The Canterbury United Gazette
Squad5 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Tim McCowatt
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market5 Oct 2026
Joe De Vries 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 The request is on a desk at Canterbury United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Michael Payne has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Canterbury United
Alex Bell 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Liberato Bell signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Liberato Bell commits to Canterbury United for another 2 years.
Market5 Oct 2026
Still no ink between Canterbury United and Noah Smith
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Canterbury United, another week without a signature from Noah Smith.
In brief
- The dugout Oliver McCowatt asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout Stefan Nelson keeps his manager's vote