The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stian Thorsby on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Raufoss 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Raufoss training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Sangnes 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 words a physio says slowly. 108 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Biguzzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Raufoss the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Raufoss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Ranger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Julian Faye Lund's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Raufoss is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Raufoss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 7.26 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Lars Ranger 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.
Sogndal paid $80.0K and Raufoss took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
19 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Raufoss know it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
10 new faces, and Raufoss are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stian Thorsby after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ruben Rodriguez is 18, and Raufoss have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Raufoss training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Sangnes 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Raufoss can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ridouan Essaeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sander Nordbø signs something — a contract at Raufoss or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Raufoss and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Stian Thorsby has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Everything agreed with Sarpsborg 08, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sander Nordbø 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.
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.
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 Julian Faye Lund is on it.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Raufoss lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rafik Zekhnini 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristoffer Steinset was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristoffer Steinset trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stefan Colakovski has just signed for Raufoss, and for once the answer mattered.
Sander Nordbø 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Raufoss training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Da Silva 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonas Selnæs trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Perth Glory have done the hard part with Liverpool, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$84.0K on the table at Adelaide United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Central Coast Mariners were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The name of Andriano Lebib has come up in conversations Perth Glory were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Trent Ostler 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.
Something was said to Stefan Colakovski and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Perth Glory 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Perth Glory have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $111.2K — a club that wants Chris Donnell enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Liverpool is saying, and nobody at Perth Glory is enjoying the guessing.
Brian Kaltak 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.
$95.0K on the table at Central Coast Mariners. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Auckland FC were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Perth Glory asked and Wolfsberger AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perth Glory can pretend not to have heard.
Perth Glory have gone to Macarthur FC with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to Western Sydney Wanderers this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Perth Glory offered $89.0K; Adelaide United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Corban Piper 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.
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 Trent Ostler is on it.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$640.0K settles it between the clubs for Corban Piper
Wellington Phoenix have accepted the money. What Perth Glory do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Perth Glory, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Melbourne City have kept their man, and Perth Glory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Colakovski 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Perth Glory has been clear about where Brandon O'Neill stands, which is more than many ever get.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brian Kaltak 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Colakovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Colakovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Scott Wootton trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perth Glory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefan Colakovski has his answer from Perth Glory; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 May 2027
Trent Ostler 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.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Colakovski 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Perth Glory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Perth Glory will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brian Kaltak 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.
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.
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 Trent Ostler is on it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutHosine Bility knocks on the manager's door
SquadThe training reports on Archie Moore are not good
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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 Charbel Shamoon is on it.
“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 Perth Glory, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Perth Glory have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Colakovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Perth Glory can pretend not to have heard.
Brian Kaltak 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.
“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; Perth Glory are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
0‑1 to Central Coast Mariners, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Scott Wootton 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicholas Anderson after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Brian Kaltak 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.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Colakovski 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mark Birighitti has his answer from Perth Glory; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Adelaide United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Wellington Phoenix the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Perth Glory will enjoy reviewing.
Brian Kaltak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott Wootton 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Joey Garuccio’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Perth Glory needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Scott Wootton
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Perth Glory have done the hard part with Adelaide United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Perth Glory had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Adelaide United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arion Sulemani and Perth Glory agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle Jets have kept their man, and Perth Glory go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
1‑4 to Sydney FC, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Position 3, 14 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Arion Sulemani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Colakovski 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.
Joey Garuccio 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.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Perth Glory dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Perth Glory told Stefan Colakovski something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Out, 1‑0 to Wellington Phoenix, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Brian Kaltak 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Charbel Shamoon has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Marked 7.69 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Perth Glory had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nicholas Anderson, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Trent Ostler
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Nicholas Pennington, marked 7.50, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Western Sydney Wanderers spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Scott Wootton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Scott Wootton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Perth Glory, and both men came out saying it was fine.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arion Sulemani provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicholas Pennington scored, was marked 7.68, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Brian Kaltak 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Perth Glory training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Colakovski 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nicholas Anderson, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ben Warland
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Perth Glory lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.