Marked for Coran Madden
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Mar 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Coran Madden commits to Colchester United for another 3 years.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Words at Colchester United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amad Keita 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.
Squad14 Mar 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colchester United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Mar 2033
Oxford United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
Coran Madden 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 dugout14 Mar 2033
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market14 Mar 2033
“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 dugout14 Mar 2033
Charlie Casper asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Nov 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colchester United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amad Keita was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Nov 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
123% of the income goes out in wages at Colchester United
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad29 Nov 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Coran Madden and Colchester United agree another 3 years.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Ricardo Grigore 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 ratings29 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Harrison Rhone, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
The knee: Aaron Herzog out for 20 days
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colchester United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colchester United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match21 Feb 2032
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market23 Feb 2032
“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 Colchester United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Tristan Nilsson: 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.” Colchester United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Richecard Richard has agreed terms with Wrexham for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Joel Silva 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.
Match21 Feb 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mattia Rossetti. 2‑1 against West Bromwich Albion, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces23 Feb 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Coran Madden 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2031
18 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Joel Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Coran Madden arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Coran Madden has, at Colchester United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Colchester United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saikou Touray 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.
Match13 Sep 2031
1‑3 to Leyton Orient, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Saikou Touray
“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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
The formation has left Jenson Gaitley behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Colchester United will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market15 Sep 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saikou Touray signs something — a contract at Colchester United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.