Marked for Benjamin Edwards
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2032
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barnsley lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Jun 2032
Fábio Jaló wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Fábio Jaló found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Newport County went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The terraces21 Jun 2032
Supporters turn on the $1.1M sale of Feyi Afuape
He is going to Stockport County, the club has $1.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market21 Jun 2032
Business is business: Feyi Afuape goes
Stockport County paid $1.1M and Barnsley took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Sydie Peck 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 Jun 2032
Matěj Jurásek 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.
Match19 Jun 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fábio Jaló. 2‑1 against Newport County, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Shayden Morris
6 goals and a season average of 7.41 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings21 Jun 2032
Ninety minutes of Fábio Jaló at his very best
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Barnsley.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jul 2031
Feyenoord come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bournemouth did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The Bournemouth board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad7 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Jul 2031
400 appearances across 14 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Bournemouth know what they have.
Market7 Jul 2031
Loick Ayina 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 Bournemouth can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bournemouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bournemouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jul 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Bournemouth will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jun 2031
Besiktas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bournemouth did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad30 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bournemouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market30 Jun 2031
Sonny Finch 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 Bournemouth can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Marcus Tavernier 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
David Morris is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
Amine Adli 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.
The terraces23 Jun 2031
Anger at Bournemouth spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market23 Jun 2031
Real Madrid come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bournemouth did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad23 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Jun 2031
“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.
Market23 Jun 2031
Jordan Amissah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bournemouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bournemouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Bournemouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amine Adli 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.
Market23 Jun 2031
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bournemouth heard it as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
Cundo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 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.
Market2 Jun 2031
Add another name to the list: Sunderland have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Đorđe Petrović. The answer from Bournemouth has not changed — yet.
Market2 Jun 2031
The bid was some way short and Bournemouth did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings2 Jun 2031
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.
Market2 Jun 2031
Elliott List has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bournemouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Marcus Tavernier 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 May 2031
Anger at Bournemouth spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad26 May 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 May 2031
Only the photograph left for Đorđe Petrović
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Đorđe Petrović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bournemouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings26 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market26 May 2031
“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 Bournemouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bournemouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 May 2031
3 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.
Match24 May 2031
Charlton Athletic left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 May 2031
“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
Uneasy
Player ratings19 May 2031
Amine Adli runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 49. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 May 2031
Pressure builds in the Bournemouth boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 May 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 May 2031
Only the photograph left for Alex Tóth
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Tóth will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bournemouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market19 May 2031
Loick Ayina 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 Bournemouth can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 May 2031
Marcus Tavernier 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Bournemouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyler Adams 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.
Squad19 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Đorđe Petrović
“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.
Market19 May 2031
The Alex Scott story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Scott signs something — a contract at Bournemouth or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 May 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 May 2031
“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 ratings12 May 2031
Cundo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 May 2031
Jordan Amissah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bournemouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bournemouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Bournemouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amine Adli 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.
Squad12 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Filip Jörgensen
“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.
Match10 May 2031
0‑2 to Coventry City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market12 May 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Adrien Truffert’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom5 May 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad5 May 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 May 2031
Alex Tóth 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 Bournemouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 May 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bournemouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 May 2031
Marcus Tavernier 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Amine Adli 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.
Market5 May 2031
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Otto Stange wants continental football; whether Bournemouth can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match3 May 2031
A 1‑0 win over Crystal Palace, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
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Squad
A month that belonged to Cundo
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Player ratings
Cundo runs at them all day
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Player ratings
The afternoon belonged to Amine Adli
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Apr 2031
Anger at Bournemouth spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad28 Apr 2031
A fracture rules Benjamin Edwards out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bournemouth will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Apr 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bournemouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market28 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bournemouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Tyler Adams 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.
Match26 Apr 2031
It finished 3‑1, and it was Eli Junior Kroupi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bournemouth.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
One of those days for Amine Adli
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
A promise honoured for Cundo
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Cundo
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Market
Tyler Adams linked with a move away