Romain Esse

Right Midfielder - Crystal Palace
27 Nov 2027
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Marked for Romain Esse

63 Edition

The Crystal Palace Courier

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad11 Oct 2027

Words exchanged at Crystal Palace

Adam Wharton and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad11 Oct 2027

Words at Crystal Palace training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Mingueza 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 dugout11 Oct 2027

Adam Wharton asks for a word with the manager

“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.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

The manager makes an example of Romain Esse

“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.

Market11 Oct 2027

The Ismaïla Sarr question follows Crystal Palace around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ismaïla Sarr’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Looking ahead11 Oct 2027

Ellis Simms goes back to face Sunderland

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ellis Simms’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Crystal Palace needing him to play as if none of it matters.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

Walter Benítez has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Crystal Palace 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.

Loan watch11 Oct 2027

Daichi Kamada keeps scoring at Wrexham

9 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

Ben Chilwell has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ben Chilwell has written the date down.

In brief

Back issues
49 Edition

The Crystal Palace Courier

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad5 Jul 2027

A knee injury of the worst kind for Quinten Timber

101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Crystal Palace lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market5 Jul 2027

Jørgen Strand Larsen 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 Crystal Palace can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets5 Jul 2027

Too dear: Crystal Palace walk away from August Priske

$11.3M was the most the club would pay and Birmingham 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.

Market5 Jul 2027

Crystal Palace say no — this time

The offer from Oxford United for Chris Richards was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market5 Jul 2027

Not going: Romain Esse stays at Crystal Palace

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Walsall had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

The dugout5 Jul 2027

Tom Cannon keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Crystal Palace may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market5 Jul 2027

Eyes on Tyrick Mitchell again

The phone has started ringing about Tyrick Mitchell again, and this time the name on the line is Millwall. Crystal Palace are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad5 Jul 2027

Adam Wharton 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 Crystal Palace this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets5 Jul 2027

Door shut on Kaio Jorge

Crystal Palace asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

26 Edition

The Millwall Post

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market25 Jan 2027

Terms done: Lukas Jensen is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sunderland waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millwall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market25 Jan 2027

Tristan Crama asks to leave Millwall

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market25 Jan 2027

Only the photograph left for Mihailo Ivanović

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Ivanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millwall the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market25 Jan 2027

Eyes on Mathis Servais again

The phone has started ringing about Mathis Servais again, and this time the name on the line is Grimsby Town. Millwall are listening politely and promising nothing.

Match19 Jan 2027

Femi Azeez the difference as Millwall beat Derby County

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Femi Azeez. 3‑1 against Derby County, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Transfer targets25 Jan 2027

Millwall rebuffed over Charlie Savage

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reading have kept their man, and Millwall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The terraces25 Jan 2027

One of their own: Romain Esse

He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match23 Jan 2027

The run at home goes on for Millwall

8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Match19 Jan 2027

Derby County blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Derby County tried to reorganise, Millwall did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

In brief

13 Edition

The Millwall Post

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad26 Oct 2026

Camiel Neghli breaks a bone — 18 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings26 Oct 2026

Tristan Crama pops up at the right end — 5.78

5.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Player ratings26 Oct 2026

The game went through Barry Bannan — 6.93

Marked 6.93 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

Match24 Oct 2026

Millwall and Sheffield United take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad26 Oct 2026

Words at Millwall training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tristan Crama 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 dugout26 Oct 2026

Nicholas Jackson: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout26 Oct 2026

The manager makes an example of Tristan Crama

“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.

Looking ahead26 Oct 2026

Matty James faces his old club

Preston next, and one man in the Millwall dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

The dugout26 Oct 2026

When it matters, Romain Esse plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

8 Edition

The Millwall Post

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match16 Sep 2026

Camiel Neghli sends Millwall through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Camiel Neghli obliged against Bromley. 4‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Millwall.

Match19 Sep 2026

No mercy from Millwall

Charlton Athletic will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Millwall were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Camiel Neghli scores twice — 8.01

Two goals and a mark of 8.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Romain Esse, 21, steals the show — 8.30

Marked 8.30 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match16 Sep 2026

6 goals as Millwall and Bromley go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Millwall and Bromley, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

The game went through Danny McNamara — 7.13

Marked 7.13 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

The terraces21 Sep 2026

One of their own: Josh Coburn

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match19 Sep 2026

Millwall settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Charlton Athletic spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Player ratings21 Sep 2026

Mark Sykes was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.47. 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.

In brief

  • Squad Words exchanged at Millwall
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Mihailo Ivanović