Nathan Greenham has resigned as Wellington Phoenix chief executive and will leave the A-League club next month.
Nathan Greenham has resigned as Wellington Phoenix chief executive and will leave the A-League club next month.
Greenham has been involved at the Phoenix since their foundation in 2007 and took over as CEO in June last when Tony Pignata returned home to Australia for family reasons.
Greenham’s last day will be January 20, 2012, and he insists he is parting on amicable terms with the club and the new owners – a consortium of Wellington businessmen – despite being unable to reach an agreement for him to stay on.
“We’ve been attempting to have negotiations around extending my tenure and we haven’t quite been able to find the ground that we needed to,” Greenham told Sportal.
“But I’ve also been here four-and-a-half years and I’ve been on this rollercoaster for a long time now, so now is as good a time as any to hop off and look for another opportunity.”
It has been a tough tenure at the top for Greenham who found himself having to constantly answer questions about the club’s future as a result of previous owner Terry Serepisos’ burgeoning financial difficulties.
A consortium of Wellington businessmen comprising investment banker Rob Morrison, his brother and Infratil founder Lloyd Morrison, economist and millionaire philanthropist Gareth Morgan and his son, Trade Me founder Sam Morgan, finally took over the club in September, just weeks before the start of the current season.
“The new ownership consortium have been kind enough to extend the employment to the people who have been in the business and are still involved in the business and I was part of that so I should be grateful for that,” said the born-and-bred Wellingtonian.
“But there is always a combination of things that go into making a decision. It’s a good time for me to move on.”
“I certainly think I’ve played my part at the club in terms of dragging it through some really tough times.”
“I’m looking forward to sitting back now and watching it from a fans perspective and see it get bigger and better.”
Greenham was coy on his future plans but will remain in the Wellington region and hopes to continue working in the sporting arena.
“To call what I’ve been doing a job strictly speaking is accurate. But I’ve just been so lucky and so privileged to work at something I’m so passionate about and actually get paid to do it,” he said.
“The last four-and-a-half years for me have been rewarding on a number of fronts and that’s from the growth of the football club as a piece of paper to my own personal growth as well.”
“I like to think I’ve achieved a number of pretty significant things for the club and myself over [that time].”
“We’ve done some neat things. We’ve done some TV shows and we’ve had (David) Beckham in town and we’ve had final series,” he added.
“We’ve also had a lot of shit thrown at us over the last couple of years as well. My hide is absolutely a bit thicker than it was four years ago.”
“But sport is my thing and sport is where I want to stay involved so you may see me in some way, shape or form in the near future.”
