It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hawke's Bay United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lassana N'Diaye 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.
“I watch every Hawke's Bay United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Western Sydney Wanderers runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
SquadChris Fenton has become a man the manager trusts
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lassana N'Diaye has just signed for Hawke's Bay United, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer from Brisbane Roar for Ryan Garbett 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.
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.
Noah Bell 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.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $320.0K for Adam Bell, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadLassana N'Diaye falls out with a teammate over standards