Marked for Sitiveni Kumar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Ali Mekawir 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rishal Shankar 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.
Boardroom1 Apr 2030
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tatenda Mutunga, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad1 Apr 2030
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Looking ahead1 Apr 2030
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Labasa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Misaele Kumar 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 Misaele Kumar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
Evander Nasova damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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 terraces24 Sep 2029
Anger at Tailevu Naitasiri spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Ali Mekawir 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 Sep 2029
Joel Kane 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
“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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Ravikash Krishna has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri 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
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
Evander Nasova damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tailevu Naitasiri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Mekawir and Tailevu Naitasiri agree another 4 years.
Market10 Sep 2029
As if he never left: Misaele Kumar returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Misaele Kumar is a Tailevu Naitasiri player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Ali Mekawir in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tailevu Naitasiri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
This is not rotation. Joel Kane has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Tailevu Naitasiri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rishal Shankar 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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 Daniel Graskoski is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2028
Position 9, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Tailevu Naitasiri is running low.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Mosese Nabose 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Ryheal Ram has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tailevu Naitasiri is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Graskoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
When it matters, Ushant Lal 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Graskoski signs something — a contract at Tailevu Naitasiri or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Sitiveni Kumar asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
A season average of 6.55 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tailevu Naitasiri know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joel Kane and Tailevu Naitasiri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Graskoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Abhishek Deo 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
Joel Kane 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.