Simon Jackson

Central Defender - Cheltenham Town U18
18 Sep 2026
Friday
Process

Marked for Simon Jackson

3 Edition

The Cheltenham Town Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Ciarán Kelly gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ciarán Kelly has just signed for Cheltenham Town, and for once the answer mattered.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Cheltenham Town

3 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.

Match

Cheltenham Town see off Accrington Stanley

Three points for Cheltenham Town, 3‑1 the final word against Accrington Stanley in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Harry Ibbitson

Cheltenham Town asked and Bradford City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Adam Lawrence steps up from the Cheltenham Town academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adam Lawrence has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Cheltenham Town promote Simon Jackson from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simon Jackson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: David Parker joins the Cheltenham Town first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Parker is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ani Ozoemena

“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.

Squad

Owen Dale makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

In brief