Marked for Owen Devonport
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jordan Davies
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fleetwood Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Aug 2027
44 days out for Shaun Rooney after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fleetwood Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rob Apter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and Fleetwood Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” George Morrison and Fleetwood Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Fleetwood Town have made the call to Parma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Ante Crnac knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fleetwood Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Toby Mullarkey has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Fleetwood Town.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Jordan Davies damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Shaun Rooney breaks a bone — 54 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Aug 2027
Jay Lynch 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 Fleetwood Town can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ángel Cardozo Lucena 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
$380.0K was the most the club would pay and Harrogate Town 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Mark Helm has come up in conversations Fleetwood Town were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jomaine Consbruch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Fleetwood Town asked and Wrexham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A loan move for Rayan Elloumi is in the works
Fleetwood Town have made the call to Vancouver Whitecaps. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Jordan Davies damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Shaun Rooney out for 69 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fleetwood Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jul 2027
Kai Yearn puts it in writing
“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 Fleetwood Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Owen Devonport
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Owen Devonport will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fleetwood Town the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Stade de Reims, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ángel Cardozo Lucena and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rob Apter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Toby Mullarkey
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jordan Davies
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fleetwood Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Shaun Rooney out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fleetwood Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fleetwood Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with RC Lens is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ángel Cardozo Lucena 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Mark Helm has come up in conversations Fleetwood Town were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Salford City have kept their man, and Fleetwood Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ante Crnac, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jordan Davies damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Shaun Rooney out for 107 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fleetwood Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Norwich City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$4.4M on the table at Plymouth Argyle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Fleetwood Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fleetwood Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Walsall 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rhys Bennett and Fleetwood Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“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
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fleetwood Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The deal with Birmingham is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ángel Cardozo Lucena 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jomaine Consbruch 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Fleetwood Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pol Valentín
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Fleetwood Town's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fleetwood Town has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Stephen McMullan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fleetwood Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Owen Devonport is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 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 Fleetwood Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Chesterfield left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Finley Potter and Fleetwood Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by George Grant to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Fleetwood Town, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jomaine Consbruch 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denver Hume commits to Fleetwood Town for another 3 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rhys Bennett 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 Fleetwood Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Shaun Rooney 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Fleetwood Town take on the side everybody is chasing
Chesterfield arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The formation has left Bruno Bazán behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fleetwood Town will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.