Owen Van Hattum 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 easiest signature of my career.” Michael Reid and Southern United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dane Bell's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jake Payne signs something — a contract at Southern United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Liberato Nelson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Next up on the road: Canterbury United, position 3. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Southern United and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Southern 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 Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Southern United enter the window
Owen Van Hattum 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Will Smith is living that version at Southern United, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Southern United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Southern United can pretend not to have heard.
Owen Van Hattum 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
The dugoutDane Bell asks for a word with the manager
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Liberato Payne and Southern United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Owen Van Hattum 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Southern United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Southern United, another week without a signature from Ilisoni Lolaivalu.
“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 Southern United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Owen Van Hattum 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Southern United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matt Nelson and Southern United agree another 3 years.
“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 Southern United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Owen Van Hattum 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Southern United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hawke's Bay United have kept their man, and Southern United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Southern United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Southern United have made the call to WaiBOP United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Owen Van Hattum decided nobody was going anywhere. Canterbury United had no time left to answer.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefan Wood and Southern United agree another 3 years.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Michael Barbarouses could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Winston Waine is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michael Barbarouses on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 19. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The name of Jake Nelson has come up in conversations Southern United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Bell 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chris Wood signs something — a contract at Southern United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.