Flying Kiwis – Title Challengers, Relegation Battlers & All That
Title Challengers
‘Tis the season for trophies. Not everywhere, as some leagues have only just started. But for most of the European ones in particular we’re ramping up towards the finales and for a selection of the privileged few there just so happen to be kiwi players involved. There are also European qualifications on the line, not to mention promotion and relegation battles... but let’s do the trophy hunters first.
Like PEC Zwolle, for starters. Ryan Thomas returned to his old stomping ground after plagues of injuries led to him being released by PSV Eindhoven and he’s been steadily building up his minutes for the best team in the Dutch second tier. Already clinched promotion last week. Now it’s simply a matter of holding serve the rest of the way to hold off Heracles and lift the trophy.
Zwolle are three points clear in first with four games left and all four of those games are against bottom-half teams so they’ll only have themselves to blame if they fall short. And even then they’ll still have achieved the main goal of getting back into the Eredivisie at the first attempt after being relegated. Thomas has been a regular in the midfield since he worked his way back to fitness. Hasn’t yet lasted ninety minutes and he also hasn’t quite had the goals/assists he’d usually have. That’s because he hasn’t needed to. The team’s success has allowed him to take it easy with his steady physical progress. Would imagine we see him re-sign for next season now that they’re going up although there’s no hurry quite yet.
Thomas has already won a KNVB Cup with Zwolle back in the day, now he’s got a major chance to add another one to the honour’s list on his Wikipedia page... along with the 2014 Johan Cruyff Shield and the 2013 OFC U20 Championships.
When Plymouth Argyle first made inquiries about Ben Waine in the offseason, they were embarking on their third year in a row in the English third tier League One having spent the last decade bouncing between that and the division below. Yet by the time he actually signed for them halfway through the campaign they were sitting atop the division with all expectations pointing towards promotion. Makes a bit of a diffo for a prospective player, that does.
Waine’s been mostly a fringe player since joining, initially thrust too far too quickly and then dropping back in the pecking order. None of which has affected how the Pilgrims have been trucking, although he did score the 86th minute go-ahead goal in a 3-1 win over Morecambe a few weeks back. It hasn’t always been pretty and those late goals have been too common but they’ve managed to avoid any extended stumbles over a 46-game season and with two matches remaining they still occupy the top spot of League One.
Only just. Plymouth are one point clear of the hyper-form team Ipswich Town (12 wins from their last 13 matches with 35 goals scored and 2 conceded) which will probably ensure that the title race goes down to the very last moments. Helpfully, neither team plays each other though so if Argyle can do the business against Burton Albion (H - 16th) and Port Vale (A - 18th) then they’ll lift the trophy – a welcome bit of silverware after they wet the bed in their EFL Trophy final at Wembley losing 4-0 to Bolton. Waine wasn’t in the squad that day.
Argyle will surely have to win both as Ipswich are showing no signs of hesitation. But with four wins on the trot it seems they’ve regathered their rhythm just in time. At the very least, they ought to get promotion to the Championship. One more win or any further slip-ups from Sheffield Wednesday would ensure that mission is accomplished. Only annoying thing is that with the title race going down to the wire it means less likelihood of any sneaky Ben Waine rotation minutes.
Those are both second tier competitions though. The most significant league title on the line for a New Zealander is Marko Stamenic at FC København. Despite a terrible start, FCK have recovered gloriously to sit two points clear in first place of the Danish Superliga with six championship round matches still to play. They’re also into the semi-finals of the Danish Cup so there are two trophies on the line for this lot – granted they just lost 3-2 to Norsjælland in the away leg of that semi-final.
Only issue is that Stamenic has played a mere eight minutes since he announced that he wasn’t going to sign a new contract and would instead be leaving for Crvena Zvezda in Serbia at the end of the season. There’s no doubt at all that they’re prioritising contracted players over him and that’s understandable, hence he doesn’t even make the bench some weeks. Thankfully, Stammers has at least featured enough in league games to be eligible for a medal regardless and he’s still a good shout of making a possible cup final squad. He might never play again for FCK and still leave with two winners’ medals. What a way to go out.
Also... Red Star Belgrade (to give his next team their English title) aren’t exactly lightweights either. By far the best team in Serbia, perennial title winners, regulars in European competition too. Pity they didn’t sign him outright in January or else he might’ve won two league titles in one season (they tried to but Copenhagen asked too high a price).
Over now to the Scottish Women’s Premier League where no matter which way the title goes it’s going to a New Zealander. Glasgow City have been leading it for pretty much the whole way, undefeated until a couple of games ago. But they’ve actually been dropped by both Celtic and Rangers in the past fortnight and then were also knocked out of the Scottish Cup semis by Celtic as well. They’re still first... but only three points separate GC from third and they have to play both Celtic and Rangers again before the season is through.
That puts a dent in Meikayla Moore’s chances of lifting the trophy although Moore has barely been sighted for that team over the last two months. Faded from sight entirely, despite no mention of an injury or anything. So it might be better if either Celtic (Liv Chance) or Rangers (Vic Esson) win instead given that those two actually play. Well, Esson is on a rotation with their other goalie and Chance is currently injured... but close enough. Those two teams are also scheduled to meet at Hampden Park for that Scottish Cup final so there’s another trophy on the line. Rangers have already won the League Cup this season (Celtic won both cups last season while Rangers won the previous league). Rangers and Celtic also play twice more before the season is through – shout out to the league split for keeping the best teams going head to head in the latter stages – so this could go in any of the three directions. Katie Rood is also at Hearts who are fourth but they’re distantly adrift of the title race.
Then over in Denmark there’s also Daisy Cleverley trying to win a title with HB Køge. Clev is mostly a bench option for HBK, who are shooting for a third consecutive championship having never won it before prior to a couple years ago. But she does get out there in most games. Six games remain in Denmark and HBK are four points clear at the top... although that lead could’ve been much more comfortable if they’d beaten second-placed Brøndby on the weekend instead of losing 3-1.
Continental Qualification
Nothing quite like a bit of European competition (or other continents when possible – Marco Rojas at Colo-Colo is a rare example of a kiwi at a club in the Copa Libertadores, for example... and Jeremy Brockie and Andre De Jong have had some experience in the African continental comps). Don’t often get a lot of it but Marko Stamenic did play Champions League this season, remember. And the qualifying stages usually offer up some excitement.
Obviously all those title challengers in top tier competitions are in line for continental footy. Marko Stamenic won’t get that chance with Copenhagen again but not to worry because Crvena Zvezda are 21 points clear at the top of the Serbian league and Champions League qualifiers are the stated priority for them next season. Main aim is to get back into that group stage again after a few years in the wilderness... and if they fail there they’ll still probably end up in the Europa League.
Likewise there’ll be good news for the two top teams in the Scottish and Danish women’s leagues with Champions League qualifying extending that far. HBK and Daisy Cleverley will almost certainly get at least that much while two of the four kiwis in Scotland will also get to partake. At the start of the season it was Esson/Rangers and Moore/Glasgow City. Liv Chance and Celtic had a go the year before. Of course all those players will also have to make sure they’re still at those clubs next season as the short-term deals in women’s footy don’t always allow for such continuity. Moore’s disappearance from GC squads lately means it’s probably best to cheer for the other two.
Another to keep an eye upon... Alex Greive at St Mirren. Greive’s not had a huge role for them lately, but the Buddies have crept up into the top six ahead of the league split. With five more games to go they need to make up four points to catch Hearts for the last Conference League opening. Not sure they’ll do that considering their remaining games will all be against teams ranked higher than them. Gotta cheer them on anyway though.
Ideally Joe Bell and Brøndby would be in the hunt for European competition too... but this has not been a good season for them. A managerial change did seem to spark some kind of turnaround in fate which led them into the top half of the table for the league split. However the damage had already been done. Only the top three get Euro qualification and with six games to go, BIF are 10 points back. It’s not impossible but it’s probably not happening. They’d have been better off finishing seventh and then trying to win the relegation rounds for a playoff against third-place.
There’s an undercover yarn going down in Wales too. Haverfordwest County is where former WeeNix goalie Zac Jones (who made it as far as the bench for the first team) is doing his thing these days and while they were pretty average for a lot of the season – to be expected as an underdog team – once they hit the relegation rounds after the league split their fortunes suddenly changed. Six wins and two draws from their ten playoff games sent them to the top of the standings (seventh place overall) for the club’s best ever finish in the current format of the Welsh Premier division.
Jonesy kept four clean sheets across the final seven matches for a club that hadn’t previously kept a cleanie since November four months earlier. Best of all, as the top finisher in the relegation rounds, they get to enter the four-team playoff for the last Europa Conference League qualifying spot out of Wales. A semi and then a final. They’ll find out who they play after the Welsh Cup final this weekend, which determines the rest of the contenders. It’ll be a tough gig for a club that had to lodge an appeal just to be allowed to stay in the top flight after initially being denied a licence (due to some stadium logistics) but they’re in with a shout and that’s more than anyone expected a couple months ago.
Relegation Battles
The English Women’s Super League is not like the Scottish Premier League, unfortunately. Whereas all the kiwis in Scotland right now are at top clubs, in England it’s the opposite... with the exception of Anna Leat’s Aston Villa who have four games left to try hold onto fifth spot (aka best of the rest behind the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal, and Chelsea). But down the other end there are four clubs still with realistic relegation worries and three of them have New Zealanders involved.
Three points separate those four teams with only the last-placed side to be relegated. If all goes to plan then Reading will be dropped and the three kiwis will all stick around in the English top flight... and that might very well happen as Leicester City have a game in hand on them. Leicester City were dead and buried at the midway stage having lost all nine games but they’ve changed manager (director of women’s football Willie Kirk moving to the dugout) since then and made some quality January signings. Next thing 10 points from 8 games has them right back in the hunt – and CJ Bott’s form has been immense for them during this run. Still plenty of work to be done yet though.
Brighton & Hove briefly dropped below LCFC on the ladder but a win over Everton leapt them back ahead last week. Rebekah Stott’s only featured a handful of times due to various injuries this season but is fit for the home stretch which could be massive. Brighton are onto their third full-time boss this season (not to mention Amy Merricks getting two interim roles in between) so it’s been a disjointed one to say the least.
Tottenham have also sacked a manager. They had their best ever finish last term but then lost a couple of players amidst some pesky injury problems – not the least of which being Ria Percival’s ACL/meniscus tear. Now they’re in a relegation battle. However Percy is now on the brink of a return and that comes just in time to help Spurs grind out the couple more results they probably need for safety. Their goal difference is the best of the teams in this mix and that slight advantage in points is a bigger buffer than it seems with three teams needing to overhaul them for the worst to happen.
Remaining WSL Games
Tottenham (13pts/-16gd) – Brighton (H), Manchester United (A), Reading (H), West Ham (A)
Brighton (12pts/-32gd) – Tottenham (A), West Ham (H), Arsenal (H), Everton (A), Leicester City (H)
Reading (11pts/-20gd) – Manchester City (A), Aston Villa (H), Tottenham (A), Chelsea (H)
Leicester (10pts/-30gd) – Liverpool (H), Arsenal (A), Chelsea (A), West Ham (H), Brighton (A)
Good news there is that Reading have by far the hardest fixtures still to play. Therefore with Leicester and Brighton showing some signs of life in recent weeks there’s a good chance we get the desired outcome here. Call it revenge for the year that Reading signed Erin Nayler then only ever played her in one single League Cup game.
That’s the women’s top division in England, the blokes top division - the esteemed Premier League – is not such a common destination for New Zealanders but thanks to a couple of brave soldiers we’ve enjoyed an incredible 19 consecutive seasons with at least one NZer getting Prem minutes. Ryan Nelsen’s career overlapping with Winston Reid’s career overlapping with Chris Wood’s career. But it’s with great fear and anxiety that it has to be said that streak is under serious threat.
Nottingham Forest may only have Chris Wood on loan but the obligation to buy was written into the deal in large letters and the trigger was apparently that he made a mere three measly starts. He promptly went and did that so Forest are going to buy him on a permanent with the next window opens. That’s locked in.
But by the time that happens there’s a worryingly high chance that they’ll be a Championship club again. Ahead of their midweek game against Brighton, Steve Cooper’s side had taken just three points from their previous eleven fixtures to slide right down into the relegation zone. A 3-1 win against Brighton therefore gave them an enormous positive lift... yet they’re going to have to grind out a few more where that came from. Worst thing is Woodsy can’t even do anything about it as he’s out injured for the rest of the term. It’s up to the rest of the jerries to save the day.
You never know what the transfer window may serve up so the 19 year streak might be extended in other ways. Perhaps Matt Dibley-Dias will commit to Aotearoa and break into the first team at Fulham next season. That’s a possibility. But just know that 2023-24 may turn out to be a season in which Chris Wood is stuck banging away copious goals in the Champo. To be fair, he was the top scorer in the division his last full season there with Leeds so after a couple of goal-dry seasons in the Prem that might not be the worst thing in the world for him. Forest would be strong candidates to bounce straight back up and relegation might force them to trim what’s clearly and over-filled squad.
The pleasant thing about Sarpreet Singh’s relegation yarns at SSV Jahn Regensburg in the German second tier is that it doesn’t even matter. He’s only there on loan to build up his fitness after injury cost him most of the 2022 calendar year. And he’s doing a nice job of that, even for a struggling team which has only won 2/11 games since the winter break. Regensburg are currently third-to-last which would mean having to survive a playoff game to avoid the drop. Any deeper down and it’d be automatic relegation. But Singh, who would’ve been playing Bundesliga for Werder Bremen had that transfer not collapsed due to his injury, will be outta there when the season ends. Back to Bayern Munich either for preseason or, more likely, to prepare for a transfer elsewhere – hopefully to another Bundesliga team, maybe even to Werder Bremen if they revive that interest.
Ally Green’s new Danish club AGF made the semi-finals of the cup however they also finished second to last in the league standings. That meant that they and the team below them joined the top teams from the division below for the relegation playoffs. Points reset. Ten games, home and away against the rest of the group. Top two teams stay up. Hectic stuff... though luckily there seems to be a major talent gap between the tiers because despite being bang average for most of the season, AGF have won three from three so far in the relly rounds. Their last result was a 7-0 win in which Green came off the bench and won a penalty. Seems like that situation should work out pleasantly for them.
Promotion Quests
Obviously Ryan Thomas and Ben Waine have been embarking on promotion quests too however we’ve already covered those hombres. Objective complete and now onwards with winning their championships. But there are others on the cusp too, pushing for that rise up the ranks by the old fashioned organic method.
Matt Garbett has given NAC Breda a healthy boost since his arrival. They’ve won six of his nine starts with Garbs supplying a goal and four assists in that span. No guarantees... but they’re on track to make the playoffs. That’d then mean winning three consecutive two-legged ties for the only spot. That’s no easy feat but they’ve been playing good footy lately. The two dominant teams in the Eerste Divisie have been PEC Zwolle and Heracles and they’re going to go up automatically. After that it’s anyone’s game.
Also, in the third tier VV Katwijk are currently in first place. 20yo NZer Daniel Atkinson plays for their U23 team (former Western Suburbs/Ole Academy). No apps for the seniors yet so an Eerste Divisie debut next term sounds like a nice idea. Katwijk actually won the third tier last season too but there has been an embargo on promotion/relegation between the third and second tiers over the last six years, something to do with shoring up the line between pros and amateurs. That’s since ended so promotion can resume.
We’ve also got a bit of Niko Kirwan to foretell. Having been injured in the first game of the season, a cup game too not even a league match, Kirwan missed pretty much the entire thing. But he did recover in time to take part in Calcio Padova’s last two Serie C matches – both wins – as they finished fifth in their conference and therefore get to take part in the gruelling Serie C promotion playoffs.
Last season Padova narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, finishing second and therefore getting to skip the first few rounds of playoffs, only entering at the national phase. There they advanced to the final where they lost... thus ensuring another year in the third tier. Kirwan missed the end of that because he was with the All Whites for the Costa Rica game... not a good week for that bloke. So close and yet so far in all those ways.
This time they’ll have to do it the hard way. They face Pergolettese this weekend in the first round. Win that and there’s a second round of group playoffs. Then onto the national phase for two more rounds before the two-legged semis and finals. All in all they’ll have to get through eight more games if they’re to step up into Serie B. Kirwan has done it before though. He won the playoffs with Reggiana a couple years back then spent the 2020-21 season with them in the second tier before transferring to Padova when his other club were relegated.
A few other hopes have already been dashed. Bristol City have clinched the only promotion nudge out of the FA Women’s Championship as neither London City Lionesses (Grace Neville) nor Southampton (Ashleigh Ward) were able to keep pace. FC Helsingør aren’t officially out of the race in the Danish men’s Division 1 but despite Callum McCowatt’s excellent recent performances that’s pretty bloody unlikely to happen given how far back they are. CMC’s doing his best though – with three goals in his last 135 minutes.
However down a division in Denmark we do have Kolding IF where Dalton Wilkins plays. In fact Wilkins scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over AB last weekend. Lifts them up to third in the promotion playoffs – one point behind B93 and four behind HB Køge. Top two get promotion. This one’s a real chance. As is Barnsley’s ambition to get out of League One, where Ben Waine’s Plymouth are scrapping for the title. Barnsley, for whom Jamie Searle is the third-string goalie (and appeared a couple of times earlier in the term when injuries occurred), aren’t going up automatically but they will be in the playoffs for a crack at the third-and-final promotion gig.
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