Marked for Max Wilson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Bill Lockyer 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 Waitakere United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Max Wilson 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Port Vale have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Waitakere United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Canterbury United for Francis Colvey was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Max Wilson 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Just was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Wrexham: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Canterbury United for Dane Rufer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
40 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Jordan Vale rejects the move
Waitakere United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Auckland City, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Max Wilson 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 Waitakere United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Francis Colvey pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Just was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Kirwan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Hawke's Bay United for Max Wilson was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Pearson and Waitakere United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Max Wilson 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Naxxar Lions have kept their man, and Waitakere United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Liberato Sutton 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Max Wilson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Waitakere United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Just 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alex Garbett commits to Waitakere United for another 1 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Waitakere United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to WaiBOP United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.