Marked for David Affengruber
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
53 days out for Rodrigo Muniz after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fulham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tom Wingate is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
David Affengruber has improved at 25, 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Fulham
Oscar Bobb 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Hugo Larsson 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Hugo Larsson'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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
96 days out for Rodrigo Muniz after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fulham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$26.2M on the table at Zenit. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Fulham until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Fulham asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jonah Kusi-Asare is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and David Affengruber has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Jorge Cuenca asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
104 days out for Rodrigo Muniz after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fulham will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Everton left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
International break empties Fulham
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Oscar Bobb in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fulham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
David Affengruber joins up with his country. Fulham lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.