The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sheffield Wednesday have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$4.9M on the table at Manchester 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tottenham is saying, and nobody at Sheffield Wednesday is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom1 Sep 2036
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 22 gone
That is the business done at Sheffield Wednesday until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tottenham have kept their man, and Sheffield Wednesday go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sheffield Wednesday this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sheffield Wednesday have gone to Manchester United 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mauro Chacón wants continental football; whether Sheffield Wednesday can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sheffield Wednesday have done the hard part with Tottenham, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sheffield Wednesday can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Harrogate Town for Robert James 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.
Christian Dunbar-McDonald 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A brace, and Manuel Pisano takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Manuel Pisano provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wolverhampton have kept their man, and Sheffield Wednesday go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Younes Jaber el Meftahi has, at Sheffield Wednesday, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sheffield Wednesday have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Manuel Pisano 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 transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Younes Jaber el Meftahi is a Sheffield Wednesday player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad11 Aug 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester United is saying, and nobody at Sheffield Wednesday is enjoying the guessing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sheffield Wednesday is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sheffield Wednesday 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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.
Sheffield Wednesday have made the call to Watford. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Manuel Pisano 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.
Sheffield Wednesday have gone to Manchester United 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birmingham have kept their man, and Sheffield Wednesday go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Middlesbrough wanted more than $34.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jul 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Sheffield Wednesday could ask drops and the wages Gaëtan Coucke can ask rise.
In brief
The dugoutSamat Baizhanov has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Bastián Tapia Gomes's mistake
Sheffield Wednesday have gone to Tottenham 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sheffield Wednesday can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph McCallum will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sheffield Wednesday this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ciaran Thompson is a Sheffield Wednesday player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
$48.0K on the table at Manchester United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ciaran Thompson is living that version at Sheffield Wednesday, and it tends to show in the first month.
$48.0K was the most the club would pay and Manchester United 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.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sheffield Wednesday can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Watford is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$480.0K was the most the club would pay and Tottenham 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sheffield Wednesday can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leicester City have kept their man, and Sheffield Wednesday go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
9 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sheffield Wednesday lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea have settled on $2.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$4.6M was the most the club would pay and Manchester City 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Sheffield Wednesday have paid $2.3M for Yohann Obin, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“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 Sheffield Wednesday, and it is not being withdrawn.
$480.0K on the table at Tottenham. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Manuel Pisano 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.
Yohann Obin was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.3M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
Sheffield Wednesday have gone to Manchester City 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.
“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 Sheffield Wednesday, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sheffield Wednesday have gone to Tottenham 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph McCallum will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $30.0K — a club that wants Wyll Stanway enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sheffield Wednesday this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Sheffield Wednesday go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sheffield Wednesday this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Amoah Foah-Sam has, at Sheffield Wednesday, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Leeds United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Louie Rea has pre-agreed a move to Sheffield Wednesday, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad19 May 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sheffield Wednesday can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sheffield Wednesday has been clear about where Dawoud Assoumani stands, which is more than many ever get.
Amoah Foah-Sam arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sheffield Wednesday can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph McCallum will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Odefalk 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sheffield Wednesday will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
5 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emmanuel Tshibemba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sheffield Wednesday can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simphiwe Mlondo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Manuel Pisano 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Sheffield Wednesday saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sheffield Wednesday can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sheffield Wednesday will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Robert James will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sheffield Wednesday the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sheffield Wednesday this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Charlton Athletic, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sheffield Wednesday told Gaëtan Coucke something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Will Dickson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yuri Lavrov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
10 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $265.8K of what Coventry City paid for Luca Fletcher is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Coventry City asked and Burnley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Coventry City close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Rio Robbemond 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.
0‑4 to Everton, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Coventry City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Coventry City have done the hard part with Arsenal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Anton Palmer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have shaken hands with Burnley; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Coventry City people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$38.0K on the table at Middlesbrough. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Coventry City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rio Robbemond will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Coventry City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Berkay Arı will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Coventry City know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Coventry City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bastián Tapia Gomes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 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.
T-Jay Parfitt 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
7.81, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Coventry City had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Granit Benito chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Rio Robbemond’s negotiating for him
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rio Robbemond will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Anton Palmer 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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lukas Ramil Sauer 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.
9 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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Coventry City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Coventry City, another week without a signature from Rio Robbemond.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Coventry City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Joaquin Borekull Urrutia decided nobody was going anywhere. Grimsby Town had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Coventry City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dean Bosnjak has, at Coventry City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
T-Jay Parfitt 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Berkay Arı has his answer from Coventry City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filippo Ballerini has, at Coventry City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Rio Robbemond 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 words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
T-Jay Parfitt and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Rio Robbemond 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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Coventry City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 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.
“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 Coventry City know it.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rio Robbemond has agreed terms with Sheffield Wednesday for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Liam Engstad Eriksen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Rio Robbemond 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bastián Tapia Gomes has his answer from Coventry City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bastián Tapia Gomes is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Will Dickson has just signed for Sheffield Wednesday, and for once the answer mattered.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rio Robbemond has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sheffield Wednesday have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oliver Harvey’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sheffield Wednesday needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
2‑3 to Bristol City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Granit Benito after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say T-Jay Parfitt is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Max Andersson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Up for the corner, and T-Jay Parfitt delivers — 7.96
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. T-Jay Parfitt scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
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.
Anton Palmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Rio Robbemond 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.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Granit Benito made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Derby County had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Coventry City did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Coventry City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Anton Palmer 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Duvan Gonzalez has, at Coventry City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Max Andersson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Max Andersson 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Rio Robbemond 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Coventry City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutTyler Sackey asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Coventry City people have started saying his name in the past tense.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Coventry City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Deadline passes with 27 signed and 26 gone
That is the business done at Coventry City until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Coventry City asked and Peterborough United 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Coventry City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Coventry City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$1.9M on the table at Peterborough United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$490.0K on the table at Plymouth Argyle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Coventry City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Coventry City 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.
$1.9M on the table at Peterborough United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$490.0K on the table at Plymouth Argyle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Coventry City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Peterborough United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.
Coventry City asked and West Ham United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Max Andersson 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Charlie Barker commits to Coventry City for another 3 years.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Rio Robbemond 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Crystal Palace have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Coventry City has been clear about where Kyle John stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Coventry City is running low.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kgaogelo Monanyane has, at Coventry City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tyler Sackey 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Robbemond was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Coventry City will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bernardo Oliveira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Max Andersson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
“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; Coventry City are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Coventry City, another week without a signature from Bernardo Oliveira.
10 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Coventry City could ask drops and the wages Tumi Bowes can ask rise.
Position 21 on 42 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Anton Palmer 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Luca Fletcher scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Southampton, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Oliveira 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.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tumi Bowes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Coventry City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bernardo Oliveira 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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Rio Robbemond 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Blackburn Rovers leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Coventry City dressing room was either.
12 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Coventry City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Bernardo Oliveira 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
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
“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 dugout26 Mar 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutJosh Eccles asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Coventry City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Coventry City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 6.65, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Anton Palmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Oliveira 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Coventry City is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Coventry City can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Coventry City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bastián Tapia Gomes has, at Coventry City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Coventry City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Robbemond 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luigi D'Avino will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Coventry City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bernardo Oliveira 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
Max Andersson 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Coventry City will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.