New Zealand Knights FC

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New Zealand Knights F.C.

Full name

New Zealand Knights
Football Club Ltd

Nickname(s)

The Knights

Founded

1999 (as Football Kingz)

Ground

North Harbour Stadium, Auckland

Capacity

25,000

Chairman

Anthony Lee

Manager

Barry Simmons

League

A-League

A-League 2005-06

8th





Home colours





Away colours

The New Zealand Knights F.C., from Auckland, New Zealand, (known as Football Kingz Football Club until 2004), are the only professional football (soccer) team in New Zealand. They play in the recently-formed Hyundai A-League, which is Australia's premier football competition.

1 History
2 Colours and badge
3 Stadium
4 Supporters
5 Current squad
6 Noted players
7 Managers
8 Achievements
9 Records
10 References
11 External link

[edit] History

The Football Kingz joined the Australian National Soccer League in 1999 and were ranked 8th of 16 in 1999/2000 season, 8th of 14 in 2000/01, and 13th of 13 in 2001/02.

In 2005, New Zealand was awarded one of the eight teams in Australia's brand new football competition, the Hyundai A-League. John Adshead, who took the New Zealand national side, the All Whites to their only ever World Cup finals appearance in 1982 was named their inaugural manager/coach. Current New Zealand international defender Danny Hay, who previously played in the English Premiership with Leeds United A.F.C. was named captain of the team.

The club underwent a name change before the 2005 season and became known as New Zealand Knights in preparation for the A-League. This was the end result of market research to determine the viability of a new identity for the team; reportedly 76% of people polled were in favour of the name change^[1].

Despite having a squad boasting several players with extensive experience in English football, many pundits did not rate the Knights as serious contenders for the A-League title, and they were considered favourites for the wooden spoon. These predictions turned out to be true, with the New Zealand Knights proving to be terribly out of their depth in their debut A-League season.

In April 2006, after the poor season, manager John Adshead resigned from the club^[2]. Paul Nevin was confirmed as manager a month later^[3], having worked as caretaker manager since the position was vacated by Adshead.

In late October 2006, as a result of low crowd attendance at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland and continual poor on-field performances, rumours began to circulate that the Football Federation Australia was considering the possibility of revoking the Knights' A-League licence and granting it to a new team that would be set to enter the competition in the 2007-08 season. Possible replacements for the Knights were said to be a Wollongong-based team (most likely the Wollongong Wolves), a team representing the Australian capital Canberra or a second Queensland team based in the city of Townsville in Northern Queensland. Provincial Victorian city Geelong has also been sounded out by the FFA. The Football Federation Australia had originally intended to introduce two new teams into the A-League in the 2008-09 season, but if the Knights' are to be removed from the league then this would pave way for a replacement team as soon as the 2007-08 season.

On 15th of November and nearing the end of the November transfer window New Zealand Knights board and management decided to relieve Paul Nevin of his coaching duties due to a string of poor performances. ^[4].

[edit] Colours and badge

The Knights play in all-black strips, with a silver left sleeve. The change strip is white, with black shorts and white socks.

The badge was designed for the inaugural 2005-06 season and launched at the January 2005 press conference which highlighted the club name change^[1].

[edit] Stadium

Main article: North Harbour Stadium

The Knights play all their home fixtures at the 25,000 seater North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, although their average attendance is only just over 1500.

[edit] Supporters

The New Zealand Knights supporter base is known as Bloc 5. Whilst they may only have a small band of hardcore fans, these fans are some of the most passionate in the league. They have been attending Kingz/Knights matches since the opening season of 1999. Numbers used to be in the region of 300 but have since dropped to around 30.

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Danny Milosevic
2	DF	Darren Bazeley (captain)
3	DF	Gregory Duruz
4	DF	Che Bunce
5	DF	Matt Carbon
6	MF	Neil Emblen
7	MF	Richard Johnson
8	MF	Scot Gemmill
9	FW	Dani Rodrigues
10	FW	Sean Devine
11	FW	Jonti Richter
12	GK	Mark Paston

No.	Position	Player
13	MF	Jonas Salley
14	MF	Malik Buari
15	FW	Adam Casey
16	FW	Noah Hickey
17	DF	Frank van Eijs
18	FW	Michael White
19	DF	Sime Kovacevic
20	GK	Michael Turnbull
26	FW	Fernando de Moraes (Short term signing)
27	MF	Dustin Wells (shot term signing)
?	FW	Alen Marcina
24	MF	Hamza Mohammed (short term signing)
	FW	Campbell Banks

Injurys/Suspensions
Matt Carbon ---- Season ----
Dani Rodrigues ---- knee (season) ----
Jonas Salley ---- ankle (available) ----
Sean Devine ---- (3 weeks) ----
Richard Johnson ---- 4-5 weeks ----

[edit] Noted players

It has been suggested that List of New Zealand Knights F.C. players be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

[edit] Managers

John Adshead (2005-06)
Paul Nevin (2006-November 2006)

[edit] Achievements

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