Marked for Mitchell Ferguson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Feb 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market13 Feb 2034
The deal that would have taken Caleb Redhead to Auckland FC has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sydney FC with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Words at Sydney FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louis Verstraete 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.
Transfer targets13 Feb 2034
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 dugout13 Feb 2034
“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 ratings13 Feb 2034
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Ben Grant 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 dugout13 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.
Match11 Feb 2034
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Feb 2034
3‑0, and Patrick Wood took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sydney FC tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad6 Feb 2034
Patrick Wood takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market6 Feb 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sydney FC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings6 Feb 2034
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout6 Feb 2034
Ben Grant: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Boardroom6 Feb 2034
Window shuts: 0 in, 9 out at Sydney FC
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market6 Feb 2034
Only the photograph left for Liam Shaw
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Shaw will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sydney FC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Feb 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nando Pijnaker and Sydney FC agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Feb 2034
Ninety minutes of Patrick Wood at his very best
Marked 9.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sydney FC.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Jan 2034
Wellington Phoenix ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market23 Jan 2034
Terms done: Liam Shaw is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Auckland FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market23 Jan 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings23 Jan 2034
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.67 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Match23 Jan 2034
Sydney FC are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 24 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
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.
Player ratings23 Jan 2034
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market23 Jan 2034
The bid was some way short and Sydney FC did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings23 Jan 2034
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jul 2033
“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.
Market4 Jul 2033
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Words exchanged at Sydney FC
Bernardo Oliveira 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.
Squad4 Jul 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nando Pijnaker commits to Sydney FC for another 2 years.
Squad4 Jul 2033
A row about effort at Sydney FC
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louis Verstraete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jul 2033
Sydney FC asked and Wolverhampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jul 2033
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets4 Jul 2033
A loan enquiry to Cotonsport Garoua: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
Intake day at the Sydney FC academy
10 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Jun 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Adelaide United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout20 Jun 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sydney FC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Jun 2033
“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.
Market20 Jun 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cameron Jackson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market20 Jun 2033
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mitchell Ferguson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Words exchanged at Sydney FC
Joey Garuccio 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.
Squad20 Jun 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Caleb Duncan and Sydney FC agree another 3 years.
The dugout20 Jun 2033
Joel King has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout20 Jun 2033
Noah Maieroni 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.