The Wellington Phoenix Gazette
Match7 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Wellington Phoenix
Position 11 and 25 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Wellington Phoenix turn down Melbourne City for Luke Supyk
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Real improvement from Mamoudou Cisse at Wellington Phoenix
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mamoudou Cisse is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A move Aolin Zhang would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aolin Zhang is living that version at Wellington Phoenix, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Kazuki Nagasawa wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wellington Phoenix can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Perth Glory tell Wellington Phoenix: Mark Birighitti is not for sale
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Wellington Phoenix
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramy Najjarine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Corban Piper 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Wellington Phoenix ask about Sebastian Despotovski
A loan enquiry to Perth Glory: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
- Transfer targets A loan move for Alex Nassiep is in the works
- Market Wellington Phoenix and Manjrekar James are talking past each other
- The dugout Alby Kelly-Heald knocks on the manager’s door