Marked for Ryan De Vries
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dane Lockyer breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Jeremy Foo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeremy Foo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Auckland City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match9 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
David Yoo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Auckland City is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Jackson Manuel has come up in conversations Auckland City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Matt Ellis 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dane Lockyer breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Ryan De Vries, 35, rolls back the years — 7.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Auckland City do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Matt Ellis beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Both jobs done by Mario Ilich — 7.27
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.27, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad4 Jan 2027
David Yoo 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Dane Lockyer out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Auckland City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Conor Tracey
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match26 Dec 2026
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 Auckland City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Mario Ilich pops up at the right end — 7.64
7.64, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad28 Dec 2026
David Yoo 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Auckland City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Luis Miñano 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Manickum, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dane Lockyer breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match12 Dec 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market14 Dec 2026
Jeremy Foo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Auckland City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Dec 2026
José Luis Miñano 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Adam Mitchell, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
The game went through Dylan Connolly — 7.42
Marked 7.42 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Dane Lockyer out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Auckland City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Nov 2026
5‑2, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
7.75, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Auckland City and Canterbury United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matt Ellis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A masterclass from Haris Zeb
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Auckland City are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
81 days out for Dane Lockyer after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Auckland City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Nov 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Waitakere United will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.57, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Nov 2026
6 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad23 Nov 2026
José Luis Miñano 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nathan Lobo
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jordan Vale 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Callum Boxall on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
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Squad
The division's best last weekend was a Auckland City man
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Looking ahead
Haris Zeb faces his old club
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Player ratings
Haris Zeb beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Dane Lockyer out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Auckland City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Jeremy Foo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeremy Foo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Auckland City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Yoo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Auckland City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Luis Miñano 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Dane Lockyer 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Auckland City, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Waitakere United top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Waitakere United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Auckland City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordan Vale was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Matt Ellis beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Auckland City will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Adam Mitchell knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Auckland City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ryan De Vries moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Auckland City than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.