Marked for Dane Van Hattum
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Auckland City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” James Waine and Auckland City agree another 3 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lamin Sillah 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Auckland City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chris Lewis 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 dugout2 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Haris Zeb
7.87, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Auckland City had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Auckland City can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paris Domfeh is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Lamin Sillah 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A late step up for David Yoo
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Jackson Manuel knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jackson Manuel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Auckland City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 1 out at Auckland City
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Paris Domfeh is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester City is saying, and nobody at Auckland City is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Lamin Sillah 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A late step up for David Yoo
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Auckland City asked and Swansea City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lamin Sillah, and the manager let it.