The Wellington Phoenix Gazette
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Wellington Phoenix
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Match24 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Wellington Phoenix against Sydney FC
1‑2 to Sydney FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market26 Oct 2026
Wellington Phoenix promote Sean Roberts from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sean Roberts has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 11136. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Connor Robinson: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Wellington Phoenix pick somebody else ahead of Gabriel Cléùr
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Michael Ruhs finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Wellington Phoenix have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
A reunion for James McGarry
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Newcastle Jets in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
The chances came and went for Ifeanyi Eze
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
- Player ratings Alessandro Lopane was unplayable
- The dugout The plan did not have a place for Manjrekar James
- Player ratings Michael Ruhs wins it from the bench