Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It needed Isaac Greenup to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Stockport County, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Wigan Athletic dressing room was either.
In brief
SquadWords at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tynan Thompson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Obodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Tynan Thompson 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.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miles Obodo 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Wigan Athletic pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Wigan Athletic has been clear about where Tarik Sadiković stands, which is more than many ever get.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bromley defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
“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 Wigan Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tynan Thompson 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.02, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Something was said to Charlie Wesseldine and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Wigan Athletic dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Wigan Athletic, another week without a signature from Karamoko Camara.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zac 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Wigan Athletic has been clear about where Tiger Tobin stands, which is more than many ever get.
7.87, 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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Sam Tickle and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miles Obodo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaac Greenup. 1‑0 against Barrow AFC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leeds United have kept their man, and Wigan Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tynan Thompson 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Zac Smith 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.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 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.
Oldham Athletic will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Wigan Athletic were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.79 beside his name.
Marked 7.73. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Jorge Ortiz 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.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Miles Obodo 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Wigan Athletic will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miles Obodo 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Crawley Town will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Wigan Athletic were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Solly Khunyedi provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Wigan Athletic heard it as anything else.
Jorge Ortiz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Obodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2032
Isaac Greenup was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Tomás Arce clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
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.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Wigan Athletic asked and Bolton Wanderers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 7.56 for the rest of it.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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
SquadWords at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wigan Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tottenham have kept their man, and Wigan Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything agreed with Norwich City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Jorge Ortiz 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miles Obodo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wigan Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Wigan Athletic. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ciaran Brennan has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Wigan Athletic have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Obodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miles Obodo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Wigan Athletic would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wigan Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Obodo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miles Obodo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wigan Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
100 games in 400 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Squad5 Apr 2032
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charlie Wesseldine 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.
Something was said to Bode Newnham-Reeve and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Jorge Ortiz 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Miles Obodo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hannes Gamper. 1‑0 against Harrogate Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
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.” Tomás Arce, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Charlie Wragg.
A brace, and Josh Adaji takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Josh Adaji provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wigan Athletic is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charlie Wesseldine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sam Tickle signs something — a contract at Wigan Athletic or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wigan Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Miles Obodo 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.
5 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tomás Arce could afford to be generous.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Wigan Athletic has been clear about where Imamutdin Djamalavov stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wigan Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jorge Ortiz has just signed for Wigan Athletic, and for once the answer mattered.
Wigan Athletic asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Isaac Greenup 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.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Isaac Greenup at his very best
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Banele Mnguni 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reading have kept their man, and Wigan Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Wigan Athletic will try again when the window opens; Coventry City may not be selling by then.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wigan Athletic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wigan Athletic have done the hard part with Everton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Oxford United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Hamza Hassan has pre-agreed a move to Wigan Athletic, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Franco Castro 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.
Wigan Athletic asked and Wrexham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
4‑0, and Miles Obodo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Wigan Athletic tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
A brace, and Miles Obodo takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miles Obodo provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wigan Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Wigan Athletic offered $2.1M; Preston 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.
Franco Castro 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.
He is 23 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Josh Adaji
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
$2.1M on the table at Preston. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Wigan Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Wigan Athletic have gone to Manchester 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wigan Athletic have done the hard part with Barnsley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Franco Castro 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bode Newnham-Reeve. 2‑0 against Cambridge United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.45. 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A loan enquiry to West Ham United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“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 Wigan Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Castro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Dec 2031
10 new faces, and Wigan Athletic 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.74, 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Tomás Arce chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutBanele Mnguni knocks on the manager’s door
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Wigan Athletic heard it as anything else.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Franco Castro 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Banele Mnguni. 2‑0 against Fleetwood Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jefferson Sánchez and Wigan Athletic agree another 1 years.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
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.” Tomás Arce kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 19 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Chelsea go through and Wigan Athletic go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Barnet were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Castro 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.
Marked 6.78 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Castro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Wigan Athletic the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Castro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Castro wants continental football; whether Wigan Athletic can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Wigan Athletic can tell you which week it ends in.
Franco Castro 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jamie Odegah has his answer from Wigan Athletic; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Théo Pellenard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bode Newnham-Reeve and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Castro 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wigan Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jack Senior’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Wigan Athletic needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jamie Odegah obliged against Exeter City. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Wigan Athletic.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
A brace, and Jamie Odegah takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jamie Odegah provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wigan Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Banele Mnguni 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Castro 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
8.27. 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.
“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 Wigan Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
$2.2M was the most the club would pay and Aston Villa were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wigan Athletic have done the hard part with Cambridge United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Wigan Athletic can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Wigan Athletic asked and Northampton Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Banele Mnguni, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Derrick Bonsu 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wigan Athletic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Aston Villa 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wigan Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
$440.0K on the table at Bournemouth. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Bode Newnham-Reeve 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Coventry City have kept their man, and Wigan Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Franco Castro 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.