Marked for Ryan Sutton
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Stefan Smith 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ryan Sutton commits to WaiBOP United for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
Mauricio Felipe damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jone Lalagavesi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Dennis Kweyu 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Market30 Aug 2027
Business is business: Ryan Sutton goes
WaiBOP United paid $12.0K and Canterbury United took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Mandla Mahlangu out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WaiBOP United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Aug 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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommy Wood is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Aug 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market30 Aug 2027
The fee is $12.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Canterbury United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jake Waine 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Mauricio Felipe damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match23 Aug 2027
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market23 Aug 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 Canterbury United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Francis Colvey is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dennis Kweyu 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 Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.