Ex-Watford winger Bazeley learned from 'great man' Taylor

There are no prizes on offer, but if you said that trio scored their penalties for Watford in the 1999 Play-Off semi-final win over Birmingham before going on to become international managers, then enjoy a smug smile.

When Bazeley was announced as the new head coach of New Zealand, he followed Page (Wales) and Hazan (Israel) into management on an international stage.

The 50-year-old and his family have lived in New Zealand for nearly 20 years now, and he was given the job permanently last week after a spell as interim manager.

“I’ve been the assistant coach of the All-White senior team for the last three years. Danny Hay, who I played with at Walsall, was the head coach,” he explained.

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“After our World Cup campaign finished in 2022, everyone’s contract expired. The campaign had been pretty good, but we ended up losing an intercontinental play-off with Costa Rica and didn’t qualify for Qatar.

“The New Zealand FA carried out a review, things came out of that which they wanted to improve on. They also said they were going to market to look for a head coach and Danny decided he didn’t want to continue.

“He walked away and I was left in a position wondering whether I should stay in New Zealand. There aren’t that many jobs here in football, and I’d just spent a period working in America where I was assistant coach at Colorado Rapids in the MLS.

“That was a good job but very tough on my family, so I decided to come back to New Zealand.”

With the national job up for grabs and his former boss stepping aside, Bazeley had to decide whether to throw his hat into the ring.

“When Danny decided not to re-apply I was left in a tricky position: if someone else came in and took the job I could be out, which meant I might have to work outside New Zealand again,” he said.

Darren Bazeley singing the anthem with the New Zealand coaching staff (Image: Darren Bazeley)

“So I decided to apply and went through the process, and that had been ongoing since December. I was told five people were interviewed, and they narrowed that down to three.

“Then I was told they had a preferred candidate, but nothing much happened and we were in February. We had two games in March, so the FA said they were negotiating with a preferred candidate but it wouldn’t be completed in time for those games so they wanted me to be interim coach.

“That was great for me because it gave me the chance to do the job. We played the two games against China, the first was a 0-0 draw and then we won the second game 2-1.

“So it went well and the feedback was pretty good.

“Having done the job first-hand was almost like a trial as being head coach, and at that point I was told negotiations were carrying on with the preferred candidate but they weren’t going the way the FA wanted.”

In the meantime, Bazeley had another big international job to keep him busy.

“I was the Under-20 head coach as well, so I took the Under-20 team out to the World Cup in Argentina and we were pretty successful, getting to the round of 16,” said Bazeley.

“When I came back there was another international break coming up, and I was asked again if I would carry on as interim coach, which I agreed to.

“Those two games were in Europe last month. We played in Sweden, and played quite well but lost 4-1 – Ken Sema came on in the second half and looked a decent player.

“Then the next game was in Austria against Qatar. We were playing really well and winning 1-0, and then just before half-time it all kicked off and as the players came off they were clearly agitated.

“We had a meeting in the dressing room and one of the Qatar players had made a racial slur on the pitch. He denied it and tried to say one of our players said it first, which was just a lie.

“The referee didn’t do anything and so our players just said no, they weren’t playing on. They wanted to make a stand and weren’t going to put up with it, so the game was abandoned.

“While we were away for those games, I was having conversations with the top people in New Zealand football. When we got back, they reviewed how things had gone with players and staff.

“Next thing I was in a meeting and they offered me the job, which was awesome.”

Darren Bazeley in training. (Image: Darren Bazeley)

It could have been easy for Bazeley to leave the process at any time, especially as he was aware there was a preferred candidate, and it wasn’t him.

“I had a couple of people speak to me about opportunities in different parts of the world, but we love New Zealand as a family. We’re citizens now. This is our home.

“Our daughter got married here earlier this year, so we’re very settled.”

Now Bazeley has his sights set on the 2026 World Cup in America, Canada and Mexico.

His squad contains many players that he is very familiar with, having worked with them as they progressed through the New Zealand ranks.

“We’ve got a good side,” he said.

“We have senior players people will have heard of like Chris Wood, but we have a core group of young players that I’ve known for a long time and that I’ve coached.

“Since I’ve been in New Zealand I’ve been to six age-group World Cups, Under-17s and Under-20s.

“Over the years, coaching those teams, I’ve coached all these young players that are now in the senior squad.

“That means I have really good relationships with this core group, aged between 20 and 24, and they are playing at a good level in Europe.

“They are very good players and I feel they are going to have really good careers. They’re just finding their feet at the moment, and when you put them together they look really good because they have that cohesion and connection built from playing together down the years.

“Now I’m on that journey with them and I think we have a really bright future.”

With more teams competing at the 2026 finals, New Zealand have what looks, on paper at least, a far greater chance of being there.

“The route for teams in Oceania has just changed, and because it’s going to be an expanded World Cup for the first time Oceania has been granted a place,” he explained.

“Previously, New Zealand have had to qualify by winning Oceania and then going into an intercontinental play-off. Last time it was Costa Rica, before that it was Peru and then before that it was Mexico.

“We’ve just ended up losing those one-off games and not made it to the finals.

“We qualified in 2010 when the Oceania winner played a team from Asia, and we beat Bahrain.

“But in 2026 there is no play-off, so if we win Oceania then we go to the World Cup Finals.

“Australia are in the Asian section, so Oceania is New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Tahiti, nations like that.

“It’s always a banana skin when you play these countries, but we’ve won Oceania every time for the last few World Cups. Now, without the play-off, this is the best opportunity we’ve had since 2010 to get to a World Cup Finals.”

Unlike Gareth Southgate, who is only ever a few hours in a car from watching his England players in club games, Bazeley’s All-Whites are pretty much everywhere except in New Zealand.

“It’s amateur football here really,” he said, “though there is one professional team, Wellington Phoenix, and they play in the Australian A-League, and we are due to be having a second pro side.

“Other than that, it’s club football where you have regional sides based around clubs that go from five-year-olds right up to seniors.

“If you’re going to be a professional footballer, chances are you’re going to have to leave New Zealand.

“All of our players are pretty much based offshore, so when we played in Europe recently it was actually quite easy because we only had three players from this part of the world.

“But in March, when we played two home games, it was a logistical nightmare because people were having to fly from Europe, America, everywhere. The journey and time difference meant people weren’t arriving until Thursday and we had a game on Saturday.

“Interest in football is growing here though. It’s the number one participation sport in New Zealand now, but obviously we have very successful rugby and cricket teams to compete with.

“We also have a lot of interest in sports like rowing, swimming and yachting, where we win medals at Olympics.”

Talking of rugby, if England play the All Blacks in the forthcoming World Cup, who will Bazeley be supporting?

“New Zealand!” he laughed. “We’ve lived here 20 years now. It’s home. Our two girls don’t even remember England!”

However, one thing Bazeley himself remembers with passion from his career in England was being a player for Graham Taylor.

“I took a lot from what I learned working with Graham Taylor,” he said, proudly.

“I was doing some media here in New Zealand when I got the job, and I said you pick up little bits from everyone you work with. Some good, some not so good. Things you’ll do, and things you won’t.

“But with Graham, everybody was affected by him in some way. He instilled certain morals into people that became a part of them.

“A lot of former Watford player I speak to say very similar to that. They talk about how he taught them to do things right and properly, having high values and being responsible.

“He was a very, very clever man. His man-management skills were unbelievable: he knew my wife’s name, my kids’ names, my dog’s name. And that was the same for every player. He knew about us, and that meant you felt a connection to him.

“When I left Watford I kept in touch with him regularly, and when I left England to move to New Zealand he wrote me a really nice letter.

“We then exchanged Christmas cards every year from 2005 right up until his passing.

“It’s a mark of his greatness. When I left Watford, I wouldn’t say it was under a cloud but there were circumstances that perhaps meant it was surprising.

“He understood, but he wasn’t too pleased either. But then years later for him to send me a Christmas card every year was just him. He was a great man.”

Wales manager Robert Page (Image: Action Images)

It was anything but a shock, then, when another graduate of the Taylor school of management, Robert Page, was appointed manager of Wales.

“I wasn’t surprised at all, no,” Bazeley said.

“We grew up with Tom Walley as a youth team coach, teaching us about being a pro and doing things right. He gave us those same strong morals that we got from Graham.

“You work with Tom, with Graham, with Kenny Jackett, who has the same values in the way he works and coaches.

“So to see Pagey get the job with Wales was no surprise, and I was extremely pleased for him.”