Just before the pre-match show and kick-off at the A-League Grand Final between Auckland FC and Sydney FC (season 2025/26) at Go Media Stadium, TV Presenter Chris Chang interviewed Oli Sail, Nick Becker and Guillermo May in the Black Knight Club at the stadium.

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Chris Chang: Thank you guys. We won’t keep you for too long. I do feel like the DJ shutting off the music at the end of the wedding, so we’ll keep it short. We’ll have a bit of a talk here, and then you can get back to the celebrations to come over the next couple of hours, no doubt.

My name’s Chris Chang, I’ve got Oli Sail with me here, Nick Becker and Guillermo May. Thank you, gentlemen.

A few questions. First off, Guillermo, I’ll bring you in here. You’ve got the moonboot on. How’s the injury? Have you had surgery yet?

Guillermo May: Good night for everyone here. Thank you for coming. It’s been a tough week for me. On Monday I got surgery. It was my ligaments in the ankle. So it’s going to take me at least eight weeks, I would say. I would rather be on the field tonight but it is what it is. We’re here to support the boys.

Chris Chang: I think the last time we played against Sydney, in fact it was two-all. It’s almost a month to the day, and the player that scored two goals that day was Guillermo, serendipitously. So, we’re sorry that you’re not out there.

How’s the team been this week? Have they been as supportive of you as you have of them?

Guillermo May: Yeah, they are doing amazing. It’s been a really good week. The atmosphere in the dressing room was unbelievable. They are all confident. I am expecting a good win tonight. And yeah, let’s go for another one — to score a prize tonight.

Chris Chang: We’ll come down the physio table line to Oli Sail. Oli, you’ll be at the centre of the party, no doubt tonight. What’s it been like being with the boys and being supportive with them in the build-up to this grand final?

Oli Sail: It’s been incredible. The boys are super relaxed. Everyone felt fresh, as you can imagine ahead of a grand final. There were no reports of any injuries or niggles. Everybody miraculously healed to 100% and was at full fitness. It’s just been an amazing week of positivity.

And when you have a coach that’s been there and done it so many times, it just feels like a normal week and it feels like we’re expected to win — and it’s exactly the case. So the boys couldn’t be better.

Chris Chang: Even though you’ve been injured, you’ve probably been able to see things from the fans’ side of things for the last few weeks. How’s that been for you, being able to get amongst those that have been supporting this club?

Oli Sail: Well, that’s what makes football so special, right? The fans and the supporters — the difference between the other codes. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not very good at watching though — I’m a little bit nervous. The beers are helping, to be fair.

But yeah, it’s certainly easier, I feel, to play than it is to watch. But I still have every confidence that they’re going to put on a show tonight.

Chris Chang: Nick, when you think about what this club has done for the city and for the country — I mean, even at junior games today, you see Auckland FC caps and shirts everywhere now. How surprised are you with the rate of conversion to this sport and team over the last two years?

Nick Becker: Listen, it’s a real pinch-me moment. It is something that is so special. Right from day one, we said let’s embed ourselves into Auckland as a city. Let’s create something that the people of Auckland are proud of. And that’s all we want to do. We want to do that off the pitch. The boys will want to do that on the pitch.

Season one we won the Premiership, season two now here tonight in the big dance. So you know, it kind of blows me away. But yeah, I’m so excited and so happy to be here and so proud of the whole team and the amount of effort that goes into it by everybody — both on the pitch that we all see and behind the scenes as well.

Chris Chang: Of course tonight is the focus, but fans will be keen to know what’s to come in the future. The new signings, a women’s team, all of the rest of it. How much more is there to come in the next 12 months?

Nick Becker: There’s so much more to come. We’ve got so much growth ahead of us. We want to do so much more. This is just the start and we feel like we’ve got a massive off-season leading into next season.

Next season we’ll have two home derbies so we’ll be able to go 8 and 0 against the Phoenix. Nobody in the team is resting on their laurels. We know we’ve got so much more to do and we are so excited about that.

I think that’s the biggest thing about this club. Everybody just wants to get somewhere and they want to go “What’s next?” and what are we doing next and how we keep on going. And that’s something that started right at the beginning and will continue through as part of the culture of this club.

Chris Chang: You know, I’m a Spurs man. So it would be remiss of me not to ask you… no boos, thank you.

How massive is it going to be for such a huge club to get the chance to play Tottenham?

Nick Becker: The Spurs game is going to be huge for us. Fingers crossed, everything crossed, that a point against Everton does it. Spurs come out here as a Premier League club. But it’s just the start of things that we want to do, right.

We’re going to have a Chelsea game against an Auckland invitational women’s side. We want to have bigger preseason games going on and on and on and keep on going. And that’s the ambition of this club.

We don’t want to just sit there in the middle somewhere. We want to keep growing New Zealand football, grow Auckland football and make all of you proud.

Chris Chang: Thank you so much gentlemen for joining us on stage. Give it up everyone for Guillermo, Nick, Oli… enjoy the evening.