The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Babis Kostoulas did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kaoru Mitoma wants continental football; whether Brighton can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Kaoru Mitoma 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Solly March 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.
Nobody at Brighton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georginio Rutter signs something — a contract at Brighton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Caylan Vickers, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Sam Tickle 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.
A 1‑0 win over AFC Wimbledon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Joseph Hungbo 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Wigan Athletic told Jason Kerr something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Caylan Vickers did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hindolo Mustapha. 2‑0 against Exeter City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Hindolo Mustapha in the middle of it, and Exeter City unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Hungbo 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Hindolo Mustapha, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sam Tickle 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Joe Taylor has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Toby Savin 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Joseph Hungbo 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Fraser Murray was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Wigan Athletic will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Caylan Vickers did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fraser Murray. 1‑0 against Plymouth Argyle, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caylan Vickers 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hindolo Mustapha. 2‑1 against Stevenage, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Hungbo 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Caylan Vickers did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Sam Tickle 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Caylan Vickers has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.