Sam Nelson

Right Midfielder - Canterbury United
3 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 2 Transfers Relations Events 24 Awards Matches History

Marked for Sam Nelson

14 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings2 Nov 2026

Nobody could get near Joe Lewis

Successful dribbles: 68. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad2 Nov 2026

3 goals for Stefan Payne

The match ball belongs to Stefan Payne, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Market2 Nov 2026

Kosta Waine is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Canterbury United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom2 Nov 2026

Kosta Waine signs for Waitakere United while still at Canterbury United

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kosta Waine has agreed terms with Waitakere United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Tempers go at Canterbury United

Stefan Payne 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.

Match31 Oct 2026

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Canterbury United and Southern United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match31 Oct 2026

Stefan Payne sends Canterbury United past Southern United

It finished 4‑2, and it was Stefan Payne’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Canterbury United.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Words at Canterbury United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis Colvey 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.

Player ratings2 Nov 2026

Ninety minutes of Winston Barbarouses at his very best

Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Canterbury United.

In brief

Back issues
12 Edition

The Canterbury United Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad19 Oct 2026

Stefan Payne is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad19 Oct 2026

Tempers go at Canterbury United

Francis Colvey 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.

Squad19 Oct 2026

Francis Colvey has improved at 24, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Boardroom19 Oct 2026

Graduation day at Canterbury United

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Market19 Oct 2026

Chris Just steps up from the Canterbury United academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Chris Just has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market19 Oct 2026

One of our own: Jake Lockyer joins the Canterbury United first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jake Lockyer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief