Marked for Lisav Eissat
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2036
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.
Market14 Apr 2036
Modou Faal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stoke City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stoke City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Apr 2036
“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.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Lorenzo Palmisani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Loan watch14 Apr 2036
The goals keep arriving from Steven Clark’s exile
15 goals in 32 games at Bristol Rovers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stoke City updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad14 Apr 2036
A row about effort at Stoke City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewi Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Palmisani, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Mar 2036
The knee: John Moore out for 27 days
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stoke City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Mar 2036
3‑0, and Jack Currie took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Stoke City tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market17 Mar 2036
Modou Faal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stoke City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Age has not caught Jack Currie yet — 7.85
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 Mar 2036
“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 Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Mar 2036
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Stoke City can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Lorenzo Palmisani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Kaye Furo 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.
Loan watch17 Mar 2036
The goals keep arriving from Steven Clark’s exile
15 goals in 29 games at Bristol Rovers — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stoke City updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Nov 2035
Yegor Prutsev damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Nov 2035
“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.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“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.
Market19 Nov 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stoke City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom19 Nov 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ştefan Bodişteanu has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad19 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Stoke City know it.
Squad19 Nov 2035
A row about effort at Stoke City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewi Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lisav Eissat, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 May 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stoke City
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market28 May 2035
Christ Tapé has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stoke City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market28 May 2035
“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 Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 May 2035
“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.
Squad28 May 2035
Kaye Furo 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 Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2035
Lucas Verza arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Verza has, at Stoke City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad28 May 2035
A row about effort at Stoke City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewi Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 May 2035
Paul Reverson comes home with the gloves
43 games away and 28 of them without conceding. Stoke City sent a goalkeeper out to find him some football and have been handed a selection problem instead: the man in possession of the shirt now has somebody behind him who has spent a season being picked.
The dugout28 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Seedy Jatta
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 May 2035
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 May 2035
Nowhere to hide for Brentford
0‑3 against Tottenham, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match21 May 2035
Full time on the season at Brentford
Position 13 on 46 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The dugout21 May 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brentford may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 May 2035
Only the photograph left for Law McCabe
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Law McCabe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brentford the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom21 May 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad21 May 2035
Words exchanged at Brentford
Braiden Graham 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.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisav Eissat 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.
Player ratings21 May 2035
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Konta
-
The dugout
No place for Germán on the big day
-
Boardroom
Doors closed at Brentford
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 May 2035
“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.
Market14 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout14 May 2035
Zaïd BafdilI: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom14 May 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Law McCabe has agreed terms with Bournemouth for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad14 May 2035
Braiden Graham and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joachim Djamba-Shango 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.
Squad14 May 2035
47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 May 2035
Óscar Mingueza knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Óscar Mingueza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Law McCabe
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 May 2035
21 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market7 May 2035
“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.
The dugout7 May 2035
Jake Donohue: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 May 2035
Words exchanged at Brentford
Óscar Mingueza 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.
Market7 May 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brentford they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 May 2035
Lisav Eissat 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.
The dugout7 May 2035
Lisav Eissat gets it from the manager
“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.
Match5 May 2035
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alejandro Garnacho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Brentford.
Player ratings7 May 2035
Marked 8.18 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Apr 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Alin Kumer Čelik: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Apr 2035
20 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market30 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Loan watch30 Apr 2035
20 shut-outs in 32 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Samuel Mbengue has been having a lot of them.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisav Eissat 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.
Squad30 Apr 2035
“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; Brentford are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Alin Kumer Čelik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Apr 2035
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 2035
“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 Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Apr 2035
0‑4 to Liverpool, 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.
Market16 Apr 2035
Only the photograph left for Lisav Eissat
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lisav Eissat will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brentford the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Law McCabe: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Apr 2035
19 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Braiden Graham and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Brentford
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisav Eissat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“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.
Market16 Apr 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Henry Murphy is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Apr 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brentford may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Brentford
Óscar Mingueza 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.
Market9 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Loan watch9 Apr 2035
Samuel Mbengue’s loan is measured in nothing happening
18 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Cambridge United. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad9 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Brentford
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisav Eissat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Apr 2035
0‑1 to Manchester United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Juliën Mesbahi
“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.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brentford know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Mar 2035
Divin Mubama 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 Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Mar 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brentford they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Kristoffer Ajer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Lisav Eissat 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.
Match24 Mar 2035
It finished 1‑0, and it was Konta’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Brentford.
Squad26 Mar 2035
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings26 Mar 2035
Konta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Too much change too quickly at Brentford
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Mar 2035
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market19 Mar 2035
“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.
Match18 Mar 2035
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market19 Mar 2035
Lisav Eissat has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brentford they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Mar 2035
19 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words exchanged at Brentford
Kristoffer Ajer 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.
Loan watch19 Mar 2035
17 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Samuel Mbengue has been having a lot of them.
Match18 Mar 2035
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Brentford and Sheffield United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisav Eissat 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Feb 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bendito Mantato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brentford the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market26 Feb 2035
Divin Mubama 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 Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Kristoffer Ajer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisav Eissat 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.
Match24 Feb 2035
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch26 Feb 2035
Samuel Mbengue’s loan is measured in nothing happening
14 clean sheets from 23 appearances at Cambridge United. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad26 Feb 2035
11 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
The manager makes an example of Emmanuel Godwin
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Feb 2035
“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.
Market19 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Feb 2035
45 days out for Vimal Yoganathan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Brentford will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2035
$8.9M was the most the club would pay and Arsenal 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.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Brentford may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Feb 2035
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Brentford
Kristoffer Ajer 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Feb 2035
Birmingham come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2035
The Watford deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Divin Mubama reports back to Brentford with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad12 Feb 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisav Eissat 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.
Match10 Feb 2035
The goals have deserted Brentford
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Brentford can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2035
Brentford 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Jayden Luker pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Ibragimov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jan 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Birmingham waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Brentford is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Brentford have gone to Arsenal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market15 Jan 2035
Michael Mills 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 Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 Jan 2035
Michael Mills: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Brentford have gone to Nottingham Forest with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market15 Jan 2035
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Jan 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Jan 2035
Everton pay $620.0K, 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 targets15 Jan 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jan 2035
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alejandro Garnacho scored in the 87th minute, Tottenham had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Brentford took the lot.
Squad8 Jan 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Brentford will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
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.
Market8 Jan 2035
Divin Mubama 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 Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
Law McCabe: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Jan 2035
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Juliën Mesbahi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Juliën Mesbahi has, at Brentford, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Kristoffer Ajer 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lisav Eissat has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Jan 2035
Lisav Eissat 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 Brentford can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Óscar Mingueza 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.
Market1 Jan 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match30 Dec 2034
4 matches without a win for Brentford
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Brentford are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Dec 2034
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
The manager makes an example of Lisav Eissat
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
A promise honoured at Brentford
Something was said to Alejandro Garnacho and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
Squad
Marco Oliva falls out with a teammate over standards
-
Squad
A promotion for Maduka Okoye
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2034
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brentford lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match9 Dec 2034
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Everton, and it could have been more.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market11 Dec 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brentford is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom11 Dec 2034
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Match5 Dec 2034
Liverpool left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Bendito Mantato and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Dec 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Brentford, another week without a signature from Alejandro Garnacho.
Squad11 Dec 2034
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Brentford know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Emiliano Buendía
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brentford lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2034
588 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market4 Dec 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brentford they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings4 Dec 2034
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Braiden Graham and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Dec 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joachim Djamba-Shango 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.
Market4 Dec 2034
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2034
Emiliano Buendía damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market20 Nov 2034
Antonny puts it in writing
“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 Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejandro Garnacho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Brentford are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brentford will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market20 Nov 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Brentford, another week without a signature from Joachim Djamba-Shango.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2034
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Divin Mubama’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brentford needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Nobody at Brentford 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Emiliano Buendía
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brentford lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Nov 2034
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joachim Djamba-Shango has, at Brentford, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Words exchanged at Brentford
Óscar Mingueza 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.
Market13 Nov 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Brentford, another week without a signature from Alejandro Garnacho.
Squad13 Nov 2034
A row about effort at Brentford
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joachim Djamba-Shango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings13 Nov 2034
Emil Ceïde runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“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.
Match12 Nov 2034
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Sheffield United will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2034
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brentford lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match29 Oct 2034
Chastening afternoon for Brentford
A 0‑3 beating by Wolverhampton was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
Up for the corner, and Georginio Frimpong delivers — 7.59
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Georginio Frimpong scored, was marked 7.59, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Kristoffer Ajer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
Lisav Eissat gets it from the manager
“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.
The terraces30 Oct 2034
At 22 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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2034
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Oct 2034
Emiliano Buendía damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market23 Oct 2034
Antonny puts it in writing
“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 Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words exchanged at Brentford
Ricardo Pădurariu 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Ibragimov, and the manager let it.
Match21 Oct 2034
A 2‑0 win over Aston Villa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match21 Oct 2034
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Aston Villa tried to reorganise, Brentford did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
Lisav Eissat was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kovalenko 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 dugout23 Oct 2034
Amir Ibragimov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Sep 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Emiliano Buendía
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brentford lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Sep 2034
Fulham will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Brentford were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
Divin Mubama: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brentford have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
A defender's goal wins it for Brentford — 7.85
1 for Lisav Eissat, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad25 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Sep 2034
Brentford still without a manager
40 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Match23 Sep 2034
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Brentford and Fulham in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2034
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Reggie Walsh had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market19 Jun 2034
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Jun 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Brentford have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jun 2034
Queens Park Rangers pay $10.9M, 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 targets19 Jun 2034
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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
$1.0M on the table at Coventry City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words exchanged at Brentford
Kristoffer Ajer 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2034
Newcastle United wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad19 Jun 2034
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Daniel Iversen
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Brentford will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom5 Jun 2034
Gabriel Ribeiro has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Brentford can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Jun 2034
Brentford say no — this time
The offer from Wolverhampton for Mateo Joseph 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
$2.8M settles it between the clubs for Jayden Luker
Cardiff City have accepted the money. What Brentford do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom5 Jun 2034
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 Jun 2034
The phone has started ringing about Joshua Quarshie again, and this time the name on the line is Chelsea. Brentford are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Jun 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jun 2034
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Brentford heard it as anything else.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Coventry City have kept their man, and Brentford go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market5 Jun 2034
Lisav Eissat is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Brentford has been clear about where Lisav Eissat stands, which is more than many ever get.