Marked for David Espínola
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A move Jonny Arriba would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonny Arriba is living that version at Gillingham, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Club Brugge, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ronan Hale 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 Gillingham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Gillingham offered $170.0K; Leicester City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 3‑2 win over Crewe Alexandra, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jonny Arriba commits to Gillingham for another 3 years.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
In brief
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Ronan Hale
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of David Espínola
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Espínola had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $300.4K — a club that wants Benicio Baker-Boaitey enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Luton Town 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Gillingham offered $290.0K; Millwall said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samson Tovide has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Grimsby Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
One of those days for Ronan Hale
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Squad
Tempers go at Gillingham
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $180.2K — a club that wants Michael Golding enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Millwall 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Gillingham have gone to Leicester 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Gillingham
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Gillingham go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Auckland City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David Espínola. The answer from Gillingham has not changed — yet.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andrew Williams 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Hunter 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ronan Hale and Gillingham agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Gillingham asked and Wigan Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
David Espínola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gillingham are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Coventry City: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad10 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Samson Tovide
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Gillingham will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Ronan Hale knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gillingham, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.