“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nottingham Forest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nottingham Forest has been clear about where Arnaud Kalimuendo stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nottingham Forest, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nottingham Forest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Sidiki Chérif is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Dan Ndoye wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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; Nottingham Forest are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
Nottingham Forest have gone to Leeds 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.
Nottingham Forest asked and Manchester 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest 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 Esapa Osong 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 Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
Nottingham Forest asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nottingham Forest have done the hard part with Hull City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Muñoz wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Sidiki Chérif was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dan Ndoye trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutChris Wood has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nottingham Forest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Milton Keynes Dons waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nottingham Forest is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Nikola Milenković has come up in conversations Nottingham Forest were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Colchester United pay $150.0K, 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.
Nottingham Forest have made the call to Brighton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nottingham Forest, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
33 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ben Gannon Doak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nottingham Forest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Chris Wood 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 watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Exeter City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikola Milenković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Joshua Davis could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nottingham Forest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Hudson-Odoi and Nottingham Forest agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nottingham Forest 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Domínguez wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
9 goals in 21 games at Eintracht Frankfurt — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Nottingham Forest updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Joshua Davis on the draw
Sheffield Wednesday will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Coventry City were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
Nottingham Forest paid $7.1M and Coventry City took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Caleb Yirenkyi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsTaiwo Awoniyi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
SquadCarl Rushworth has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Nottingham Forest asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Aston Villa paid $25.0M and Nottingham Forest took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.3M — a club that wants Viktor Johansson enough to be asked twice.
He is 20, and nobody at Nottingham Forest signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.61, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The offer went to Zenit 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Coventry City; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Nottingham Forest, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nottingham Forest have gone to Stoke 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Everton were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 Nottingham Forest know it.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Coventry City found something the first half had given no notice of, and Preston could not hold what they had.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Frank Onyeka, marked 7.97, 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.
Carl Rushworth 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 Nov 2026
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.” Samuel Thompson kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Caleb Yirenkyi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Norman Bassette and Coventry City agree another 4 years.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Rudoni 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Taiwo Awoniyi signs something — a contract at Coventry City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sidiki Chérif trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Coventry City have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Coventry City. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Luke Woolfenden and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Rudoni 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.
Swansea City next, and one man in the Coventry City dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Carl Rushworth 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Rudoni 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Samuel Thompson chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
“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.
Coventry City had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Arsenal, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and Coventry City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Sidiki Chérif 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Morgan Jali is in the works
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.
Coventry City asked and Watford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. James Bell has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A loan enquiry to Charlotte Football Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.