Marked for Benjamin White
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Nov 2031
Lautoka up to position 2
35 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Isikeli Sevanaia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
When it matters, Nickel Tiko plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market24 Nov 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lautoka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market24 Nov 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Benjamin White leaves Lautoka the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Oct 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Oct 2031
At 18, Jale Mocenica is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Lautoka have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market20 Oct 2031
Only the photograph left for Benjamin White
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin White will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
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Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Lautoka are $6.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Lautoka know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market22 Sep 2031
“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 Lautoka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Sep 2031
Only the photograph left for Benjamin White
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin White will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
Lautoka are $6.2M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
Nickel Tiko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka 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.
Market22 Sep 2031
The name of Joela Biuvanua keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lautoka say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Sep 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market15 Sep 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isikeli Sevanaia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad15 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Sep 2031
Lautoka asked and Ba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kolinio Hughes and Lautoka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
Shivam Naidu gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shivam Naidu is on it.
Market15 Sep 2031
The Shivam Naidu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shivam Naidu signs something — a contract at Lautoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Sep 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 Sep 2031
Lautoka up to position 2
35 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market1 Sep 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Lautoka until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ba is saying, and nobody at Lautoka is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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 dugout1 Sep 2031
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Squad1 Sep 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samuela Nabenia commits to Lautoka for another 1 years.
Squad1 Sep 2031
A quiet fortnight at Lautoka
With 8 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lautoka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Aug 2031
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Roy Prasad had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market18 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isikeli Sevanaia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Lautoka asked and Ba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Isikeli Sevanaia 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Ba have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market18 Aug 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Lautoka will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jul 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Lautoka asked and Ba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roy Prasad and Lautoka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan move for Harvey Ness is in the works
Lautoka have made the call to Ba. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan move for Jake Colvey is in the works
Lautoka have made the call to Ba. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jul 2031
34 days out for Sairusi Nalaubu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nasinu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad14 Jul 2031
He is 21, he is averaging 7.47, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Market14 Jul 2031
Only the photograph left for Benjamin White
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin White will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Jul 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Isikeli Lal and Lautoka agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Ba have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
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The dugout
Sairusi Nalaubu gets picked when it counts
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Boardroom
Lautoka can only buy what they sell
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Joe Just
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Sairusi Nalaubu out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Jun 2031
The knee: Jale Kumar out for 32 days
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lautoka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match18 Jun 2031
Lautoka out of the cup
Nadroga ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match21 Jun 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Lautoka
8 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.
The terraces23 Jun 2031
A cup embarrassment at Nadroga follows Lautoka home
1-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
No sign of nerves from Benjamin White at 21 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Benjamin White did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market23 Jun 2031
“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.
Market23 Jun 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market23 Jun 2031
The bid was some way short and Lautoka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jun 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Sakaraia Matai, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A season average of 7.47 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Lautoka know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match14 Jun 2031
Lautoka are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market16 Jun 2031
Only the photograph left for Benjamin White
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin White will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lautoka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
9 Lautoka players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 9 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match14 Jun 2031
Lautoka come up short against Suva
Suva left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 May 2031
90 days out for Sairusi Nalaubu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Marked 9.58 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad19 May 2031
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad19 May 2031
A season average of 7.41 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Lautoka know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market19 May 2031
Benjamin White has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match17 May 2031
Lautoka make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lautoka have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad19 May 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match17 May 2031
Epeli Nailatikau among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Epeli Nailatikau on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lautoka and Nasinu.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Apr 2031
Navua will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Lautoka were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad21 Apr 2031
The match ball belongs to Sairusi Nalaubu, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 10.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match19 Apr 2031
Lautoka cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
No sign of nerves from Epeli Nailatikau at 21 — 8.18
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Epeli Nailatikau did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market21 Apr 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A season average of 7.13 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Lautoka know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Sairusi Nalaubu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lautoka and Navua.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Mar 2031
The match ball belongs to Sairusi Nalaubu, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match22 Mar 2031
5‑0, and Sairusi Nalaubu took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lautoka tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A fracture rules Jale Qaraniqio out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lautoka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 10.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Jale Mocenica, 17, steals the show — 8.40
Marked 8.40 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Mar 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lautoka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match22 Mar 2031
Nobody wants to play Lautoka right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad24 Mar 2031
International break empties Lautoka
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Mar 2031
53 days out for Jale Qaraniqio after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Marked 8.21 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad10 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 Mar 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Jale Mocenica has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match8 Mar 2031
Nasinu made Lautoka work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Mar 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taniela Sorovi and Lautoka agree another 3 years.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
A Lautoka teenager takes the young player award
Epeli Nailatikau is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Feb 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Feb 2031
He is 17, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market24 Feb 2031
Benjamin White has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lautoka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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 dugout24 Feb 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout24 Feb 2031
Shivam Naidu gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shivam Naidu is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Feb 2031
28 days out for Roy Nailatikau after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Feb 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lautoka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad10 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka 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 dugout10 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Afraz Ali
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market10 Feb 2031
The Shivam Naidu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shivam Naidu signs something — a contract at Lautoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 Feb 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Feb 2031
The clock does Epeli Leiroti’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lautoka could ask drops and the wages Epeli Leiroti can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Feb 2031
35 days out for Roy Nailatikau after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lautoka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Feb 2031
“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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Lautoka close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad3 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Feb 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mervin Chand and Lautoka agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
A loan enquiry to Ba: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
Nickel Tiko gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nickel Tiko is on it.
Market3 Feb 2031
Nickel Tiko linked with a move away
The name of Nickel Tiko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lautoka say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout3 Feb 2031
Afraz Ali 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 Afraz Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Jan 2031
He is 17, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market27 Jan 2031
“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 Lautoka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Jan 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu 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 dugout27 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Ba have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
A loan enquiry to Ba: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad27 Jan 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Malakai Tuisese and Lautoka agree another 3 years.
The dugout27 Jan 2031
Shivam Naidu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lautoka 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Jan 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lautoka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Sairusi Nalaubu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad13 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arami Manumanubhai commits to Lautoka for another 1 years.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sairusi Nalaubu is on it.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
Mervin Chand knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lautoka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market13 Jan 2031
The Shivam Naidu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shivam Naidu signs something — a contract at Lautoka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market13 Jan 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Akuila Jale leaves Lautoka the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market13 Jan 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Alipate Hughes leaves Lautoka the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Jan 2031
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Lautoka will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
The paperwork begins on Zak O’Keefe
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lautoka have done the hard part with Ba, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shivam Naidu and Lautoka agree another 3 years.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Lautoka
Samuela Nabenia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market6 Jan 2031
Nasinu are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Lautoka will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
When it matters, Nickel Tiko plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market6 Jan 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Isikeli Naranayanan has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lautoka.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Sairusi Nalaubu retires from international football
“21 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 34 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at Lautoka.
Market6 Jan 2031
Nickel Tiko linked with a move away
The name of Nickel Tiko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Lautoka say nothing, which says plenty.