Mr Adshead joins paying public

Press, 17 February 1983, Page 38

Mr Adshead joins paying public

PA Auckland John Adshead will be at Mt Smart next Tuesdayevening to watch “his” New Zealand socer team play Australia. However, unlike the last meeting of the trans-Tasman rivals when Mr Adshead was firmly in control and on the bench, this time he will join the public in the grandstand. Mr Adshead said being there (at the match) will “probably hit me like a ton of bricks.’’ It will be the first time in

more than four years he will not be part of the action. It will also be a time to reflect on the last fewmonths and the happenings within the game which eventually forced him to make the move which has shocked the code in this country. Mr Adshead, made it clear that no single factor was behind his decision, there .were a number of reasons:— • The decision made, “behind his back,” that New Zealand should enter for the first time the Olympic

qualifying tournament — a decision he, when advised, fully supported; • The lack of common courtesy in not involving him in decisions relating to the player of the game; • Decisions, including. payments to players — a most important one — being made without his opinion, yet he was expected to convey them to the players; • His failure to. convince some members of the New Zealand Football Association that the players in the

national side must remain the V.I.P.S; • And perhaps above al) else, the “sad way in which I was always told, never asked.” Mr Adshead, manager of the Radio i Sports Foundation, said he had no worries about his future in New Zealand. It would have been a lot better, he admitted, had he been able to continue, on a part-time basis, the contract he signed last September as manager-coach of the New

Zealand team. “After getting to where we had, there was nothing I wanted more than to carry on to the next World Cup,” said Mr Adshead, “but things have made that impossible. “I have always looked for and expected total frankness in all I did, be it with the administration, the council, the media or the players. In return, I expected, not unfairly I felt, the same consideration. “Simply, it was not always there."

Mr Adshead said he in- : sisted that a number of mat- [ ters “quite rightly should be kept away from the adminis- ’ tration,” yet some in the ; administration could not, or would not, accept that. “Make no mistake, we, the ; players and team officials, ; were very well treated over , the World Cup. We were i treated like professionals and paid accordingly. "Now when it comes to a new campaign I wonder ; where all that goodwill has gone.”