Turner criticism angers NZ Football boss

By STEVE KILGALLON - Sunday Star Times
Last updated 10:14 16/05/2010

NZ Football boss Michael Glading has accused All Whites assistant coach Brian Turner of not "knowing what's going on" with domestic football and will summon him to a "please explain" meeting.

Glading says he wants to avoid a "massive fallout" but is angry that Turner spoke out in last week's Sunday Star-Times about declining standards in domestic football, which he claimed was "stagnating".

But Glading, who has fielded angry calls from clubs in the New Zealand Football Championship this week, who he said were "justifiably" unhappy with Turner, says those comments were "wide of the mark".

And, controversially, given Turner's long history in grassroots football, Glading said: "Brian's negative comments are really taken, in my view, from the outside in and not the inside out. That's the concerning part, that Brian makes those comments and the public perception is he knows what's going on, when I could argue that, in actual fact, he doesn't.

"He hasn't been a part of the national league and there are an awful lot of positive things going on behind the scenes in the last few years. The quality has improved and continues to improve."

Glading said he "respected" Turner's right to an opinion, "but I don't happen to agree with it".

"Frankly, Brian should be focusing on the World Cup, as I am sure he is, but at the same token I am disappointed in the comments he made," he said. "I don't think they coincide with the organisation's opinion, or with those of a lot of people in the game."

Glading said the NZFC had just undergone a full review, and with new franchise applications on the table, the eight-team league could even expand.

There are plans to rename the competition and he pledged not to cut its budget, despite a $500,000 prize-money hole left by Waitakere's failure to qualify for the lucrative Fifa world club championship. However, each club would lose its $60,000 cut of that money and would have to re-budget.

It was Waitakere's defeat in the O-League final by a Papua New Guinea team, Hekari United, that prompted Turner's comments that there was a "chasm" between the NZFC and the national side, but Glading said the presence of four NZFC players – Team Wellington's James Bannatyne and Andy Barron, Christchurch United's Aaron Clapham and Auckland City's Ivan Vicelich – in the All Whites' World Cup squad disproved that.

"The facts don't support it," said Glading. "I guess it is one man's opinions. I pointed out to [the clubs'] that Brian's opinions were Brian's alone and not representative of the organisation. The problem is when he is in a role employed by the organisation people perceive he speaks on behalf of them."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/football/3703289/Turner-criticism-angers-NZ-Football-boss