Wellington Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison is pleased with the response in the club's search for a new chief executive but it appears unlikely the incoming boss will be in charge after Nathan Greenham steps down on January 20.

The club's owners, Welnix, have advertised in both Australia and New Zealand and applications for the job close tomorrow.

Morrison said "there won't be anything out on that for a while yet" and Welnix consortium members – who include some of Wellington's most successful businessmen – are likely to hold the fort until the right replacement for Greenham is found.

"We've got all the right systems and controls there and the backup that we need so we're all good," Morrison said.

"Some of us will be a little bit more hands-on, which we have been anyway. Once applications have closed I'll maybe say some more. But there has been plenty of interest and we've received a lot of applications."

Former Phoenix chief executive Tony Pignata has already declared his interest in talking to Welnix about a potential return, but Morrison would not discuss whether or not the Australian is in the running.

The Phoenix are fifth after 16 games in the 27-round A-League and apart from Sunday's disappointing 1-0 home loss to Perth Glory, Morrison had been pleased by the on-field performances.

The club's playoff credentials will now come under scrutiny with consecutive away games against Gold Coast United and the Newcastle Jets.

"We've got to turn things around on the road but Sunday was disappointing," Morrison said.

"But it was great to see people that turned up, we got almost 4000 people turning up on one of the worst days we've had. When we turned up to the ground we thought we might be lucky that 100 people turned up."

Morrison hailed the retention of skipper Andrew Durante on a new three-year deal as "fantastic" news for the club and signalled a "couple more announcements to make in the next couple of days".

The Phoenix are close to sealing a new deal with right back Manny Muscat, who has developed into one of the best and most consistent defensive players in the league.Negotiations with off-contract Spanish midfielder Dani Sanchez and his agent are also under way.

The Phoenix also have the option to sign players in the January transfer window, but Morrison made it clear they weren't frantically scouring the globe.

"It's not like we are under pressure, if someone was really good out there obviously we'd look at them but we're not under pressure because there happens to be a window open. Our planning is very much about how we strengthen the squad over the next two or three years."

Welnix will also wait until next season before appointing an assistant coach and goalkeeping coach to assist Ricki Herbert, while the consortium continues to plug away on plans for an academy and a reserve team.

"We're working hard on that and we'll definitely have something up and running for next season so we're working away on it," Morrison said, although it is still uncertain whether a feeder team could play in a formal competition such as the ASB Premiership.

"There's lots of discussions with lots of people and I think there's definitely a will to have something done. If we have a good academy structure, a second team operating and so on, that doesn't just benefit the Phoenix, it actually benefits football in general. If we have an academy structure, it's not like everyone's going to end up playing for the Phoenix, they won't, it's just not possible."

The club's training base will remain at Newtown Park for the foreseeable future while Morrison hoped to make an announcement on a new Phoenix board within "a couple of weeks".

"We've pretty much got the people that we want to be on it."