EVERYONE steals ideas in some way or another. I just stole the working title of Architecture in Helsinki's upcoming record because I think it is clever, and it works for what I'm writing about.

Wellington Phoenix needs a vision revision.

It is something that maybe most fans have shied away from facing, instead backing our man Herbert to the hilt, but the club seems to lack ambition. The comments by Karl Dodd this week, that he wants to be at a club that has a competitive spirit, have hit home for me, and woken me up to some jigsaw pieces that I'm trying to put together.

It may be a case of jamming them together, like when you wish two pieces that don't go together, would; but life is no fun for me if I don't try to make up theories. My mother is an academic; she makes up crap like this for a living.

Dodd stated the problem himself: We are a new club in a "building phase". It has been the line from the start and it will continue to be for as long as I can see, because I haven't heard from any club official what the long-term plan is. Yes, being entirely unsure over our future as a club does hamper things a bit, but if we continue in this vein until we know whether the club will continue to exist or not, we will still be lagging behind everyone else in three years time.

This, coupled with our stated ambition of "making the top-four" could quite feasibly be the reason behind the team's numerous poor, heartless performances during last season. If they aren't expected to challenge every team, every game, players are going to cruise from time to time.

I also believe it to be the reason why Shane Smeltz and Glen Moss left, too. They both went to clubs that are expected to challenge for the title next season, because they felt that Wellington just won't go anywhere near the grand final.

Last season we had a handful of players who gave their all, Costa Barbarouses, Leo Bertos, Tim Brown, and Vaughan Coveny - local lads who feel the pride of the city in their every movement on the pitch, and the upstarts Manny Muscat, Troy Hearfield, and Ben Sigmund who had their marks to make. Sigmund too, was also a fan of the club before signing, and his passion was evident from day one.

The other 16 players on the books had nothing more to motivate them than their careers and determination to win. People don't become professional sportsmen without a healthy dose of determination and competitiveness, but even the most committed people can slack off if given the chance.

The spirit of competition needs to be fostered through the expectation that the team can actually win, and that there are games they should win. Once this happens, then maybe we might see Phoenix players fighting to control games from the off, rather than chasing it during the final minutes.

I've stolen a title, but Wellington Phoenix need to appropriate the concept of hunger, the hunger to win makes sport more than theatre. A grassy battle of honour, rather than a means to the next pay cheque.

James Malthus is starting to wonder just how organized Wellington Phoenix Football Club really is.