Marked for Nikesh Singh
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christopher Nailatikau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nadi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Nadi
Christopher Kumar 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Nadi will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Aditya Sentosa 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Nikesh Singh 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
When it matters, Clivert Sam 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for Nadi
Position 8 and 19 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vishant Reddy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Nadi
9 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.
Squad24 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nadi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Nadi
Christopher Kumar 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.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to William Valentine, and the manager let it.
Match22 May 2027
It needed Meli Talevakarua to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Lautoka, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings24 May 2027
5.41 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings24 May 2027
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.
Market24 May 2027
The Rocky Junior story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rocky Junior signs something — a contract at Nadi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Nadi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Ayman 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Clivert Sam has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nadi 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nikesh Singh 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 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 Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nikesh Singh 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 Nadi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vishant Reddy commits to Nadi for another 3 years.
Squad9 Nov 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 Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikesh Singh
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Vishant Reddy 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 Vishant Reddy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Nov 2026
Nadi and Nikesh Singh 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Nadi
Nilkash Prasad 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Rocky Junior keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nadi say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Nadi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Ayman 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Rocky Junior keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nadi say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 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 Nadi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Aidan Malakai Singh 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Vereti Dickson is 38, with 0 appearances behind him, and Nadi will have to plan for whichever answer comes.