Marked for Matt Sutton
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Owen Van Hattum and Southern United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Tuiloma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Joe McCowatt
“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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Tommy Lewis knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Southern United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Jul 2027
Position 5, 16 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The deal with WaiBOP United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Drake Hadeed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Owen Van Hattum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Matt Sutton, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Kosta Van Hattum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Southern 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Owen Van Hattum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Matt Sutton, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 Van Hattum is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Teaveura Parker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matt Sutton commits to Southern United for another 3 years.
Squad17 May 2027
Joe Nelson is out on the grass again
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. Southern United will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.