Marked for Facundo Paredes
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Thierry Small
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thierry Small will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market2 Dec 2030
Kaoru Mitoma 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 Brighton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Kaoru Mitoma 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 Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yankuba Minteh 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 dugout2 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Yankuba Minteh
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match30 Nov 2030
Bournemouth left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Brighton have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom29 Jul 2030
Pressure builds in the Brighton boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market29 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Eiran Cashin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eiran Cashin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market29 Jul 2030
“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 Brighton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Brighton
Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Yankuba Minteh 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.
Market29 Jul 2030
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.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of David Spinelli
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 Jul 2030
“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 Brighton know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.04, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brighton may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 Sep 2029
Eiran Cashin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Kaoru Mitoma 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 Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
Still nobody in the Brighton dugout
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Match22 Sep 2029
Nobody wants to play Brighton right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match22 Sep 2029
A 3‑1 win over Chelsea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes of Brajan Gruda at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Brighton.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Brighton
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Spinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.