Marked for Harry Mills
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Sep 2027
A 1‑0 win over Oxford United, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Adrien Thibaut takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adrien Thibaut provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
No sign of nerves from Jonathan Kouto at 20 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jonathan Kouto did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Alberto Lunghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Henry Harvey on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Brighton can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Babis Kostoulas is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Colchester United pay $660.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Brighton asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 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 Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Costinha told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Costinha has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Brighton.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Ben Perry is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Harry Mills joins from Brighton in a deal worth $660.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Alberto Lunghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Harry Mills was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $660.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Colchester United asked and Coventry 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
No hiding place for Ben Perry
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Perry, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Colchester United have made the call to Coventry City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Chamsedin Kouranfal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Coventry City have kept their man, and Brighton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Jun 2027
Brighton say no — this time
The offer from Charlton Athletic for James Beadle 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market14 Jun 2027
Pascal Groß wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Brighton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $73.1M — a club that wants Julio Enciso enough to be asked twice.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Harry Mills has agreed terms with Salford City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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 Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
8 Brighton players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Adam Webster has come up in conversations Brighton were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.