15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Macarthur FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 26 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Ryan Fraser 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Macarthur FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis De Vries 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Oliver McKay chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutMichael Ruhs has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Manraj Singh
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ryan Fraser 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francis De Vries was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kosta Grozos was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oliver McKay kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Macarthur FC 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Max Vartuli
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Macarthur FC can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lachie Charles has just signed for Macarthur FC, and for once the answer mattered.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Macarthur FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Cameron Butler has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Macarthur FC have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Macarthur FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Macarthur FC have done the hard part with Brisbane Roar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Wellington Phoenix moved on, Max Vartuli reports back to Macarthur FC, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portsmouth have kept their man, and Macarthur FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oliver Lavale has just signed for Macarthur FC, and for once the answer mattered.
Ryan Fraser 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.
Auckland FC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ronwen Mabunda has pre-agreed a move to Macarthur FC, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Macarthur FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Macarthur FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ryan Fraser 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.
6 goals in one match, Kosta Reid on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Macarthur FC and Perth Glory.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Macarthur FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis De Vries 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 words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Macarthur FC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Macarthur FC can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joel Bertolissio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Macarthur FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Macarthur FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Macarthur FC asked and Wellington Phoenix said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Macarthur FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francis De Vries and Macarthur FC agree another 2 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Macarthur FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Half the programme played, position 9, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Oliver McKay left the room before anybody could ask which.