Noah Okafor 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Leeds United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Queens Park Rangers have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Noah Okafor 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
Leeds United asked and Birmingham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Leeds United offered $8.8M; Sunderland 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Leeds United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Burnley for Sean Longstaff 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Leeds United close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
SquadHarry Wilson falls out with a teammate over standards
26Edition
The Leeds United Courier
25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Leeds United board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Leeds United asked and Millwall said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer went to Ipswich Town 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.
Leeds United have gone to Sunderland 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Leeds United and Burnley, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Wrexham wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jaka Bijol 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.
Leeds United offered $17.5M; Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
West Ham United pay $14.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Jaka Bijol 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
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
Leeds United have gone to Southampton 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.
Leeds United have gone to Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
Leeds United asked and Veres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leeds United
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol 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.
Half the programme played, position 20, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” James Collins after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anton Stach wants continental football; whether Leeds United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Something was said to Noah Okafor and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by James Collins to a room that had heard them before.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jean-Mattéo Bahoya 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
0‑4 to Tottenham, 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 19 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Wilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brenden Aaronson 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Leeds United 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.
“I watch every Leeds United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bromley runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The mood at Leeds United has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” James Trafford and Leeds United agree another 5 years.
Jaka Bijol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Wilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A performance of 9.57 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Melvin Bard was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leeds United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Leeds United can tell you which week it ends in.
Noah Okafor 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 Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by James Collins to a room that had heard them before.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leeds United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
Position 19 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Anton Stach 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Harry Wilson 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.
“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 Leeds United, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leeds United heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Anton Stach wants continental football; whether Leeds United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Leeds United can tell you which week it ends in.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Leeds United 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.” James Collins after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
At 21 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.
Jaka Bijol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Wilson 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol 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.
Brenden Aaronson 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.
“I watch every Leeds United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bromley runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Alberto Mosquera and Leeds United agree another 2 years.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” James Collins was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Leeds United dressing room was either.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Noah Okafor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
James Trafford has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Wilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” James Collins chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gabriel Gudmundsson scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Anton Stach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Harry Wilson 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.
9 new faces, and Leeds United 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Leeds United 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 Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by James Collins to a room that had heard them before.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Leeds United are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jaka Bijol 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.
Kévin Rodrigues 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.
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Leeds United had all but put away. Brentford will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A 1‑1 draw with Brentford leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” James Collins was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Leeds United dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadLeeds United take on the side everybody is chasing
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jamie Shackleton
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leeds United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clock did what Cortulua would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Leeds United close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Burnley held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Leeds United answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by James Collins to a room that had heard them before.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kévin Rodrigues has, at Leeds United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaka Bijol 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 Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Leeds United 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.” James Collins after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
0‑3 to Fulham, 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.
Leeds United asked and Middlesbrough said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Leeds United have gone to Derby County 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.
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Leeds United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaka Bijol 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by James Collins to a room that had heard them before.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jamie Shackleton is a Leeds United player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Nəriman Axundzadə has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nəriman Axundzadə is living that version at Leeds United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Jaka Bijol 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Harry Wilson 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. George Jackson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edward Jones has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Leeds United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$5.1M on the table at Columbus Crew. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal with Sheffield United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leeds United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jacob Render 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.
Leeds United asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Ethan Ampadu again, and this time the name on the line is Ajax. Leeds United are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Leeds United hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Anton Stach 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.