Bade Aluko

Left Back - Cheltenham Town
28 Sep 2026
Monday
Process

Marked for Bade Aluko

8 Edition

The Cheltenham Town Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The cup run ends for Cheltenham Town

0‑1 against Cardiff City, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Shamal George

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Joe Sbarra pulls a muscle — 15 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Squad

Lamin Sillah 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 Cheltenham Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Leon Bätge

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Joe Sbarra

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Cheltenham Town Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Jordan Thomas runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tom Bradshaw 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 Cheltenham Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ben Stevenson 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Bade Aluko

At 19 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Cheltenham Town

20 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.

Player ratings

Bade Aluko stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Cheltenham Town support went home talking about one name.

Market

A long bet from Cheltenham Town on Chinonso Chibueze

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

Squad

Chinonso Chibueze signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chinonso Chibueze and Cheltenham Town agree another 4 years.

Match

No goals between Cheltenham Town and Shrewsbury Town

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Shrewsbury Town will be the happier side with the point.

In brief