Source: Radio New Zealand
Chris Greenacre during his current Wellington Phoenix head coach duties. AAP Image/Matt Turner / Photosport
Taking over a struggling team mid-season is one of football’s toughest gigs. Chris Greenacre has now done it four times for the Wellington Phoenix.
The club turned to the experienced coach again last month after Giancarlo Italiano’s abrupt departure adding another chapter to his extraordinary coaching journey.
Coaching was always Greenacre’s plan. Along with a handful of Tranmere Rovers team mates in England in the early 2000s he was part of the Professional Football Association’s pilot scheme of putting current players through their coaching badges. By the time he landed in New Zealand as a Phoenix player he had a UEFA B licence but no real outlet to use it.
Little did he know his first real head coaching job would be, what was at the time, New Zealand’s only professional team.
It is a position many coaches struggling in lower leagues could only dream of landing in their lap, but for Greenacre the unconventional rise was not always easy to navigate. He has yo-yoed between head coach and assistant roles, between the A-League team and the Reserves team in New Zealand domestic competitions.
The Englishman went from being a club legend on the field that hung up his boots somewhat prematurely in 2012 to just months later being head coach while Ricki Herbert was on international duty with the All Whites.
“If I’m really honest, I didn’t know anything, and that’s just the nature of the beast,” Greenacre said of the first time, 13 years ago, in a role he now has a level of familiarity with.
“I think in an ideal world, if you can come through the youth team ranks and develop like that, I think it’s really the best way forward.
“But unfortunately, or fortunately, my path was to go straight in at the top, which rarely happens.”
Chris Greenacre during a training session at Newtown Park in 2012. Photosport
However, being in the right place at the right time has been a theme during Greenacre’s 17 years with the Phoenix.
Whether it was scoring a crucial goal from centre-forward in one of his 84 A-League games or a timely transition to coaching.
Herbert had been the one to see Greenacre’s potential on and off the field.
Injured and frustrated with his lot at Tranmere Rovers, Greenacre arrived at the Phoenix in 2009 after a chance conversation with former Socceroo Gareth Edds.
Edds was on the radar of A-League clubs wanting to bring Aussies home and on the other side of the world Rovers players were paying attention to what the league was doing.
Despite not taking the field, due to injury, when Herbert and former Phoenix chief executive Tony Pinata visited England to check out their potential visa player, the bosses liked what they saw from the level that the Rovers were playing at and the wheels were in motion to get Greenacre from League One to the A-League.
Herbert then opened the door for the shift straight from player to assistant coach, a role that Greenacre could not turn down despite feeling like he could have played on.
Chris Greenacre celebrates scoring for the Phoenix in 2010. Dave Lintott/Photosport
“It was a bit of a risk, I think, because I’m a bit of an advocate for players to play as high as you can for as long as you can. I still say that to players now, if you can keep playing, keep playing, it’s the best place to be.
“Then coaching is probably the next best thing.
“I probably didn’t take my own advice, but felt that, hopefully, coaching was where I wanted the next part of my football journey to take me.”
Since then Greenacre has maximised his opportunities working as an assistant with four of the next five Phoenix coaches after Herbert.
Former Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay of Sydney FC greets interim coach Chris Greenacre of the Phoenix during the round 19 A-League Men match between Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC this month. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
He also filled in as an interim coach after Ernie Merrick, Darije Kalezic, Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay.
He was not an assistant to Italiano – opting instead to go back to the Phoenix academy system for professional and personal reasons.
“It was me recognising that I need more hands-on on the grass, where I’m making the main decisions, and that’s what that allowed me to do over that period of time.
“Also my daughter was about six at the time, during the Covid time, so to not travel to Australia and to spend some time with my wife and daughter was crucial as well.
“On the back of that, I’d completed my pro licence and it was a way of me to be able to put into practice the knowledge and stuff that I needed on my coaching journey at that particular time.”
After two and a bit seasons in charge, Italiano left after a big loss to their northern rivals Auckland FC last month and Greenacre, who is head of the Phoenix academy’s pro development, once again got the call from management to fill the void.
The academy operates separately from the A-League team and Greenacre had no insight into what had gone on this season before his sudden arrival with the top team.
“You never really understand what’s going on internally when you’re on the outside, even though you’re a staff member at the club.
“You don’t know what the relationship is with players and the past coach, you just see a product like you see with the fans on the weekend, so you really have no detail around what’s going on. I think the key to it for me has been trying to get around as many people as I can who were directly involved in it, not involved in it, players, to try and get a real feel as quickly as possible of where you think you might be able to improve it, keep it, steady the ship.”
Taking over with only a small number games left in the season is more about continuance rather the stamping his own style.
“The players are conditioned in a certain way of training, and you may not always see eye-to-eye in that, but you’ve got to also understand that these players are conditioned in this moment, so changing behaviours is really, really difficult instantly, and that obviously takes time, but we don’t have time.”
As a coach, Greenacre wanted to be a balance between man manager and tactician.
“I think the way the game’s evolved, certainly man management’s a really big part of that. Generations have changed, and I think generations look at the world differently.
“I think as a coach, you have to evolve like that. If you remain stuck in, as they say, old-school ways, I think you’re getting left behind. It’s really important that you evolve with the generations that you’re coaching with.”
Nurturing relationships with star players as well as those who did not make it professionally was important to Greenacre in his work with the academy and Reserves team.
“I get really proud of being involved in some of the players that have gone on to do great things and get moves and play overseas.
“I’m as much proud of some of the guys that I’ve played who haven’t made it, who I know I’ve had a really good connection and relationship with, and you still get text messages and calls even now off players that didn’t quite make it, and they appreciate that what we were trying to do in terms of helping them develop as players.”
Being tactically up to speed was also important to the 48-year-old.
“I’m sure in the next few months, years, that my beliefs and how I see the game being played will evolve again.”
Chris Greenacre and Matthew Ridenton during training in 2021. Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Over time Greenacre had taken the “best attributes” of some coaches he had worked with and integrated them into his own approach to coaching.
“There’s obviously coaches that I haven’t enjoyed playing under, coaches that I’ve worked alongside where I’m kind of not really a fan of what they’re doing, and even if it’s the learning from, I probably wouldn’t do that because look how this has made me feel.
“There’s a lot of people that I’ve been really fortunate enough to and proud to have worked with, whether the relationships have been great or not so much.”
The way Greenacre believed he could finally turn the recurring interim role in a permanent position was by winning. The Phoenix have six games left in the season.
Before the end of the month the club is expected to name their next head coach.
“Results give you the best chance, and instant success, I suppose, probably gives you the best opportunity.”
Being a familiar face around NZCIS where the Phoenix are based could also finally give Greenacre an edge this time.
“I think, having been in an environment for a long time, people get to see actually how you work on a daily basis, and not necessarily when you’re under the spotlight of a first-team coach, so I suppose people get to see your mannerisms and things that you do and things they may like, things they don’t like.”
Greenacre’s reputation and ability to develop sought after talent through the academy to the first team who were then sold on to Europe could be another tick on the appointment check list for a club that valued being a stepping stone in player’s careers.
“Ultimately, the powers that be make the decision, and if it’s yes, it’s great, if it’s not, it’s not, and we kind of move on, and that’s just how professional sport works.
“I do have aspirations to coach at the highest level. If that happens, great. If it doesn’t, it’s a similar role to playing. I didn’t quite make it to the Premier League, but I aspired to be there.
“Am I happy that I made a living out of the game as a player at the level I did? A hundred percent. I’ve been proud to say that I made a living out of the game.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand