Marked for Michael Marshall
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Aug 2031
12 saves: Harry Tyrer was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A fracture rules Michael Marshall out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Everton will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Michael Harvey damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Match23 Aug 2031
Beaten 0‑3 by Manchester City, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market25 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Borja Sainz 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.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with Sporting CP, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market25 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market25 Aug 2031
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Everton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
Everton interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Squad18 Aug 2031
24 days out for Michael Marshall after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Everton will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 Aug 2031
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad18 Aug 2031
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Everton lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Burnley have kept their man, and Everton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market18 Aug 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 Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Everton may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Everton
Borja Sainz 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.
Market18 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fraser Horsfall will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Aug 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Robert Atkinson damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Market11 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
$6.1M was the most the club would pay and Manchester City 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Everton
Borja Sainz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Aug 2031
Still no name above the door at Everton
Day 41 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Zirkzee 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.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Everton asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Borja Sainz 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Aug 2031
38 days out for Michael Marshall after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Everton will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Robert Atkinson damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Everton may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Aug 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 Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Borja Sainz 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 Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Everton offered $570.0K; Tranmere Rovers 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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Tyrone Omotoye is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
Oxford United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yulian Iliev has pre-agreed a move to Everton, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Everton asked and Manchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Michael Marshall out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Everton will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Jul 2031
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Everton lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jul 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jul 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Only the photograph left for Elliot Bonds
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elliot Bonds will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Borja Sainz 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
The offer went to Manchester United 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Everton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Everton
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joshua Zirkzee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jul 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fraser Horsfall
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Everton lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Jul 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.
Squad21 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 Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jul 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Everton
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joshua Zirkzee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Ham United have kept their man, and Everton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jul 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joshua Zirkzee signs something — a contract at Everton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Varney, and the manager let it.