Chris Greenacre steps in as Wellington Phoenix coach for fourth time

Chris Greenacre has taken over as head coach of the Wellington Phoenix for the forseeable future following the abrupt departure of Giancarlo Italiano.

Greenacre is stepping up from his role at the Phoenix academy, where he has been the head of pro development and men's reserves head coach for the past four seasons.

He is in ongoing discussions with the club about the head coaching position for rest of the A-League season and beyond.

Italiano quit after Saturday's 5-0 loss to Auckland FC. The Australian had been with the Phoenix since 2019 and head coach since 2023.

This is Greenacre's fourth time as an interim coach for the Phoenix.

He filled in after the club's first coach, Ricki Herbert, resigned during the season after a run of poor results in 2013.

In 2016 he was called on again, in a co-coach role with Des Buckingham, after Ernie Merrick also left during the season and again during the 2017/18 season to fill in when Darije Kalezic exited after a breakdown in contract negotiations.

Over his time with the club, Greenacre has served as an assistant coach under Herbert, Merrick, Kalezic, Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay.

Greenacre arrived at the Phoenix as a player in 2009 and made 84 appearances and scored 19 goals before hanging up his boots in 2012.

He has worked towards his coaching qualifications and is now one of the few coaches in New Zealand to hold a Pro Diploma after completing the course in 2022.

Greenacre's first task will be preparing the team for Sunday's home game against Sydney FC.

"It's not the first time I've done this, but it doesn't get any easier," Greenacre said.

"Coming in this morning was quite difficult for me. We have to move on quickly as a club, but you never forget what's gone before you.

"I want to pay tribute to Chiefy. He led the Phoenix to their best ever season, narrowly missing out on the premiers' plate and a place in the grand final, and that shouldn't be forgotten."

Greenacre said everyone at the club is hurting following the derby defeat on Saturday and are determined to make amends.

"I wasn't involved in it, but I'm still hurting. I'm a fan first and foremost.

"We want to get some pride back in the badge and what the Phoenix represent.

"It's a big game for our players from a personal perspective. When you don't have a great result you can't wait for the next game to come around quickly, so you can get back to what you do well.

"The players will be chomping at the bit to get back on the field in front of our home supporters and restore some pride."

Phoenix director of football Shaun Gill has thanked Greenacre for stepping into the role at short notice.

"We're very lucky to have someone of Greeny's calibre at the club," Gill said.

"He's a great coach and person, on top of being a Phoenix icon, and he's done a tremendous job at the academy over the past four years preparing our young men's players for professional football.

"These are difficult circumstances but Greeny didn't hesitate when I asked if he could take charge. He loves the Phoenix and wants to restore some pride in the club."

Gill put some of the blame for the situation the club was in on the playing group.

"I had a pretty blunt conversation with players on Sunday morning, the accountability goes across everybody at the football club for what's gone on - including the derby loss - and the players have to take some of that accountability as well and that was expressly told to them."

He expected the players to respond as soon as Tuesday's training session.

"The players have to come, they have to turn up, and they have to put their names in the hat to be in the team for Sunday.

"We're not looking beyond this week. All we're focused on is getting a positive result at the stadium on Sunday.

"I think the nature of the A-League is it's very competitive, there's not a lot of space between bottom and sixth [on the ladder] so we continually look at how can we get this [team] back to where we want it to be."

Italiano's exit would not impact on the timeframe for discussions about player contracts for next season, Gill said.

"I can continue to have conversations with those players that we think are worth re-signing.

"But again one of the messages we gave to the players on Sunday is that at the moment we have a lot of people looking at what's wide out there, World Cups, contracts, the next move for some of these younger players and one of the key things we're trying to drive across is especially this week the focus has got to be on training... if we take care of that stuff the rest will take care of its self."

The Phoenix are also looking for a new assistant coach as Italiano's right hand man Kelly Guimarães has resigned too, effectively immediately.

The Brazilian was appointed to the lead assistant role for the 2025-26 season, but has stood down in the wake of the derby defeat.

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