Marked for Dani Ángel
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Accrington Stanley has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from David Abimbola at 19 — 9.11
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Abimbola did not need any: 9.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Portsmouth 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Stuart Moore
There were 6 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Charlie Caton hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Accrington Stanley can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jan 2027
3‑4 to Crewe Alexandra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Accrington Stanley asked and Reading said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
7 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Khari Ranson 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Isaac Heath beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Walsall, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market14 Dec 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Farrend Rawson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Accrington Stanley.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Accrington Stanley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josh Smith 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Harry Griffiths
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Devon Matthews sits out. Accrington Stanley lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Dani Ángel, 20, steals the show — 8.50
Marked 8.50 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match28 Nov 2026
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Accrington Stanley has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Nov 2026
2‑3 to Bromley, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tom Carroll 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dani Ángel 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Stuart Moore gets it from the manager
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Sheyi Ojo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Milton Keynes Dons top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Dani Ángel, 20, steals the show — 7.69
Marked 7.69 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match21 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Dani Ángel 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 terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 22 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tom Carroll
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Salford City scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.96 on the card, and the Accrington Stanley support went home talking about one name.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Salford City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Isaac Holland has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Accrington Stanley will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Accrington Stanley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dani Ángel 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Barrow AFC leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Sheyi Ojo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Isaac Sinclair
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Donald Love
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Salford City in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Not in the side at kick-off and the story of it by the end. Accrington Stanley were going nowhere until he came on, and half an hour was all he needed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aidan Borland 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Something was said to Stuart Moore and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad9 Nov 2026
6 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” George Stewart was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Accrington Stanley dressing room was either.
The dugout9 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Donald Love
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Cambridge United will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Barrow AFC next, and one man in the Accrington Stanley dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Isaac Holland, 21, steals the show — 7.79
Marked 7.79 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Chesterfield left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by George Stewart to a room that had heard them before.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josh Smith was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Josh Woods gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Dani Ángel is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Accrington Stanley, another week without a signature from Devon Matthews.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
No place in the plan for Tom Carroll
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dani Ángel 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 terraces26 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Dani Ángel
At 20 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Dani Ángel’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Accrington Stanley.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Tom Carroll
“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 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, George Stewart could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Isaac Holland has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Accrington Stanley will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tom Carroll 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 Accrington Stanley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Gillingham left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 George Stewart to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Khari Ranson gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes Tom Carroll a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Accrington Stanley. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Isaac Holland, 21, steals the show — 8.04
Marked 8.04 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dani Ángel 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 Accrington Stanley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Charlie Brown makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” George Stewart kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Sheyi Ojo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Isaac Holland has moved up it.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
Looking ahead5 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Harry Griffiths’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Accrington Stanley needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Isaac Heath beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dani Ángel 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Sep 2026
Minute 89, against Tranmere Rovers, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Tranmere Rovers leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout28 Sep 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Shrewsbury Town in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Isaac Holland has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Accrington Stanley will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match5 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Accrington Stanley are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Sheyi Ojo
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dani Ángel 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 Accrington Stanley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Stuart Moore
“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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what Crewe Alexandra would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Farrend Rawson slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Farrend Rawson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Fee done, terms next for Khari Ranson
Accrington Stanley and Arsenal have settled on $530.0K. 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $610.0K — a club that wants Khari Ranson enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Accrington Stanley have done the hard part with Coventry City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Accrington Stanley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stephen Dixon is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. John King has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuel Butler has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matthew Davies 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.