Marked for Alysson Edward
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.23, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Darragh Lenihan: 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.” Middlesbrough have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Match31 Oct 2026
Portsmouth left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 21 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Middlesbrough can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
The knee: Tyrone Mings out for 128 days
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aston Villa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Tammy Abraham takes the afternoon — 8.71
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tammy Abraham provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market31 Aug 2026
Alysson Edward has left for Middlesbrough in a $13.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Aug 2026
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. William Osula comes from Newcastle United for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Aston Villa asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Leon Goretzka pops up at the right end — 7.72
7.72, 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
William Osula gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. William Osula has just signed for Aston Villa, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ashley Phillips had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Middlesbrough, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Middlesbrough have 3 straight wins of it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Coventry City wanted more than $640.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Radek Vítek 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alysson Edward from Aston Villa for $13.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Middlesbrough signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$13.0M settles it between the clubs for Alysson Edward
Aston Villa have accepted the money. What Middlesbrough do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match22 Aug 2026
Millwall will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Middlesbrough were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Middlesbrough — 7.62
1 for Alan Browne, marked 7.62, 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$640.0K 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $671.1K — a club that wants Kaine Kesler Hayden enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No deal for Jakov Medić at that price
Middlesbrough offered $500.0K; Norwich 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Middlesbrough offered $22.2M; Nottingham Forest 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Middlesbrough asked and Aston Villa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
AS Roma pay $9.1M, 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $9.1M sale of Leo Castledine
He is going to AS Roma, the club has $9.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Aidan Morris pops up at the right end — 7.70
7.70, 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $542.6K — a club that wants Jakov Medić enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Radek Vítek 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 Middlesbrough this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
7 academy players handed senior numbers at Middlesbrough
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.