Marked for Misaele Kumar
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
Crisis meeting at Navua
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 Dec 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Dec 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Navua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Dec 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zafarbek Rahimjonov and Navua agree another 2 years.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
$80.9K of the owner's money at Navua
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Tempers go at Navua
Ilaisa Waqa 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.
Market4 Dec 2034
Navua have made Maleli Verevou available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Pressure builds in the Navua boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad20 Nov 2034
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Navua will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
No signings allowed at Navua
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Oct 2034
Pressure builds in the Navua boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Oct 2034
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom23 Oct 2034
No signings allowed at Navua
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Uzayr Buksh 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 Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2034
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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Misaele Lal 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 Lal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Oct 2034
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market16 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maleli Verevou, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Oct 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Navua, another week without a signature from Kolinio Mocenica.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Ilaisa Waqa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Navua 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
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Squad
Amani Swamy asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
Navua keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Sep 2034
The scrutiny sharpens at Navua
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Navua is running low.
Market25 Sep 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Tempers go at Navua
Kolinio Mocenica 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.
Boardroom25 Sep 2034
No signings allowed at Navua
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad25 Sep 2034
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.
Squad25 Sep 2034
The manager makes an example of Ilaisa Waqa
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Sep 2034
155 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Navua know what they have.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
The owner puts $108.3K into Navua
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad4 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Navua are $5.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market4 Sep 2034
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad4 Sep 2034
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.
Squad4 Sep 2034
“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.
Market4 Sep 2034
Navua have made Patrick Nailatikau available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Aug 2034
The scrutiny sharpens at Navua
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Navua is running low.
Market28 Aug 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom28 Aug 2034
No signings allowed at Navua
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Shainal Lal 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 Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maleli Verevou, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Aug 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Aug 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Aug 2034
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market21 Aug 2034
Rusiate Singh has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Aug 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2034
The manager makes an example of Peni Sorovi
“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.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Taniela Hughes knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Navua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2034
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad7 Aug 2034
A fracture rules Reeshab Permal out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Aug 2034
The owner puts $116.3K into Navua
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Aug 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Aug 2034
Navua are $5.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market7 Aug 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Navua, another week without a signature from Zafarbek Rahimjonov.
Squad7 Aug 2034
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.
Squad7 Aug 2034
“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.
Market7 Aug 2034
The name of Shohruhbek Yoqubjonov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Navua say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2034
A fracture rules Reeshab Permal out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom10 Jul 2034
Navua are $5.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad10 Jul 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Jul 2034
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Navua will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Words at Navua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shainal Lal 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.
Squad10 Jul 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2034
A one-man rearguard from Uzayr Buksh
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad3 Jul 2034
A fracture rules Reeshab Permal out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Jul 2034
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Navua
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market3 Jul 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Jul 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jack Wale commits to Navua for another 2 years.
Match1 Jul 2034
Misaele Kumar scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Rewa, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom3 Jul 2034
$126.9K of the owner's money at Navua
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Market3 Jul 2034
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Navua have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom3 Jul 2034
No signings allowed at Navua
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
In brief
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Squad
Shainal Lal in a row with a teammate
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Boardroom
Navua sign 5 boys into the academy
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Player ratings
Misaele Lal changes it off the bench
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2034
Reeshab Permal breaks a bone — 122 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Apr 2034
Nobody could get near Dave Cama
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Apr 2034
Kolinio Mocenica, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Apr 2034
Dave Cama hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Navua can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Apr 2034
4 matches without a win for Navua
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Navua are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Tempers go at Navua
Jovilisi Borisi 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 terraces24 Apr 2034
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Kolinio Mocenica has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Words at Navua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vinal Prasad 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.
Match22 Apr 2034
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Mar 2034
Misaele Kumar hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Navua can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Mar 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Mar 2034
A bad afternoon for Navua against Labasa
0‑1 to Labasa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Mar 2034
Vinal Prasad 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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2034
The Navua debt reaches $5.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad20 Mar 2034
The manager makes an example of Roy Nabenia
“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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2034
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Mar 2034
Jovilisi Borisi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Market20 Mar 2034
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shohruhbek Yoqubjonov signs something — a contract at Navua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
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Market
The clock does Vinal Prasad’s negotiating for him
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Boardroom
The Navua production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2034
Navua are in real trouble now
Position 9, 19 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.
Market20 Feb 2034
“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 Navua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Feb 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Feb 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taniela Goundar and Navua agree another 3 years.
Boardroom20 Feb 2034
The Navua debt reaches $5.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad20 Feb 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kolinio Mocenica, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces13 Feb 2034
Anger at Navua 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.
Boardroom13 Feb 2034
Pressure builds in the Navua boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Tempers go at Navua
Jovilisi Borisi 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.
Boardroom13 Feb 2034
Navua cannot sign anybody
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.
Squad13 Feb 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taniela Goundar and Navua agree another 3 years.
Squad13 Feb 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Jan 2034
Navua are in real trouble now
Position 9, 19 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.
Market23 Jan 2034
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Jan 2034
Words at Navua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Wale 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.
Squad23 Jan 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Jan 2034
The Navua debt reaches $5.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad23 Jan 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uzayr Buksh, and the manager let it.