Marked for Jonathan Lawson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Auckland City close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jonathan Lawson is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Sep 2027
David Yoo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
No deal for Winston Bell at that price
Auckland City offered $85.0K; Canterbury United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Heriansyah Yan arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Heriansyah Yan has, at Auckland City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Auckland City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Tommy McCowatt deal
Auckland City ran out of time with Hawke's Bay United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paris Domfeh, and the manager let it.
Market6 Sep 2027
The Matt Ellis talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Auckland City know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Canterbury United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Auckland City is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Auckland City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$77.0K settles it between the clubs for Monty Boxall
Canterbury United have accepted the money. What Auckland City do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Japhet Matondo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
David Yoo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Matt Ellis 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Auckland City know now that the thought has arrived.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
No hiding place for Adam Bell
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adam Bell, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Nathan Lobo 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 Auckland City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Nathan Lobo 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 Auckland City can pretend not to have heard.
Match7 Jun 2027
Position 3 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Alex Waine
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Auckland City have done the hard part with WaiBOP United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jun 2027
David Yoo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A move Jonathan Lawson 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. Jonathan Lawson is living that version at Auckland City, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Auckland City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Connolly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Matt Boxall is in the works
Auckland City have made the call to WaiBOP United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 May 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 May 2027
David Yoo 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 Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matt Ellis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 May 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matt Ellis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mamadou Diawara commits to Auckland City for another 3 years.
Squad24 May 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.