Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Aaron Collins 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.
Marked 8.61 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dan Crowley and Milton Keynes Dons agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Milton Keynes Dons can pretend not to have heard.
Aaron Collins 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 defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Asher Agbinone
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Connal Trueman
42 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Milton Keynes Dons will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
41 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joaquín González and Milton Keynes Dons agree another 4 years.
Aaron Collins 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
40 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.
“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 Milton Keynes Dons, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Joaquín González 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Milton Keynes Dons can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces23 Sep 2030
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Aaron Collins 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.
37 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
36 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
Aaron Collins 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luke Thompson and Milton Keynes Dons agree another 4 years.
Marked 8.78 — 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.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
It needed Callum Paterson to find the net to bring anything home at all: 4‑4 against Ipswich Town, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
34 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Milton Keynes Dons have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Aaron Collins 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.
Marked 9.14 — 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Milton Keynes Dons have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.65 — 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.
0‑3 to Blackburn Rovers, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Milton Keynes Dons can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Milton Keynes Dons, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aaron Collins 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.
“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 Milton Keynes Dons, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Milton Keynes Dons can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Milton Keynes Dons have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
0‑3 to Derby County, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Joaquín González 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.
Position 19 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Milton Keynes Dons, and it is not being withdrawn.
Djibril Sidibé 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joep Willems trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Milton Keynes Dons is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Milton Keynes Dons have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.02 — 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Connal Trueman knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Milton Keynes Dons has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Milton Keynes Dons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Hull City to sit and watch. I want to come back to Milton Keynes Dons and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 20 matches say the rest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Djibril Sidibé 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dan Crowley and Milton Keynes Dons agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Marked 8.80 — 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Milton Keynes Dons is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Joep Willems has come up in conversations Milton Keynes Dons were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Djibril Sidibé 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Milton Keynes Dons are dealing with a man who wants a different country.