A familiar face could soon be in charge of the All Whites, with John Herdman being New Zealand Football’s preferred candidate to take over from Danny Hay as coach.
1News understands Herdman has been offered the job, but is yet to sign a contract due to personal circumstances.
New Zealand Football announced today they had a preferred candidate but a family health situation had delayed negotiations.
“The reality is in life sometimes you get curve balls and this is a family health situation that couldn't be avoided and came from the blue,” New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said.
A familiar face could soon be in charge of the All Whites, with John Herdman being NZF's preferred candidate to take over from Danny Hay. (Source: 1News)
New Zealand under-20’s coach Darren Bazeley will oversee the national team in the interim as they prepare for two games against China in Auckland and Wellington in March.
Herdman has a strong connection to New Zealand, having previously coached the Football Ferns for five years from 2006.
But his most recent achievements with Canada have strengthened his coaching credentials. Herdman took the North Americans to last year’s World Cup in Qatar - the first time they’d been in the tournament in 36 years.
Although they finished bottom of their group, suffering defeats to eventual semi-finalists Croatia and Morocco, they were lauded for their performances in qualifying for the tournament.
New Zealand Football have been searching for a new coach since the departure of Danny Hay last year.
It’s believed Herdman has been preferred ahead of Bazeley and current Wellington Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay, while Des Buckingham earlier ruled himself out after recommitting to Mumbai City.
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