Marked for David Yoo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Yoo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
WaiBOP United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alex De Vries has pre-agreed a move to Auckland City, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Michael den Heijer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nathan Lobo named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nathan Lobo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Ryan De Vries to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Hawke's Bay United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Auckland City will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Ryan De Vries yet — 8.14
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Adam Mitchell was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikko Boxall was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Team Wellington, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dylan Connolly has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bill Stamatelopoulos and Auckland City agree another 3 years.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Chris Barbarouses, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Hawke's Bay United top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Adam Mitchell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jackson Manuel commits to Auckland City for another 4 years.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sam Nelson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bill Stamatelopoulos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Auckland City can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jake Tuiloma is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 14 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A late step up for David Yoo
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ben Garbett has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Auckland City have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikko Boxall was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Auckland City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 15 in, 0 out at Auckland City
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Paris Domfeh is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Southern United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
David Yoo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A late step up for David Yoo
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Southern United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adam Mitchell and Auckland City agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to WaiBOP United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Adam Mitchell was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hawke's Bay United have kept their man, and Auckland City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bill Payne has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.