Conley out; Hardman in

Press, 16 August 1978, Page 42

Conley out; Hardman in

By DAVID LEGGAT For Brian Hardman, the diminutive former Trans Tours United soccer club midfielder, the rise to the position of coach for the senior side has been remarkably swift. After retiring as a player from the club, Mr Hardman became player-coach of Cashmere-Wanderers in the Broadlands Southern League. He returned to United at the start of this season to act as assistant coach to Mr Terry Conley and to take charge of the national youth cup side. On Sunday the youth team won the Coca-Cola under-18 trophy for the fourth time in the club’s history and three days later Mr Hardman finds himself in charge of the senior team, at least for the remainder of the Rothmans League programme. Mr Conley was sacked by

the United board of directors on Monday evening for refusing to step down from the position of manager with the national team to go to South Korea next month, before the Rothmans League competition is completed. Mr Hardman is now man® aging a side which includes several players — the United captain, Steve Sumner, Kees Doornenbal and Graham Griffiths to name three — who were his teammates four years ago. Tonight’s league match with Blockhouse Bay at English Park will be the first the side has had with a new coach since 1971. In that time, United, led by Mr Conley, won the Chatham Cup four times and the league championship twice. It became the most consistent side in the country, with only one possible challenger for that title — Mount Wellington unter the guidance of Mr Ken Armstrong.

The chairman of the United board of directors (Mr Derrick Mansbridge) replied yesterday to Mr Conley who said in a newspaper article that the board had initially said that Mr Hardman was not able to take over the senior team.

"It is completely unfair and incorrect to say that the board has said that Brian Hardman would not be able to take over for the last few games. The position of Hardman has never been dis» cussed as far as the board is concerned except if we had to release Conley, Hardman would be asked to take over.

"It is a red herring to bring Hardman into this at all. In addition it is completely unfair to mention Hadman in this respect — the board has always had the greatest respect for Hardman as a player and man. At no time have we

been guilty of any disrespect to him.”

The unfortunate aspect of the whole affair is that it may have been totally unnecessary. Had either Mr Conley or the New Zealand Football Association officially informed the United board of his national-team appointment the outcome might possibly have been different. Mr Conley has made no secret of two views: One, that the has always wanted the top position in the country, and the other that Mr Hardman is perfectly capable of handling the side in his absence. United maintained that Mr Conley should stay with the club for the entire Rothmans League season, most especially the final handful of matches, which could well spell the difference between first prize of $15,000 and fourth place, which offers nothing.