Michael Agbekpornu 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.
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 8.85 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Rufer signs something — a contract at Wellington Phoenix or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Rufer signs something — a contract at Wellington Phoenix or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Sep 2026
The window shut and Matt Sheridan is still in the building
Wellington Phoenix spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
“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 The request is on a desk at Wellington Phoenix, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sarpreet Singh 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
He is 19, and nobody at Wellington Phoenix signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Wellington Phoenix that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Wellington Phoenix that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Alex Rufer keeps the shirt for now, at Wellington Phoenix's convenience rather than his own.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Wellington Phoenix know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer from Macarthur FC for Lukas Kelly-Heald was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wellington Phoenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Rufer signs something — a contract at Wellington Phoenix or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Alex Rufer keeps the shirt for now, at Wellington Phoenix's convenience rather than his own.