William Khan

Central Defender - Tailevu Naitasiri
9 Dec 2040
Sunday
Process

Marked for William Khan

749 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

3 Dec 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Ratu Qaraniqio damages knee ligaments — 89 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri are in real trouble now

Position 10, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Peni Lal asks to leave Tailevu Naitasiri

“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.

Boardroom

$82.1K of the owner's money at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Tailevu Naitasiri

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

Squad

When it matters, Craig Powell plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

Back issues
745 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

5 Nov 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Tailevu Naitasiri

Position 10 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Squad

Issa Bechir has been here 13 seasons

25 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

Tempers go at Tailevu Naitasiri

Gabriel Popovic 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.

Boardroom

$82.6K of the owner's money at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Squad

No hiding place for Gabriel Popovic

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Popovic, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Tailevu Naitasiri

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

In brief

741 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

8 Oct 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri sink to position 10

14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Boardroom

Tito Nakaci has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tailevu Naitasiri can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

An order from above at Tailevu Naitasiri: somebody has to go

Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.

Boardroom

$83.4K of the owner's money at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Squad

Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Popovic is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Tailevu Naitasiri

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

Market

Talks stall between Tailevu Naitasiri and Gabriel Popovic

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

When it matters, Craig Powell plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Connor Reynolds loses the manager who believed in him

A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Connor Reynolds's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.

In brief

737 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

10 Sep 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Tailevu Naitasiri

Position 10 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Squad

Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Popovic is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Tailevu Naitasiri

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

Market

Tailevu Naitasiri and Gabriel Popovic are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

When it matters, Craig Powell plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Connor Reynolds knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tailevu Naitasiri, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

736 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

3 Sep 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Altamish Khan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Altamish Khan and Tailevu Naitasiri agree another 2 years.

Squad

Gabriel Popovic in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

The owner puts $83.5K into Tailevu Naitasiri

This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.

In brief

733 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

13 Aug 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri sink to position 10

14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Christopher Krishna

16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tailevu Naitasiri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Issa Bechir says Tailevu Naitasiri went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

In brief

726 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

25 Jun 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tailevu Naitasiri

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

No end in sight to Tailevu Naitasiri's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tailevu Naitasiri has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Popovic is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Gabriel Popovic

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Reon Werahiko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Match

Point won or two lost for Tailevu Naitasiri?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Navua? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

Player ratings

Gabriel Popovic runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

The Reon Werahiko question follows Tailevu Naitasiri around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Reon Werahiko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

William Khan left out for tactical reasons at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

723 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

4 Jun 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Tailevu Naitasiri spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Reon Werahiko keeps Tailevu Naitasiri in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Labasa take the points off Tailevu Naitasiri

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

The owner puts $82.0K into Tailevu Naitasiri

This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.

Squad

Gabriel Popovic 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.

Market

Suva watching Issa Bechir

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tailevu Naitasiri have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

No hiding place for Reon Werahiko

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reon Werahiko, and the manager let it.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Viliame Baledrokadroka

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Viliame Baledrokadroka has come out of that comparison in the side, and Tailevu Naitasiri have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Gabriel Popovic

Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

722 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

28 May 2040
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Both of them Gabriel Popovic's — 8.80

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.80, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Tailevu Naitasiri

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tailevu Naitasiri is running low.

Squad

Tempers go at Tailevu Naitasiri

Gabriel Popovic 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.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri get the job done against Nadi

A 3‑1 win over Nadi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Viliame Baledrokadroka

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Connor Reynolds at his very best

Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tailevu Naitasiri.

Squad

No hiding place for William Khan

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to William Khan, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aporosa Prasad is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Viliame Baledrokadroka runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

715 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

9 Apr 2040
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The terraces

Anger at Tailevu Naitasiri spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Samuela Tiko sends Tailevu Naitasiri through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Samuela Tiko obliged against Nasinu. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tailevu Naitasiri.

Match

Cruel end for Nasinu as Tailevu Naitasiri pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tailevu Naitasiri scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 19 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Connor Reynolds scores twice — 8.00

Two goals and a mark of 8.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Samuela Tiko at 20 — 8.16

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuela Tiko did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Misaele Lal hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Gabriel Popovic in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri find a way past Nadroga

Nadroga made Tailevu Naitasiri work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

714 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

2 Apr 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 26 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Tailevu Naitasiri

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tailevu Naitasiri is running low.

Squad

Reon Werahiko has been here 14 seasons

253 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Match

A bad afternoon for Tailevu Naitasiri against Labasa

2‑3 to Labasa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Boardroom

$69.9K of the owner's money at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Squad

Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Popovic is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

713 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

26 Mar 2040
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 33 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Peni Lal, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61

A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The terraces

Tailevu Naitasiri supporters have found a favourite in Peni Lal

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Peni Lal has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri find a way past Nadi

Nadi made Tailevu Naitasiri work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Boardroom

Tailevu Naitasiri cannot sign anybody

The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Craig Powell — 6.94

A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Laisenia Tuisese

17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

Player ratings

Simione Kumar shuts the door

Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

Gabriel Popovic in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

712 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

19 Mar 2040
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 40 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Issa Bechir

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Issa Bechir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tailevu Naitasiri the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The terraces

Tailevu Naitasiri supporters have found a favourite in Samuela Tiko

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuela Tiko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Boardroom

The Tailevu Naitasiri debt reaches $6.0M

Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.

Player ratings

Samuela Tiko stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.39 on the card, and the Tailevu Naitasiri support went home talking about one name.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri and Nasinu take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad

Tempers go at Tailevu Naitasiri

Gabriel Popovic 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.

Squad

Altamish Khan has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Peni Qaraniqio gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

711 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

12 Mar 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Tailevu Naitasiri spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 47 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Peni Lal keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tailevu Naitasiri may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Misaele Lal puts it in writing

“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 Tailevu Naitasiri, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Tailevu Naitasiri

Altamish Khan 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.

Match

Craig Powell’s goal not enough for Tailevu Naitasiri

Craig Powell scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Rewa, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match

Tailevu Naitasiri leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

William Khan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” William Khan commits to Tailevu Naitasiri for another 1 years.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Connor Reynolds

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

710 Edition

The Tailevu Naitasiri Gazette

5 Mar 2040
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 54 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Tailevu Naitasiri

8 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Match

Ba take the points off Tailevu Naitasiri

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

$88.9K of the owner's money at Tailevu Naitasiri

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Market

Tailevu Naitasiri promote Laisenia Tuyaga from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Laisenia Tuyaga has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: Christopher Nailatikau joins the Tailevu Naitasiri first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Christopher Nailatikau is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Tailevu Naitasiri promote Roy Mocenica from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roy Mocenica has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: Sakaraia Nabenia joins the Tailevu Naitasiri first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sakaraia Nabenia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

William Khan signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” William Khan commits to Tailevu Naitasiri for another 1 years.

In brief

688 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

3 Oct 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Jale Baledrokadroka has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Nadroga can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 57 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Epeli Sorovi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadroga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Ratu Begg hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

The Nadroga board want somebody sold

The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.

Boardroom

The owner puts $77.3K into Nadroga

This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.

Boardroom

Nadroga are $5.9M in the red

The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.

Squad

When it matters, Barrie Limoki plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

The manager's exit leaves Misaele Jale exposed

Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Misaele Jale is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.

In brief

687 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

26 Sep 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Nadroga has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 64 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Sakaraia Tiko is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadroga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

The manager has not finished forgetting Peni Naranayanan's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Viliame Raju

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

When it matters, Sakaraia Tiko plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

686 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

19 Sep 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Nadroga

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 71 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Max Cooper

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Max Cooper will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadroga the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Simione Ravai hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

When it matters, Simione Matai plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Joel Chand talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nadroga know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

685 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

12 Sep 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nadroga sink to position 8

19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 78 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Sakaraia Tiko hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Sifiso Mahlangu says Nadroga went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Nadroga

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

Squad

When it matters, Epeli Sorovi plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

684 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

5 Sep 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 85 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Nadi come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Nadroga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Only the photograph left for Epeli Sorovi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Epeli Sorovi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadroga the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Viliame Qaraniqio hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

The owner puts $78.4K into Nadroga

This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.

Squad

Joel Chand signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joel Chand commits to Nadroga for another 2 years.

In brief

683 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

29 Aug 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Nadroga has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 92 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Sakaraia Tiko

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sakaraia Tiko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadroga the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Ratu Begg hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The manager has not finished forgetting Peni Naranayanan's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

Max Cooper asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

682 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

22 Aug 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Nadroga

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Nadroga is running low.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 99 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Samuela Baledrokadroka keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nadroga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Simione Ravai in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nadroga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Misaele Jale gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

Nadroga and Tevita Begg are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

681 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

15 Aug 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nadroga are in real trouble now

Position 8, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 106 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Simione Ravai asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Squad

Epeli Goundar keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nadroga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Nadi are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Nadroga will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Boardroom

No signings allowed at Nadroga

The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.

In brief

680 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

8 Aug 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 113 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Nadroga say no — this time

The offer from Nadi for Max Cooper was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Boardroom

The owner puts $80.1K into Nadroga

This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.

Boardroom

Nadroga are $5.9M in the red

The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.

Market

Nadroga and Peni Naranayanan are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

When it matters, Barrie Limoki plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

679 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

1 Aug 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Nadroga has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Squad

William Khan breaks a bone — 120 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Nadi come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Nadroga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Sakaraia Tiko is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadroga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Ratu Begg asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Squad

Viliame Raju: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nadroga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

In brief

659 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

14 Mar 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Nadroga spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Amani Prasad breaks a bone — 92 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Epeli Sorovi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nadroga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

The wait goes on for Nadroga

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Ilaisa Baledrokadroka asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Nadroga against Ba

0‑2 to Ba, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

No hiding place for Barrie Limoki

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Barrie Limoki, and the manager let it.

Market

Still no ink between Nadroga and Max Cooper

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Nadroga, another week without a signature from Max Cooper.

In brief

658 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

7 Mar 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Amani Prasad breaks a bone — 99 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Jai Rufer has been here 12 seasons

140 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Market

Ratu Begg asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Match

The wait goes on for Nadroga

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Boardroom

An order from above at Nadroga: somebody has to go

Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.

Boardroom

11 academy players handed senior numbers at Nadroga

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Match

A bad afternoon for Nadroga against Labasa

2‑3 to Labasa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Boardroom

$80.0K of the owner's money at Nadroga

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

In brief

657 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

28 Feb 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Jale Prasad has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nadroga they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Nadroga cannot sign anybody

The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.

Squad

Jale Goundar 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.

Squad

Epeli Sorovi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Nadroga will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Jale Goundar knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jale Goundar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

656 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

21 Feb 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Jale Goundar asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Boardroom

The Nadroga debt reaches $5.8M

Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.

Squad

Barrie Limoki has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Nadroga will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Jale Goundar asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Barrie Limoki question follows Nadroga around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Barrie Limoki’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

655 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

14 Feb 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Nadroga spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Nadroga

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Nadroga is running low.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Nadroga

Position 9 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Epeli Sorovi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nadroga they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Viliame Raju asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Squad

When it matters, Simione Matai plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

Still no signature from Aporosa Baledrokadroka

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Nadroga could get for him.

Squad

Roy Nabenia asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

654 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

7 Feb 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ratu Begg asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Squad

11 seasons of Max Cooper

158 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Nadroga know what they have.

Boardroom

$78.2K of the owner's money at Nadroga

The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.

Squad

Joel Chand signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joel Chand commits to Nadroga for another 2 years.

Squad

When it matters, Sakaraia Tiko plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

653 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

31 Jan 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ilaisa Baledrokadroka asks to leave Nadroga

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Jale Prasad

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jale Prasad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadroga the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Nadroga cannot sign anybody

The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.

Squad

Epeli Sorovi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Nadroga will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Jai Rufer question follows Nadroga around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jai Rufer’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

652 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

24 Jan 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Jale Goundar hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nadroga can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

The Nadroga debt reaches $5.8M

Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.

Squad

Barrie Limoki has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Nadroga will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Market

The Barrie Limoki question follows Nadroga around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Barrie Limoki’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Anare Tiko asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

651 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

17 Jan 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Nadroga spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Nadroga

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

Nadroga are in real trouble now

Position 9, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Only the photograph left for Epeli Sorovi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Epeli Sorovi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadroga the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Viliame Raju puts it in writing

“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 Nadroga, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jale Goundar 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.

Market

Nasinu are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Nadroga will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Squad

When it matters, Simione Matai plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

650 Edition

The Nadroga Gazette

10 Jan 2039
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for William Khan

81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nadroga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Ratu Begg puts it in writing

“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 Nadroga, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words at Nadroga training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jale Goundar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

When it matters, Sakaraia Tiko plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Jale Goundar asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Joel Chand linked with a move away

The name of Joel Chand keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nadroga say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief