Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo May was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Riley Dalziell is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Auckland FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hiroki Sakai and Auckland FC agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Guillermo May 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.
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.
Nobody at Auckland FC 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.
Position 4, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Auckland FC would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marlee Francois trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Vicelich is on it.
35 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Words at Auckland FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo May 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Auckland FC know it.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Auckland FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Auckland FC has been clear about where Hirinai Vahirua stands, which is more than many ever get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sydney FC have kept their man, and Auckland FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Auckland FC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oliver Sail is on it.
29 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Auckland FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.