Ben Old is further proof Wellington Phoenix’s strategy is working and is also a player who chose to pursue a career in football late. He chats to aleagues.com.au.
Training has just finished, meaning this interview has been pushed back by an hour. You can forgive Wellington Phoenix. This is a team top of the Isuzu UTE A-League and currently the talk of the competition.
The Phoenix are off to their best ever start to an A-League Men season – unbeaten through six rounds – they’re also doing things their own way with a head coach who had never planned to be in this role in the first place. Giancarlo Italiano and the club have a big emphasis and faith in youth.
Ben Old is part of Wellington’s core of youngsters – featuring Alex Paulsen, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Luke Supyk and Isaac Hughes, fuelling their historic start to 2023-24 as the stars align at Sky Stadium.
PHOENIX FLYING: A-Leagues duo at the forefront of Mourinho’s global trend challenging the C-word in football
Buy tickets to Isuzu UTE A-League HERE!
“We all want to win but there’s such a big emphasis on development,” Old told aleagues.com.au.
“The Phoenix are a team who want to be able to develop players through New Zealand. This is the only pathway at the moment that gets New Zealand boys off overseas. They want to win Championships but also develop players.
“I think this has been the first season in which they have aligned that. We have a great culture now we’re bringing the young players through. A good balance of the young boys coming through with the experienced heads in there.”
The Phoenix, who are one goal away from their 600th A-League Men goal, are soaring to new heights this term.
Ufuk Talay – now in charge of Sydney FC – departed as the most successful coach in Wellington’s history.
The former A-Leagues champion led Wellington to the finals in three of his four seasons, which included a club record third-place finish in his first campaign.
But there is something different about Wellington under the management of Talay’s former assistant Italiano, who had never been an A-Leagues head coach or played professionally prior to his appointment heading into 2023-24.
Italiano is undefeated in his first six games as an A-League Men coach; only three others in the history of the competition have began their career with an unbeaten run of six matches or more: Rini Coolen (11), Carl Veart (7) and John Kosmina (6).
Buy tickets to Isuzu UTE A-League HERE!
“Obviously there’s been tactical changes from previous seasons but I don’t think it’s the most important thing,” Old said. “It’s helped with the players to allow them to play with a bit more freedom.
“But I think just the management from the staff. Chiefy has been very good in getting the most out of the players.
“He really wants to develop the young players and it gives the motivation to drive and that pushes the older boys to perform and keep their spots. There’s a lot of good competition for places and that just drives the standard.”
With a rookie head coach and youngsters at the fore, the Phoenix have defied the odds up until this point. They have also silenced their doubters.
Some pundits had tipped the ‘Nix to finish bottom of the table. So far, the early season scepticism has proved motivational across the ditch.
“Most seasons to be fair, everyone seems to predict us to be down the bottom,” Old said. “New Zealanders have always been known to be underdogs. We thrive on that aspect.
“This season too with Chiefy coming in and big name players leaving, the depth isn’t as big and a lot of young players are coming through, fair enough there’s a lot of reasons why people would think we’d struggle.
“Although it hasn’t been the main motivation for us, it has given us a little kick and it definitely helped us to win those games in the last five minutes when we’re really tired. It definitely does motivate the boys.”
Old is one Wellington’s talented academy graduates flourishing this season.
The 21-year-old, who recently signed a contract extension through until the end of 2026-27, scored the winning goal away to Western United in Round 6.
An Auckland native, Old has called Wellington home since joining the Phoenix academy as a 15-year-old.
It wasn’t until that moment Old decided to pursue a career in football. For all those years, he had been playing football and golf.
Old was a childhood golf prodigy born into a golf-mad family in New Zealand, though his father supported Liverpool. He received his first golf club aged two and qualified for an international tournament in the United States as a seven-year-old.
Buy tickets to Isuzu UTE A-League HERE!
“It was an amazing experience to qualify to go over there and be on the world stage at such a young age,” Old, who plays off a four handicap, remembered.
“It allowed me to have this advantage going into football. Teaching me to handle pressure at such a young age.”
Old added: “I was definitely back and forth a lot when I was growing up what I wanted to play.
“My parents kept saying, as long you can play both of them, just keep them as an option. It wasn’t until I came down to Wellington to board and go to the Phoenix academy that I fully went into football. It was quite late.”
Old grew up idolising legendary American and the world’s joint-most successful golfer Tiger Woods, but there was another player much closer to home who he had a connection with in two-time major champion and New Zealand star Lydia Ko.
“She was at the same club as me at Pupuke. I was in contact with her a lot. That was amazing to see her thrive,” Old recalled.
“There’s a very special type of worth ethic you need in golf. Just a lot of hours out there which I think has helped me take into football.”
Old has obviously transitioned to football and while the two sports are completely different, he has been able to utilise some of his experiences in golf to enhance his career with the Phoenix.
“When I went to America, it taught me how to deal with pressure a lot. Golf is a very big mindset game,” he said. “You hear a lot of the top players in all sports say that golf is probably the toughest sport on your mind. It’s helped me deal with pressure and setbacks.
“Obviously it’s different in golf you have a lot of time to be in your mind, where in football it’s very quick and you have to forget about negative thoughts very quickly. I think I was able to toughen my mind from golf.”
Buy tickets to Isuzu UTE A-League HERE!
Now, he is making a name for himself in football and proof that Wellington’s strategy is working.
Old left home for Wellington six years ago along with fellow young gun Alex Paulsen, and he has not looked back.
Having grown up watching Antoine Griezmann and trying to model his game around the Frenchman as well as former Chelsea and Real Madrid star Eden Hazard, Old has scored three goals in 48 appearances for the Phoenix.
His journey has highlighted the pathway in Wellington – from academy to the first team. The achievement isn’t lost on him.
“You often forget about it because as players were always want more,” he said. “This isn’t where we want to finish, we want to achieve so many things. It is good to look back.
“AP (Alex Paulsen) and I are very good friends and we do look back at when we came down here. We had a goal to just sign (a contract) then now you’re seeing us get another contract. AP just got Player of the Month and I scored last week.
“We do try to find time to look back and take it all in because although we want to achieve more, we want to be able to make the most of this time. It is amazing to go through the whole journey and see how much we have had to achieve to get there.”
Having embarked on the journey with Paulsen, Old has had a first-hand view of the goalkeeper’s exploits even before they arrived on the A-Leagues scene.
Paulsen has made the number one spot his own this season, saving two penalties already – Adam Taggart in Round 2 and Jamie Maclaren in Round 5.
The 21-year-old has a save percentage of 87% in 2023-24 – the highest of any player in the competition.
Is there a feeling now that Paulsen will save every penalty he faces?
“It’s so funny. We had training and he was our goalkeeper,” Old smiled. “There was a penalty and he saved two again.
“He has always been well known for his penalty saves. Nick Pennington and I, because we all flat together, we joke about the first penalty.
“We were talking each other saying he is going to save this and we’re chatting to the opposition saying he is going to save it.
“We literally have no doubt, we know he is going to go the right way. If he goes the right way, he is so athletic and so good at it, I just have no doubt. It feels weird we have no doubt but I’ve seen him do it so many times. “
For one-time New Zealand international Old however, it has not all been smooth sailing.
Having broken through into the first team in 2022-23, his season was cut short due to osteitis pubis, which limited him to just 17 appearances, having played 24 matches in 2021-22.
Buy tickets to Isuzu UTE A-League HERE!
“It was very tough because maybe I got a bit naïve,” said Old, who is eyeing a return to the All Whites squad and more game time with the national team.
“All young players seem to think they won’t get a long-term injury and I thought that I work very hard with my recover, I thought I’ll be okay.
“The start of my second season, I kind of broke into the team. I was getting that starting position and this pain started to happen. We didn’t know what it was. Even though I didn’t go out until later on in the season, I was having to play through pain for so long and couldn’t play to where I wanted to.
“That was probably the most frustrating time. The rehab side – six months was very tough but the time in which I was playing but unable to play at my best was the hardest part.
“Now as well with my new contract, it’s given me time to play like the player I was working to be.”
Old is returning to his best as the Phoenix shape up as a genuine contender this season.
“Chiefy is very good at not letting us get too excited,” he said.
“There’s still so long to go but I think we’ve had such a good start and the best start to the season, it’s given everyone the belief that we do have a chance.
“We still have to work hard. Our defence has been amazing. We’re always going to score goals and it means if our defence is good, we’re going to win games.
They always say defence win championships. That’s been a big emphasis this season.
“Although we’re not thinking too far ahead, we still haven’t reached our peak yet and we’re able to push forward and achieve great things.”
