Canterbury United did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
Canterbury United asked and Hibernians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bill Cacace 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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Clayton Fenton is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Canterbury United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Liberato Singh 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 Canterbury United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
That is the business done at Canterbury United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Joe Tuiloma has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Kosta Lewis is on it.
Position 4 on 18 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Monty Lockyer is 35, with 2 appearances behind him, and Canterbury United will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Canterbury United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bill Cacace 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Canterbury United 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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Liberato Garbett may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Joe Tuiloma 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kosta Stamatelopoulos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tommy Bell has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Monty Smith has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Reece Hill and Canterbury United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Reece Hill
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.
Liberato Garbett 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joe Tuiloma and Canterbury United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The phone has started ringing about Stefan Wood again, and this time the name on the line is WaiBOP United. Canterbury United are listening politely and promising nothing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Canterbury United, and both men came out saying it was fine.