Sam Baker

Goalkeeper - Melbourne City
20 Aug 2034
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 2 Transfers Relations Events 49 Awards Matches History

Marked for Sam Baker

418 Edition

The Melbourne City Gazette

31 Jul 2034
From our football correspondent Steady

Market31 Jul 2034

Hawke's Bay United come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Melbourne City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad31 Jul 2034

Joe Bell 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 Melbourne City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad31 Jul 2034

A muscle injury and 16 days out for Anthony Pantazopoulos

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Melbourne City will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad31 Jul 2034

Arthur De Lima 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.

Transfer targets31 Jul 2034

Melbourne City rebuffed over Alex Robertson

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester City have kept their man, and Melbourne City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad31 Jul 2034

Sam Baker signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Baker and Melbourne City agree another 3 years.

The dugout31 Jul 2034

The manager makes an example of Liberato Nelson

“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.

The dugout31 Jul 2034

When it matters, Connor Gallagher 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.

The dugout31 Jul 2034

Oliver Evans 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 Oliver Evans trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
326 Edition

The Melbourne City Gazette

25 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings25 Oct 2032

Vintage Gianni Stensness — 8.00

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.

The dugout25 Oct 2032

Lachlan Powell: 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.” Melbourne City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad25 Oct 2032

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Alex Nassiep

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Melbourne City will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad25 Oct 2032

Words exchanged at Melbourne City

Alex Nassiep 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.

Boardroom25 Oct 2032

Graduation day at Melbourne City

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Market25 Oct 2032

Melbourne City promote Brett Kelly from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brett Kelly 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.

Market25 Oct 2032

One of our own: Sam Baker joins the Melbourne City first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sam Baker is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market25 Oct 2032

Rhys Gallagher steps up from the Melbourne City academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rhys Gallagher has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market25 Oct 2032

Ben Rogers steps up from the Melbourne City academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ben Rogers has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief