Marked for Harry Griffiths
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
$1.1M. No player has ever cost Crawley Town more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Dion Conroy hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Crawley Town can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Leo Shahar
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Crawley Town have done the hard part with Newcastle United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market31 Aug 2026
The chase for Harry Griffiths ended with $440.0K changing hands and Notts County out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Aaron Lewis 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 Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Crawley Town offered $53.0K; Bolton Wanderers 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Crawley Town spend $1.1M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.1M for Devlan Moses, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
Lucas Ness hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Notts County can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $110.0K — a club that wants Jaydan Kamason enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Millwall, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market31 Aug 2026
Crawley Town paid $440.0K and Notts County took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Bournemouth wanted more than $97.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leicester City have kept their man, and Notts County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Cheltenham Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Jodi Jones runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Notts County can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No thanks: Callum Styles rejects the move
Notts County had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at West Bromwich Albion, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Manchester United 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Swansea City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match22 Aug 2026
Colchester United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $110.0K — a club that wants Joel Cotterill enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Coventry City is saying, and nobody at Notts County is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Notts County have gone to Swansea City 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Notts County offered $100.0K; Everton 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Notts County
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portsmouth have kept their man, and Notts County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michael Jones has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luke Edwards 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Bailey 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Notts County did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 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 Notts County this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portsmouth have kept their man, and Notts County go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alassana Jatta commits to Notts County for another 3 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Wrexham: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Notts County training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Dennis 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Harry Griffiths has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Notts County.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Alassana Jatta’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.