Marked for Mosiah Chambers
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Chesterfield did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chesterfield can pretend not to have heard.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Matheus Lemos: 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.” Chesterfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jul 2027
Ryan Boot 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 Chesterfield can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chesterfield have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Zach Hemming 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 Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Liam Mandeville 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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 Chesterfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Zach Hemming 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 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Market12 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lee Bonis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Luke Bell
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luke Bell will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chesterfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Zach Hemming 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 Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Liam Mandeville 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mosiah Chambers damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market28 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Tom Pearce
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tom Pearce will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chesterfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market28 Jun 2027
Matheus Lemos 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 Chesterfield can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Freddie Ladapo has agreed terms with Notts County for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Will Dickson is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tom Pearce 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Armando Dobra has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match26 Jun 2027
3 matches without a goal for Chesterfield
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mosiah Chambers damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chesterfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market21 Jun 2027
The chase for Mohamed Bob ended with $180.0K changing hands and Milton Keynes Dons out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tom Pearce 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 Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jay Tinsdale is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Dilan Markanday has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
A mark of 7.31, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mosiah Chambers damages knee ligaments — 65 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market14 Jun 2027
Ryan Stirk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chesterfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tom Pearce 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Chesterfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Liam Mandeville 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ryan Stirk
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
Mosiah Chambers damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chesterfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lee Bonis commits to Chesterfield for another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tom Pearce 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 Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Liam Mandeville 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 terraces7 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Will Dickson 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Matheus Lemos’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chesterfield.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market7 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matheus Lemos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chesterfield.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chesterfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 May 2027
Tom Pearce 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Chesterfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marley Wilson 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“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 Chesterfield know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Mosiah Chambers damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market24 May 2027
Dylan Duffy has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chesterfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 May 2027
Tom Pearce 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 Chesterfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Liam Mandeville 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.
Match22 May 2027
0‑1 to Newport County, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mosiah Chambers
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chesterfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 May 2027
Ryan Stirk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chesterfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 May 2027
Tom Pearce 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Chesterfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Liam Mandeville 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.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dylan Duffy’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chesterfield.