The mood at Sydney FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Chaka Coulibaly 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.
In brief
SquadAidan Beath falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sydney FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 May 2043
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chaka Coulibaly 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.
Position 12 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sydney FC is running low.
Chaka Coulibaly 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.
In brief
Boardroom152% of the income goes out in wages at Sydney FC
SquadAidan Beath falls out with a teammate over standards
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chaka Coulibaly 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sydney FC told Bailey Bailey something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Chaka Coulibaly 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.
In brief
SquadAidan Beath falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sydney FC would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sydney FC can pretend not to have heard.
Emmanuel Ugwu 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Sydney FC will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad28 Jul 2042
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chaka Coulibaly 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 offer from Newcastle Jets for Bailey McGrath was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sydney FC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Sydney FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad16 Jun 2042
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chaka Coulibaly 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 mood at Sydney FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sydney FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Chaka Coulibaly 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sydney FC will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Nobody at Sydney 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.