Marked for Adrian Ross
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Jan 2028
The small margins put Sydney FC out
Out, 1‑1 to Brisbane Roar, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Sydney FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Filip Kurto decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sydney FC have done the hard part with Portsmouth, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Sydney FC
Takahiro Sekine 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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
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 terraces24 Jan 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match22 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Caputo. 1‑0 against Central Coast Mariners, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Sydney FC and Central Coast Mariners have settled on $22.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sydney FC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Auckland FC have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Sydney FC
Mitchell Glasson 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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abel Walatee, and the manager let it.
Match10 Jan 2028
Halfway: Sydney FC sit in position 5
15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jamie Walker after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Filip Kurto 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Wataru Kamijo
“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.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jordan Courtney-Perkins’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sydney FC needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad15 Nov 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sydney FC has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sydney FC, another week without a signature from Zachary De Jesus.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Adrian Ross: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sydney FC will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tiago Quintal has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
Takahiro Sekine 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Akol Akon commits to Sydney FC for another 4 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Nigel Marengo 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Adrian Ross: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Sydney FC will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad13 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sydney FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Adrian Ross gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match13 Sep 2027
Sydney FC have something to play for
Position 6 on 30 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market13 Sep 2027
Sydney FC spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Adelaide United spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Al Hassan Touré takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Al Hassan Touré provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sydney FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marcel Tisserand and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Joe Lacey is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
A 3‑2 win over Adelaide United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abel Walatee and Sydney FC agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Jamie Walker could afford to be generous.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sydney FC told Rhys Youlley something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.