13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
James Nelson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
James Nelson 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Liberato Nelson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Owen Rufer 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. James Colvey 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Matt Singh 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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 name of Dane Boxall has come up in conversations WaiBOP United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I did not go to Wellington Phoenix to sit and watch. I want to come back to WaiBOP United and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Position 1, 28 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The offer from Southern United for Dane Boxall was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
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.
Marco Fenton 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
James Nelson 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WaiBOP United, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Southern United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dane Boxall. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Nelson 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.
“I watch every WaiBOP United 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.