The Sydney FC Gazette
The dugout9 Apr 2035
Matt Cooper keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sydney FC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Apr 2035
Ben Grant is on his way
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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Sydney FC lose Kane Smith
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
Patrick Wood 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 Patrick Wood is on it.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
Liam Shaw 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.
In brief
- The dugout The manager has not finished forgetting Simon Jones's mistake
- Market Andrew McGrath linked with a move away
- Market Owen Barbarouses runs his contract down
- Squad Word from the training ground: Alexandar Popovic