Marked for Sam Lewis
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Clayton Sutton damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Team Wellington's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Team Wellington has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Team Wellington training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Garbett 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Southern United left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Team Wellington are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Team Wellington training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Garbett 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I watch every Team Wellington game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Michael Wood has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Team Wellington 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Owen Bell
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Team Wellington training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Garbett 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joe Cacace is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Team Wellington this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marc Tokich 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 Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jackson Manuel 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.