Alex Murphy

Left Back - Crewe Alexandra
5 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Alex Murphy

4 Edition

The Crewe Alexandra Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Matúš Holíček asks to leave Crewe Alexandra

“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.

Transfer targets

Wyll Stanway due for a Crewe Alexandra medical

Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Crewe Alexandra sign Alex Murphy for $190.0K

The paperwork is done: Alex Murphy joins from Newcastle United in a deal worth $190.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Player ratings

Jack Lankester beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Cam Bragg

Crewe Alexandra asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words exchanged at Crewe Alexandra

Noam Emeran 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.

Match

Crewe Alexandra come up short against Notts County

Notts County left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

The formation has left Noam Emeran behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Crewe Alexandra will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

Crewe Alexandra pick somebody else ahead of Callum Burton

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

In brief

Back issues
4 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Harvey Barnes was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 35. 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.

Transfer targets

Newcastle United baulk at the price for Leonardo Campana

New England Revolution wanted more than $21.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Ajax tell Newcastle United: Kasper Dolberg is not for sale

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.

Squad

A move Othmane Maamma would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Othmane Maamma is living that version at Newcastle United, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

A long bet from Newcastle United on Othmane Maamma

He is 20, and nobody at Newcastle United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Market

Business is business: Alex Murphy goes

Crewe Alexandra paid $190.0K and Newcastle United took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Words at Newcastle United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Schär 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 dugout

Dan Burn dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Luke Simmons on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

2 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Newcastle United rebuffed over Jarrod Bowen

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

Market

Newcastle United get their man

The chase for Róbert Boženík ended with $6.4M changing hands and Stoke City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Market

William Osula turns Cardiff City down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Newcastle United plan ahead with Wilson Odobert from Tottenham

The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Wilson Odobert comes from Tottenham for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.

Market

Newcastle United plan ahead with Rodolfo Ochoa from Veracruz

The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Rodolfo Ochoa comes from Veracruz for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.

Squad

A move Wilson Odobert would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Wilson Odobert is living that version at Newcastle United, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Joelinton signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joelinton commits to Newcastle United for another 5 years.

Squad

Sven Botman 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 Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Newcastle United

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nick Pope was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief