“I have to be harsh and say I think it’s time to say goodbye to Wellington,” Kosmina said on Fox Sports’ Sunday Shootout.

“And I know that sounds harsh but when the A-League began, it worked. It was something that we needed, it added a bit of variety, it added a bit of colour.

“But now it’s season after season after season where they look like they’re going to do something and all of a sudden the wheels fall off badly ... the fact is they’re not really causing any threats to anyone, I think they’re not really doing Australian football any favours.

“Now I look at it from our development point of view: take Wellington out and put another Aussie team in, instead. It will benefit our game a lot more.”

Wellington are last on the ladder, two points behind the Central Coast Mariners. If they finish in the bottom three this year, which looks an almost-certainty, it will be their third season in a row.

Over Wellington’s ten-year history, they’ve made the finals four times but never finished above fourth in the league and third overall.

Phoenix also have the lowest attendance in the competition, averaging 6,182 people per game. Against Melbourne City, they only registered 5,105.  

Mark Bosnich said their issues go beyond coaching to the players, and the A-League’s system itself.

“They’ve had how many coaches in the last four or five years? Probably about three, I would say something like that,” he said.

“So when you’re talking about coaches, you can’t continually blame the coach — so those players have got to pull their fingers out.

“If they were going to get relegated, don’t you worry, it would be a different reaction.”