Wellington Phoenix had four academy graduates earn life-changing moves overseas this off-season. Director of football Shaun Gill speaks to aleagues.com.au about a vision more than a decade in the making and what’s next for the A-Leagues club.
Patience is a virtue.
In football, like in life, patience can be hard to come by in the pursuit of success – however you may quantify it, whether as a club, coach, director, player or fan.
Everyone wants something, here and now. But those that trust the process reap the benefits. Just ask Wellington Phoenix.
Not only did the Phoenix enjoy a record-breaking run to the 2023-24 Isuzu UTE A-League Semi-Finals having agonisingly missed out on a maiden Premiership, but they benefitted from a vision 13 years in the making.
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“I remember in pre-season, we made the call around wanting to cement the pathway through the academy into the first team,” Wellington director of football Shaun Gill told aleagues.com.au.
“We signed a few academy kids and were basically planning to give AP (Alex Paulsen), Finn (Surman) and Oldy (Ben Old) the opportunity. We didn’t get smashed for it but there were a lot of questions, right?
“I remember doing a bit of media at the time, talking about our strategy and where we were going. I remember talking about the fact we had a solid group of players who’d been there and played in the A-League for a while… Then we still had a good core group of visa players who had been here for a season already. You always know that the visa players tend to get better in their second season once they settle in.
“Was it a surprise? I think getting to second probably exceeded everyone’s expectations to an extent but making the play-offs was always in our mind. Also, when you saw what the Mariners had done the season before, if you can get the balance right of good visa players, a good mix of players with A-League experience then those young players that are really driven to get somewhere, anything can happen, right?”
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The three players Gill mentioned are the results of a pathway that can be traced all the way back to 2011.
Alex Paulsen (AFC Bournemouth), Ben Old (AS Saint-Etienne) and Finn Surman (Portland Timbers) are all academy graduates, who earned life-changing moves after breakout seasons under Giancarlo ‘Chiefy’ Italiano in the Isuzu UTE A-League last season.
Then there is also former Liberty A-League sensation Macey Fraser and her record-breaking move to National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) outfit Utah Royals – another beneficiary of the Phoenix’s pathway in Wellington.
“The one thing is, it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time,” said Gill, who was appointed Wellington’s Director of Football in 2022, having served as operations manager since 2013.
“I remember when I came in 2013, there was one team at the club. I had been with Team Wellington, who were the Wellington franchise in the national league prior to that. For the two seasons of me moving to the Phoenix, we’d been involved in a joint venture – Football School of Excellence – which saw eight kids come into the Team Wellington environment to play but trained full-time with the Phoenix. Players like Tyler Boyd and Louis Fenton.
“That was the foundation for where we are today.
“I remember we sat around a boardroom table with the Phoenix and Team Wellington. There were a couple of owners there who were really focused on creating a pathway and creating this academy environment.
“Over the following 11 seasons, we’ve gotten to where we are now. It started off with a collaboration with the APFA (Asia Pacific Football Academy) out of Christchurch which was the initial start of the academy out at Scots College. We sort of took that over wholly and now we’re at the point where we have eight teams – five boys teams and three girls teams.
“We have a large contingent of players playing U17s and U20s for New Zealand. The U23 team at the Olympics, I think there’s 16 players from the 22 who have come through the environment or who’ve had a Phoenix contract. It definitely doesn’t happen overnight.
“The success of it now is really back to those foundations laid back in 2013, or even 2011.”
The Phoenix received transfer fees for Paulsen, Old – who both represented the A-Leagues All Stars Men against Newcastle United – and Surman, as well as Fraser.
For Gill, a proud Wellingtonian, watching these players develop from budding young talents to professional footballers abroad is something special.
It is also part of the club’s “four-corner model”.
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“It’s extremely pleasing. For me probably more so, I have my wife as a teacher at Scots College where a lot of these boys were coming through,” he reflected.
“She’s very well connected to them, particularly the likes of AP, Oldy and Finn Surman. I even remember back to Sarpreet Singh when he came in at 15 to the academy, and what we did. Even Liberato (Cacace) and Ben Waine.
“To be able to provide these guys and girls with an environment that gives them the best chances to attaining their goals and reaching the heights they want while also helping us now be successful. There’s a lot of hard work that goes in by a lot of people. The academy staff are fantastic.
“We’re more focused on not just football, but the physical side of things. Strength and conditioning that goes into that, the physiotherapy that goes into that. We also now have a couple of sports psychologists that work across the club.
“That four-corner model of development is really critical to us to make sure it’s not just about developing good footballers but good people because they tend to be the ones who kick on the furthest.”
Focusing on the current transfer window, is this just the start for Wellington as their youth strategy really clicks into gear with a new wave of prospects?
“I certainly hope so,” replied Gill. “We have to be careful. Some of these things can be cyclical.
“For example, Alex Paulsen, Ben Old and Finn Surman had been signed to the club for about three seasons prior to these moves and had been in the academy since 16-17. You tend to get a good crop of players like last season. We had a group of players finishing the cycle with the academy and the U20s campaign in terms of the Isaac Hughes’, (Lukas) Kelly-Heald’s etc.
“We’re at the start of that next cycle right now. We have a lot of players in the reserve team who are 17-18 and were at the U17 World Cup last year. We hope there’s another couple in there that if they get the exposure and can take the step up to the A-League over then next 12 months that we potentially can have another off-season where we sell another couple.
“Basically where we’re at now, we’ve tried to get the point where we have a good succession model and we’re looking at not having a top-heavy group in one-age group, that we split the age groups out. We split the age groups out which is evident with the likes of Gab Sloane-Rodrigues and Luke Supyk who signed contracts last year.
“What we also know too is that the overseas market is looking for players younger and younger. We want to have consistency in the transfer market but we also want to have consistency in terms of top six, top four and actually try to get closer to winning it at the same time.”
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Gill mentioned the fact that “the overseas market is looking for players young and younger”.
Does that alter the Phoenix’s approach to identifying talent?
“The first entry point into the boys space is U14s. We’re working through some stuff with NZ Football and the FIFA TDS (Talent Development Scheme) around what that looks like and how we can work more closely with NZ Football and the federations, and grow the scouting network.
“That’s the key thing. We have to know the kids and know where they are. You also have to be able to work with them if they’re not ready to move to Wellington.
“That’s the other issue – what’s the right age to move and leave home? For one player it’s something different for another player. It also comes into cost etc. We’re definitely trying to identify them at that U14s age group.”
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Wellington’s recent dealings with Premier League side Bournemouth, 10-time French champions Saint-Etienne and MLS side Portland Timbers are proving beneficial in more ways than one.
Aside from the financial aspect, those transfers – on top of Sarpreet Singh’s move to Bayern Munich in 2019 – is opening doors for the Phoenix.
“Interestingly enough, out of dealing with those clubs, what happens now is you go into the market and potentially we’re looking at a couple of loan visa players and potentially we’re happy enough to look at some young players who have that drive and ambition to kick on,” Gill began.
“All of a sudden you talk to a few clubs in Europe and you say we’ve just sold this player to Bournemouth, this player to St-Etienne and all of a sudden they start taking you seriously. That’s one of the key things that has come out of it for us.
“… At the moment New Zealand just cracked 100 in the world, so there’s a bit of a work we still need to do both as a football nation and as a club to lift these transfers further and further.”
Now, all eyes are on Wellington and the 2024-25 season.
Italiano made history in his rookie season as a head coach in the Isuzu UTE A-League, narrowly missing out on the Premier’s Plate and a Grand Final berth, while ushering through an exciting wave of young talent after being promoted from his role as assistant.
Marco Rojas has returned to the Phoenix, while two-time A-Leagues champion Paulo Retre has arrived in Wellington following the re-signing of leading goalscorer Kosta Barbarouses.
“It’s not just about youngsters,” Gill insisted. “You have to have that balance.
“That’s where you get the (Alex) Rufers, (Tim) Paynes of this world, (Scott) Wootton and David Ball to come in. Mo Al-Taay is 23 now with international experience, Paulo Retre, Marco Rojas and Kosta Barbarouses.
“One of the key things with the recruitment of Retre and Rojas, now we’re looking at who has won things. We want to bring that mentality to the group. It’s not just about youngsters. It’s about giving a good environment to the next crop of youngsters coming through. Those who want to put their hands up and are good enough to put their hand up and can make starts, the environment is there for them to do that.
“The youngsters are ready to put their hand up and force their way in, the environment is good for them to come through and crack onto the next level.
“Can we be successful? I think we can definitely be a top-four team next season but who knows? Football isn’t played on a piece of paper. It’s played on the park and you have injuries to contend with as well. But we’re confident with where we’re heading.”
