“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 The request is on a desk at WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tommy Stamatelopoulos has come out of that comparison in the side, and WaiBOP United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco De Vries 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The loan was meant to give him football. 1 games and 0 goals later he is back at WaiBOP United no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ryan Waine returns from a loan that gave him nothing
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Jake Wood is 35, with 2 appearances behind him, and WaiBOP United will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tommy Stamatelopoulos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Team Wellington arrived with $72.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
He is going to Team Wellington, the club has $72.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 1 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cameron Boxall 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Auckland City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Auckland City training over how hard people work
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.
“I did not go to Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Boxall 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 5 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“I did not go to Auckland City to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
“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.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis De Vries 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at WaiBOP United who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thapelo Ngcongo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Auckland City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Adam Mitchell 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Auckland City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Waine 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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Owen Barbarouses arrives from Canterbury United with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Newcastle Jets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liberato Boxall. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha 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.
In brief
SquadNoah Boxall falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Auckland City for Ryan Waine 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.
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Liberato Kirwan from Waitakere United for $54.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis De Vries 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.