Marked for Jemerson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Dec 2026
Taiwo Awoniyi wants to know where this is going
“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 Burnley hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Santi Cazorla 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Max Weiß lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 38, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match21 Nov 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Burnley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Maxime Estève
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Market23 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at Burnley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Santi Cazorla 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.54 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Burnley
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Burnley are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
97 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Sep 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 Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Jemerson
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jemerson, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Costly mistake from Max Weiß
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Max Weiß knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Business is business: Lyle Foster goes
Fulham paid $12.3M and Burnley took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kyle Walker, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 170% of everything Burnley earn
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Burnley against Everton
0‑1 to Everton, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market7 Sep 2026
Experience through the door at Burnley
Jemerson arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.