 | |||
| Full name | New Zealand Knights Football Club Ltd | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Knights | ||
| Founded | 2004; 21 years ago (2004) (from disestablishedFootball Kingz FC) | ||
| Dissolved | 2007; 18 years ago (2007) | ||
| Ground | North Harbour Stadium | ||
New Zealand Knights Football Club (formed from theFootball Kingz Football Club in 2004) were the only professionalassociation football club inNew Zealand before they became defunct. Based inAuckland,New Zealand, they played in theA-League,Australia's premier football competition and have since been replaced byWellington Phoenix.
Football Kingz FC (promoted as "Auckland Kingz" within Australia) joined theAustralianNational Soccer League in 1999 and proceeded to play in the last five seasons of the NSL, failing to qualify for the playoffs in every season. The club was originally to use the spelling of "Kings", however this was changed to the Kingz after receiving legal threats from theSydney Kingsbasketball franchise.[1]
The Football Kingz brand was disestablished in 2004 and was restructured into the New Zealand Knights as a new franchise for Australia's new national football competition called theA-League.Market research carried out by the club, to determine the viability of a new identity for the team, indicated that 76% of respondents were in favour of a name change. When that research was focused on those aged 35 and under, the percentage in favour of a change rose to 90%. Further to that, the name of "Knights" were polled best of all names suggested in the survey, a clear 30% higher than any other option.[2]
The formerFootball Kingz FC General manager Guy Hedderwick was promoted to the role of New Zealand Knights chief executive officer. Alongside him Football Kingz and Waitakere City Chairman, Anthony Lee, became the New Zealand Knights Chairman in the restructuring.[3]
Initially Anthony Lee had invested into the New Zealand Knights, with his company's (Total Football Ltd) 20% shareholding second only to majority owner Brian Katzen's Octagon Sport (later included Maurice Cox as partner) with 60%. The other shareholders were Sky Television (5%), Chris Turner (10%), and New Zealand Soccer (non-cash 5%).[4]
The only major sponsor the club had was retailer Zero's New Zealand (Sub Sandwiches). They agreed to a deal with the Knights over the first three seasons in a six figure deal as a sleeve sponsor.[5]
New Zealand Knights was confirmed as one of the eight founding teams in theA-League.[5]John Adshead, who took theNew Zealand national side, theAll Whites to their first ever World Cup finals appearance in 1982 was named their inaugural manager/coach.[2] former New Zealand international,Danny Hay, who previously played in theEnglish Premiership withLeeds United was named the inaugural captain of the team.
Despite having a squad boasting several players with extensive experience inEnglish football, many pundits did not rate the Knights as serious contenders for theA-League title, and they were considered favourites for thewooden spoon. These predictions turned out to be true, with New Zealand Knights proving to be well out of their depth in their debutA-League season.[citation needed]
In April 2006, after the poor season, managerJohn Adshead resigned from the club.[6]Paul Nevin was confirmed as manager a month later,[7] having worked as caretaker manager since the position was vacated by Adshead.
In late October 2006, as a result of low crowd attendance atNorth Harbour Stadium inAuckland and continual poor on-field performances, rumours began to circulate thatFootball Federation Australia (FFA) 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 the2007–08 season.
On 15 November, nearing the end of the transfer window, the board and management decided to relieve Paul Nevin of his coaching duties due to a string of poor performances.[8]
On 13 December 2006, strong rumours resurfaced that the FFA was considering the revocation of the Knights' licence to compete in the A-League. It quickly became clear that, with five weeks remaining in the current season, the FFA fully intended to reclaim the licence from the Knights.[9] The FFA had continued to express angst at low attendance numbers, poor on-field performance and the lack of domestically developed players.
Late on 14 December, the FFA announced that it had revoked the competition licence held by the Knights' owners. An arrangement with NZ Soccer would see the national body step in to manage the club for the remaining five weeks of the regular season, with formerAll Whites playerRicki Herbert to fill the role of head coach.[10]
Effectively, the Knights dissolved on 21 January, when the final match of the season was played againstPerth Glory FC.
On 19 March 2007 after several delays,[11]Wellington Phoenix was selected as the successor to the New Zealand Knights.[12]
| Season | Division | League | Top scorer | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Pos | Finals | Name | Goals | ||
| 2005–06 | A-League | 21 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 15 | 47 | –32 | 6 | 8th | – |  Jeremy Brockie, Simon Yeo | 4 |
| 2006–07 | A-League | 21 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 39 | –26 | 19 | 8th | – | Noah Hickey,Neil Emblen | 2 |
North Harbour Stadium is a rectangular stadium situated in Albany on Auckland's North Shore in New Zealand. It was opened in 1997 after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction.
North Harbour Stadium has four main seating areas with an official capacity of 25,000. 19,000 (76%) of this capacity is seated, and the other 6,000 are on grass embankments.
The stadium is lit with four 45 m tall light towers.
The Knights played in all-black strips, with a silver left sleeve. The change strip was white, with black shorts and white socks.
The badge was designed for the inaugural2005–06 season and launched at the January 2005 press conference which highlighted the club name change.[2]
The New Zealand Knights supporter base was known as Bloc 5.
| Season | League | Average | High | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/2007 | A-League | 3,009 | 7,304 | R1 – Newcastle Jets |
| 2005/2006 | A-League | 3,989 | 9,827 | R2 v Sydney FC |
seeList of New Zealand Knights FC players
Danny HayDarren Bazeley| Name | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||||
| John Adshead | | January 2005 | April 2006 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 15 | 47 | −32 | 6 |
| Paul Nevin | | May 2006 | November 2006 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 26 | −22 | 7 |
| Barry Simmondsd | | November 2006 | November 2006 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 2 |
| Ricki Herberte | | December 2006 | January 2007 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Total | August 2005 | January 2007 | 42 | 6 | 7 | 29 | 28 | 86 | -58 | 25 | |
In spite of the fate of theFootball Kingz FC and New Zealand Knights, there was ongoing hope within Auckland football community for a possible return for the New Zealand Knights, or another Auckland-based team, to re-join theA-League.[13] Encouraging crowds of 20,078 in November 2011 whenWellington Phoenix playedAdelaide United[14] and 11,566 in January 2013 whenWellington Phoenix playedPerth Glory,[15] both held atEden Park, added to the push for the addition of a second New Zealand team in the A-League.
In March 2023 theAustralian Professional Leagues, the governing body for theA-League Men, confirmed plans for expansion with new teams to be based in Canberra and Auckland.Bill Foley, the founder of the Black Knight Football Club, which ownsPremier League clubAFC Bournemouth in thePremier League and a significant interest inFC Lorient and owner of the US National Hockey League team’sVegas Golden Knights was awarded the Auckland licence.[16] His team,Auckland FC began competing from the 2024–25 A-League season.[17]
d Caretaker manager after Paul Nevin was removed of coaching duties.e Caretaker manager for the remainder of the season before the club was to be defunct.
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