Finn McKenlay chats to Jonno Ross to discuss his football career so far, his recent experience at the FIFA U20’s World Cup in Chile, and his future goals with Auckland FC.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
McKenlay, born in Wimbledon, England, spent his first two years in the UK. He first got into football through his father. His whole dad’s side of the family is big into football, and with the family being from Leicester, football was always big in the household.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been playing football. It was since the age of four, or even younger than that.”
He played his junior club football at East Coast Bays, then Auckland United, before playing first team men’s football at Birkenhead. He then moved onto Eastern Suburbs first team.
HOW AUCKLAND FC CAME KNOCKING
After having a successful season in the Northern League with Eastern Suburbs and qualifying for the National League, McKenlay was informed by his coach, Kane Wintersgill, that Auckland FC were interested in signing him.
Being a regular starter in the midfield in the National League at the age of just 18 couldn’t be ignored by AFC’s Director of Football – Terry McFlynn.
“My dad got a call from Terry, to tell him they (AFC) were interested in offering me a scholarship contract. It was probably one of the best days of my life. I was pretty stoked.
DEBUT SEASON & TRAINING WITH THE FIRST TEAM
From playing with non-professional players, and then to be suddenly thrown into a professional environment of an A-League club, certainly impacted the rising star. “The Northern League season was good, I enjoyed it. It was good to get some game time, and I think the group of guys are really good guys, as well as really high quality players. It’s been good to keep progressing and I’ve really enjoyed it.
“Training with the first team was pretty surreal at the start to be honest. You go from the Northern League, to now playing with some of the best players in the league and of course you’ve got someone like Hiroki who’s played at the highest possible level of football, so it’s pretty cool to be in an environment with some unreal players and you learn a lot from them.
“For me personally, I appreciate learning a lot from guys like Cam Howieson, Jake Brimmer, Louis Verstraete, Felipe Gallegos. It’s so good to learn off those type of players – it helps me improve my game, and obviously I’m competing with them so I feel like I’m getting pushed each day.
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO HAVE A SONG THAT’S SUNG FOR YOU BY THE FANS?
“It’s pretty awesome, it’s pretty unreal. It’s a nice feeling. I’ve got a lot to live up to, being called the ’Kiwi Iniesta’”, he laughs.
“The words to the song are cool, actually. The song was stuck in my head for a while at one point as well.”
FINN’S DEBUT FOR AUCKLAND FC
The youngster didn’t have to wait long until Steve Corica saw that McKenlay was ready to kick it with the first team. Round Eight of the A-League came around mid December, against three time Championship winners, and two time Premiership winners, Melbourne City. The game ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw, thanks to a 95th minute equaliser by AFC’s Neyder Moreno.
How did he feel about his debut appearance for the club? “I think it was a really good learning opportunity for me. It wasn’t one of my best performances. I always want to do better, but I just took the positives away from it and I really enjoyed it. I feel like since then I’ve been able to just keep developing and improving my game.
“I took a lot of lessons from that debut and I feel like they’ve helped me – especially with the under 20’s World Cup I just went to, a lot of those lessons were quite valuable to me and I learned a lot from that game.”
NEW ZEALAND U20’s CALL UP
As a kid, McKenlay always had the dream of playing for the country he calls home. At a young age in school, his teacher asked the class to write down on a piece of paper ‘what they wanted to be when they’re older’. He wrote on his piece of paper ‘professional football player’. Not only did that dream become reality at club level football, but when the U20’s National team came calling, it was a “pretty cool moment” for him.
“We did the Oceania qualifiers in Samoa, and obviously we qualified for the World Cup which was cool. But then to get the call to say that I was going to the World Cup was a pretty great moment for me, because obviously being a footballer in New Zealand, it’s a dream to go and represent the country and go to an Under-20 World Cup.
“Those opportunities don’t come around that often and it’s a once in a lifetime thing, so to get the call up and confirm that I was actually going to the World Cup, was a cool moment for me and my family.”
FIFA U20’s WORLD CUP IN CHILE
After success in the U20 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Samoa, McKenlay, alongside teammates teammates Ollie Middleton, Codey Phoenix and Adama Coulibaly, were drawn in Group A against Egypt, Japan, and the host nation – Chile.
Despite not getting the result against Chile in the opening fixture, losing the game 2-1 in the 97th minute, nothing could take away from that experience for McKenlay.
“That was probably my best footballing experience so far. I mean, playing in front of 45,000 people was unreal. I was just a few feet away from my teammates and I couldn’t even speak in my normal tone, I basically had to scream to someone who was right next to me.
“I knew that it was going to be an unreal game playing the opener, but I couldn’t imagine just how good it actually was. Even though we lost, and in such an unfortunate way, it was still the best experience of my life – it was just awesome.”
Mckenlay played every minute at the World Cup and was as a key player in the middle of the park.
“I felt the responsibility to perform – but I feel I am able to be a pretty consistent player. As a footballer you want to play every minute. Going into it I knew that I could help the team.”
Unfortunately, because of the 3-0 loss to Japan, it meant NZ lost out on qualifying through goal difference. Mckenlay had plenty of positives he could take away from the whole experience.
“For me, it was a once in a lifetime experience and the culture that we had was so good. It was a good group of lads, everyone got along with each other.”
“I feel like sharing that opportunity with that certain group of lads and the coaching staff is something that I will look back on when I’m older. Even though we didn’t go through to the next round, nothing will take away from the experience we all had.”
GOALS & AMBITIONS FOR THE UPCOMING SEASON
Having missed the first few National League games for the U23’s due to his international duties, McKenlay looks to the remainder of the season: “For me, when it comes to the National League, I just want to be the best player on the park each time I step on.
“I want to keep performing and play the best I can and developing in that side and keep pushing myself. I think we have a good squad and I think it’s a team that can really push a bit in this league”.
With the A-League starting in just a few days, he wants to be in amongst the game day squad, pushing for as many minutes as he can get: “When it comes to the A-League, I want to keep pushing to get in the match day squad, and when I get an opportunity I want to take it and perform well, testing the boys in my position and challenging them, so that’s the main goal for me.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR FINN MCKENLAY?
“I just want to keep progressing and taking each day as it comes, and doing everything I can to be the best footballer I can be. I want to push myself to see how far I can go in the footballing world and I’m really just taking it step by step.
“I think the A-League is a great league to develop in and I just want to push to get more minutes. I don’t want to look too far in the future, for now I just want to focus on Auckland FC and give myself the best opportunity to go as far as I possibly can.”
Our first home game of the new A-League season is October 25th, 5pm Go Media Stadium. Get your tickets today!
