The presence of the Phoenix is becoming a problem

It’s getting increasingly difficult for the Wellington Phoenix to justify their place in the A-League. With the Nix propping up the table, the smouldering begins.

As Ernie Merrick’s Jets cast a 17-point shadow over his former club, smoke starts billowing out. As Rado and Dario Vidosic storm out, collateral damage from an irreconcilable breakdown in working relations between the elder Vidosic and Phoenix manager Darije Kalezic, the flames roar, sucking up oxygen, scorching the earth. This is not the Phoenix experiencing some intended pyrotechnic rebirth; this is the league’s weakest club imploding.

The Save Our Nix campaign successfully argued for the Nix’s license renewal two years ago. Back then the sentiment was hopeful, confident, all in spite of the Nix’s consistent underachievement, and dwindling crowd figures. Implicit in the renewal, too, was the expectation that things would improve, if only a little. Well, since then it’s safe to say things have worsened.

Under Merrick – who was then in his third season as head coach – there was tangible ambition on show last season, as the club recruited Kosta Barbarouses and Gui Finkler, two key figures in the Melbourne Victory’s double winning 14-15 season. The Nix went undefeated through the preseason; perhaps this was the year they would spread their wings and soar into top four contention.

Well, after losing their first four league games, that idea was doused with cold water. In the 18 months since then, the Nix missed have the finals, and Merrick, Barbarouses and Finkler have all left the club. 

Reportedly, the issues between Rado Vidosic and Kalezic were over the tactical approach; regardless of whether it’s appropriate for an assistant manager to question the manager’s methods to the point where it ends in a toxic divorce, it is indeed clear that – whatever the plan – the Nix have not been playing functional, winning football.

They have, in fact, managed just one solitary victory over the first 11 fixtures, a loopy 5-3 defeat of the Glory. A glaring porousness in defence has been the overarching feature of their season, something they’ve tried hard to make up for with some explosive goal-scoring of their own, an entertaining if slightly self-destructive attempt to solve a fundamental problem. They’ve scored more goals than the four teams above them on the table, but have the league’s worst defence by some distance. 

(AAP Image/SNPA, Ross Setford)

They play Sydney FC next, and a brutal defeat there will send the club spinning into an even deeper depression. The issue of crowds – a tedious subject for hot takes every season, but one that never really strays into total irrelevance, especially with regards to the Nix – is also a visible problem in Wellington, and it’s one that comes in the context of a general downturn in average attendance this season.

This term, average match attendance sits at its lowest point since the 12-13 season, and the Phoenix’s poor home figures – that have always been near the bottom of the league since they joined – are made to look even less flattering in that context. Here are some graphs to ponder, both for general average attendance and club-by-club attendance over the years.

Essentially, the Nix are a niche team, in a small, detached market. This alone is not reason enough to call for their expulsion, but with all their drama off the pitch, and their terrible form on it, it’s very hard to see the Nix as preferable to a niche Canberra team, or a Hobart franchise.

There’s an argument that the league is acquiring a stale flavour because the teams play each other too many times in a season, and there aren’t enough of them, which naturally doesn’t really mesh with the argument that the Nix should be dropped. But there are plenty of other cities – Wollongong, for instance – to base new clubs in that wouldn’t dilute existing fan-bases, and would surely draw crowds comparable in size to the Nix’s.

Personally, I like the idea of a Kiwi club being involved in the A-League. What I don’t like is said Kiwi club being a perennial punching bag, that can’t keep its house in order. 

Dario Vidosic, although he’s currently injured, was the Nix’s second highest scorer. Both he and Finkler will need to be replaced in January if the Phoenix are to clamber out of the A-League basement.

There has been so much upheaval over the last few years in Wellington, it’s tempting to lay the blame for the turmoil at the feet of the few figures who have remained present throughout – David Dome, the general manager, for example. Dome engaged in a public war of words with pundit Mark Bosnich back in January, when Bosnich roasted the Nix, calling them “worthless” following a hapless 2-2 draw with Newcastle. 

“We’ll just carry on and do our business. We’ve got a quality team of football players, we’ve got two exciting young coaches who are going to take the club to the next level and we’re pretty excited about that.” Dome said in response. A year later, the Nix have not been taken to the next level, and it feels as though they’re only involved in the business of dysfunction. 

(AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

How should one feel about the fact that the Phoenix are ineligible to play in the AFC Champions League should they qualify, but that the issue has never been encountered, because the Nix have never finished high enough to qualify?

How should we feel about the prospects of the young Australian players – Dylan Fox or Scott Galloway – currently developing in this environment, where resignations are more common than clean sheets? What should happen to a club, seen by many as the problematic appendix of the league, that seems to be intent on rupturing?

The Nix’s A-League license will be up for assessment in two years. If they maintain their current trajectory, an urgent excision will be required.