure.
Smeltz
was a great player for the Phoenix and did very well. He
had started this season on fire, scoring four goals in one game.
The press were non-stop about Shane, and rightly so. At
times the press wanted to put words into our mouths and be
controversial on this issue. I think they wanted; "of
course I will score all the goals Shane did", but you have to be
very professional on these types of matters. Many a player
have been brought back down to earth with stupid comments like
that when they haven't produced the goods.
For the first time in my career I was given a bit of stick
publicly by one journalist. This was something that
stirred me up. It's not nice to read things negative about
yourself, but it comes with the territory I'm afraid. I
still have the article and have a look at it now and again just
to keep that hunger alive. I am at the stage in my career
where it does not affect me what things are wrote, but they have
to remember that the young players read this stuff and can
really knock the confidence out of the promising young players
around.
At present we are just sitting in tenth place, right inside the
playoffs. We have produced a little bit of form and are
unbeaten in 12 games at home. We want to make "The Cake
Tin" a fortress and make it hard for any team.
The fans
are fantastic to us and that really helps, so a big thanks to
them. We had 1-1 draw with Melbourne on Friday which we
were leading until the last five minutes and conceded when they
were down to 10 men. We lost our way a little bit for 15
minutes in the second half and, like any top team, they were
always going to have a good spell in the game. The boys
were gutted as we had them on the ropes. As a player you
have to take the positives from the game, and there were plenty
of those.
I missed the game with a knee injury. I had a 50/50 with
Sergio Vandyk of Brisbane Roar last week on the stroke of half
time. He fell on my leg and I just felt pain. At the
moment I am unsure what the injury is but hopefully I will be
fit for our game on Saturday against league-leaders Sydney FC.
We have
played them twice away from home this year and have produced two
of our worst performances as a team, so we really need show them
how good we really are. The game is not at home.
It's at Palmerston North's ground about two hours north of
Wellington. This is the league's initiative to spread
football around New Zealand and Australiaia and to promote
soccer.
I am sorry to see Tranmere at the wrong end of the table.
There has been a lot of comings and goings and things happening.
I think that it was probably difficult for the fans to
understand why Ronnie Moore left as we were only minutes from
getting in the play-offs. The Chairman had his reasons and
we will probably never know why really.
In
fairness Ronnie has taken the reigns at Rotherham and has just
got Manager of the Month there, so I wish him well. He was
a popular choice to get the job I think after his achievements
previously.
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"Everyone knows that the heartbeat day-in
and day-out at Tranmere is the medical room - Les is the life
and soul" |
As for
John Barnes and Jason McAteer, I really feel for them that
things didn't work out. John had an illustrious career and
I really thought he would do well there, and Jason again has
played at the top level and done really well and I think is
really hungry to succeed as a coach. Again I thought
Tranmere would be the perfect place to start on the managerial
ladder. For whatever reason, things didn't work out and I
wish them both every success in there next ventures.
As for
now I think results have started to turn a bit around for Les
and the boys. I can only reflect on reports I have read,
but it seems performances have improved. I still have some
really good friends there and they are really good players.
You don't turn into a bad player overnight. I think as a
player, when times are hard, you need to go back to basics on
the training field and work even harder at everything.
I think
Ian Moore is a good choice of captain and leads by example.
Every performance is 110% and am sure he is standing up and
being counted. The group of young players the club has
produced continues through the hard work of Warrick Rimmer and
Shaun Garrnett. Shaun is a great coach and is well
respected in football and i thought he may of been a good
contender for the job. Again, Wayne Allison is on board
and, I'm not sure in what capacity, but his reputation at
Tranmere and in football renowned and the players will respect
him a lot.
I think
Les Parry has done really well given how he was dropped in at
the deep-end. Everyone knows that the heartbeat day-in
and day-out at Tranmere is the medical room - Les is the life
and soul.
Suddenly
his relationship with the players has had to change.
Suddenly he is having to drop players, upset players and this
must be so hard for him. I hope he gets the job. with
recent results there is no reason why he shouldn't. If he
doesn't then I think that the club has got a fantastic backroom
staff who could be very successful given their experience and
roles.
Sorry that my first blog was so long, but its been six months of
my life and I hope you find it of some interest.
Thanks
for taking out the time to read it and I look forward to writing
one another pretty soon
Thanks,
Greeny.
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