Marked for Aaron Wright
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jan 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at New York City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Juan José Mina 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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2036
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Kaique wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at New York City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
Fred Emmings 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
27 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Owen Pleijsier 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.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
Hunter Sulte gets picked when it counts
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 Hunter Sulte is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jan 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at New York City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at New York City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at New York City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stiven Jimenez 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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
Diego Luna has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at New York City 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.
Market7 Jan 2036
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what New York City could get for him.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market7 Jan 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Harvey Sarajian’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” New York City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at New York City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Juan José Mina 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Stiven Jimenez 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.
Market19 Nov 2035
No place for Cooper Flax in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cooper Flax has his answer from New York City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cooper Flax, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Hunter Sulte gets picked when it counts
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 Hunter Sulte is on it.
Market19 Nov 2035
The clock does Marvin Dills’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee New York City could ask drops and the wages Marvin Dills can ask rise.
Market19 Nov 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at New York City, another week without a signature from Aaron Wright.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Sep 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around New York City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Sep 2034
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at New York City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Duran Ferree 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.
Match23 Sep 2034
0‑2 to Philadelphia Union, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Owen Pleijsier 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 dugout25 Sep 2034
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. New York City told Duran Ferree something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
When it matters, Petar Musa 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 May 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 New York City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 May 2034
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and New York City know it.
Squad15 May 2034
Nahuel Arce and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 May 2034
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 May 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Taha Habroune, and the manager let it.
Squad15 May 2034
César Martínez 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 dugout15 May 2034
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout15 May 2034
Riqui Puig gets picked when it counts
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 Riqui Puig is on it.
Squad15 May 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron Wright and New York City agree another 4 years.