Ibrahim Mbaye

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Gillingham
18 Apr 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Ibrahim Mbaye

37 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Gillingham

A 1‑4 beating by Shrewsbury Town was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Rodrigo Soria 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 Gillingham can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Ben Wilson keeps Gillingham in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Abdoul Ouattara, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06

A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout

Omar Beckles says Gillingham went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Only the photograph left for Sam Vokes

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sam Vokes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gillingham the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Gillingham training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danny Imray 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 dugout

No hiding place for Ben Wilson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Wilson, and the manager let it.

In brief

Back issues
36 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abdoul Ouattara

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Squad

Kelly Saravanan 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 Raphael Borges Rodrigues

At 23 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

Ibrahim Mbaye is the month’s best young player

At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Gillingham will try not to make too much of it.

Market

Still no ink between Gillingham and Mitch Clark

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gillingham, another week without a signature from Mitch Clark.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Raphael Borges Rodrigues

7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Gillingham had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Ibrahim Mbaye

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gillingham told Ibrahim Mbaye something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

No hiding place for Robbie McKenzie

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robbie McKenzie, and the manager let it.

In brief

35 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Ronan Hale takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Gillingham boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Mbaye, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11

A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

The dugout

Elliott Nevitt says Gillingham went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Ronan Hale

18 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Cameron Antwi puts it in writing

“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 Gillingham, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Match

6 goals as Gillingham and Accrington Stanley go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gillingham and Accrington Stanley, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

Gillingham see off Accrington Stanley

Three points for Gillingham, 4‑2 the final word against Accrington Stanley in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

34 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A brace, and Alejandro Garnacho takes the afternoon — 8.90

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Garnacho provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Lucas Ocampos wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Market

Only the photograph left for Brian Madjo

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Madjo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aston Villa the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Aston Villa

Boubacar Kamara 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.

Squad

Lucas Ocampos 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.

Match

Alejandro Garnacho the difference as Aston Villa beat Newcastle United

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alejandro Garnacho. 3‑1 against Newcastle United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Amadou Onana was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Loan watch

Ibrahim Mbaye keeps scoring at Gillingham

7 appearances away from home and 12 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

The dugout

August Priske left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; August Priske will call it something else in private.

In brief

34 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A day Ibrahim Mbaye will not forget

4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Gillingham run riot against Harrogate Town

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Mbaye, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00

A mark of 10.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market

Max Clark 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 Gillingham can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

At 19, Ibrahim Mbaye is already the best thing here

An average of 7.14 in a first team he is several years too young for. Gillingham have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.

The dugout

Jonny Williams: 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.” Gillingham have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Gillingham

Abdoul Ouattara 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.

Squad

Gael Delgado gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gael Delgado has just signed for Gillingham, and for once the answer mattered.

The terraces

One of their own: Abdoul Ouattara

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.

In brief

32 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sam Gale asks to leave Gillingham

“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.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Mbaye, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33

A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Ben Wilson 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.

Squad

Rodrigo Soria signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rodrigo Soria commits to Gillingham for another 4 years.

Squad

Danny Imray 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 Ibrahim Mbaye

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

Ibrahim Mbaye is the division's best young player this month

At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Gillingham will try very hard not to make too much of it.

Market

Talks stall between Gillingham and Mitch Clark

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Match

Honours even between Gillingham and Barnet

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Player ratings The pass was always on for Kelly Saravanan
  • Boardroom $4.1M taken back off the Gillingham table
31 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abdoul Ouattara

Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Cruel end for Bristol Rovers as Gillingham pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Gillingham scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Gillingham boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Tempers go at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Ronan Hale

15 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Words at Gillingham training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danny Imray 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.

Squad

Rodrigo Soria wants to go home

“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 Gillingham know it.

Match

Ronan Hale sends Gillingham past Bristol Rovers

It finished 1‑0, and it was Ronan Hale’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gillingham.

Player ratings

Ronan Hale was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

30 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Abdoul Ouattara runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Mbaye, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42

A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Words exchanged at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Squad

Ronan Hale is carrying Gillingham

14 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Words at Gillingham training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelly Saravanan 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.

Match

Gillingham see off Cheltenham Town

Three points for Gillingham, 1‑0 the final word against Cheltenham Town in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

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.” Adam Edwards kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

No hiding place for Charlie Lakin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charlie Lakin, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Raphael Borges Rodrigues knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Raphael Borges Rodrigues trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

29 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Mbaye

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Sam Vokes has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gillingham they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Sam Vokes has agreed to leave Gillingham for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

A falling-out at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Gillingham

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danny Imray was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Gillingham come up short against Colchester United

Colchester United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Adam Edwards answers for it

“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.

Squad

Ibrahim Mbaye wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gillingham will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

Squad

6 new faces, and Gillingham are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

In brief

28 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A day Ibrahim Mbaye will not forget

6 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Ibrahim Mbaye leads the rout of Crewe Alexandra

7‑1, and Ibrahim Mbaye took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Gillingham tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Mbaye, 19, steals the show — 8.34

Marked 8.34 at 19, 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 ratings

Abdoul Ouattara was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. 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.

Player ratings

Eli King 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.

Squad

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gillingham and Crewe Alexandra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Kelly Saravanan 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.

Boardroom

Rocco Friel will join Gillingham for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rocco Friel has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Gillingham have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

In brief

27 Edition

The Gillingham Herald

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abdoul Ouattara

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Gillingham

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gillingham is running low.

Boardroom

Gillingham close the window on a squad of their own making

3 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad

Tempers go at Gillingham

Ibrahim Mbaye 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.

Squad

Words at Gillingham training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelly Saravanan 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.

Transfer targets

Gillingham rebuffed over Jack Powell

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crewe Alexandra have kept their man, and Gillingham go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Grimsby Town take the points off Gillingham

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ben Wilson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Wilson, and the manager let it.

Squad

Ibrahim Mbaye has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Gillingham know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

In brief

20 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zion Suzuki stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

6 matches without a win for Aston Villa

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Aston Villa are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Aston Villa

Boubacar Kamara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aston Villa

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and John McGinn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aston Villa come up short against Brighton

Brighton left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Harry James faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Harry James after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim Mbaye

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Mbaye, and the manager let it.

Squad

Leon Goretzka has to sit this one out

A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Aston Villa lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Lucas Ocampos

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

11 Edition

The Aston Villa Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Both of them Nicolas Jackson's — 9.28

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Amadou Onana goes up and wins it — 7.73

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aston Villa

Zion Suzuki 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.

Match

The drought breaks for Aston Villa

7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Brentford were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

The step up is real for Alfie Lynskey

At 18 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.

Match

Nicolas Jackson sends Aston Villa past Brentford

It finished 3‑1, and it was Nicolas Jackson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aston Villa.

Squad

Ibrahim Mbaye stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ibrahim Mbaye and Aston Villa agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A quiet fortnight at Aston Villa

With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Harry James, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief