Marked for John Lawrence
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Nov 2030
Aaron Morley 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Wandile Duba 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.
Match9 Nov 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Harvie, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Nov 2030
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for John Lawrence, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Nobody could get near Alex Lowry
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joshua Marshall after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Looking ahead11 Nov 2030
Preston top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2030
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Wycombe Wanderers are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Alex Lowry and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Wycombe Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Morley 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 Oct 2030
0‑2 to Brentford, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Josh Landers gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Oct 2030
The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for John Lawrence, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Souza knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wycombe Wanderers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Sep 2030
John Lawrence 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.
Transfer targets9 Sep 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crewe Alexandra have kept their man, and Wycombe Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market9 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wycombe Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Aaron Morley 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.
Transfer targets9 Sep 2030
Wycombe Wanderers ran out of time with Wigan Athletic. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad9 Sep 2030
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at Wycombe Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandile Duba 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.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Alex Lowry beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Souza takes the honours
Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Wycombe Wanderers had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Sep 2030
John Lawrence 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.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
The clubs have shaken hands with Wigan Athletic; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
No thanks: Tom Booth rejects the move
Wycombe Wanderers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Crewe Alexandra, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Wycombe Wanderers close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 17 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad2 Sep 2030
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Alex Lowry 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Steven King and Wycombe Wanderers agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Wycombe Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match31 Aug 2030
Wandile Duba scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Portsmouth, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Josh Landers
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Player ratings
Wandile Duba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Aug 2030
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wycombe Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Aug 2030
Wandile Duba wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Wandile Duba found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Reading went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market26 Aug 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Wycombe Wanderers have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
$900.0K settles it between the clubs for Juan Manuel Crespo
Bolton Wanderers have accepted the money. What Wycombe Wanderers do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Alex Lowry 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 Wycombe Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Aug 2030
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Aaron Morley 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
Steady
Squad19 Aug 2030
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wycombe Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market19 Aug 2030
The bid was some way short and Wycombe Wanderers did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Aug 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wycombe Wanderers can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Aug 2030
The step up is real for Steven King
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
No thanks: Steven Fisher rejects the move
Wycombe Wanderers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tottenham, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Wycombe Wanderers have gone to Crawley Town 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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Aaron Morley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Wandile Duba 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.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jul 2030
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wycombe Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Wycombe Wanderers may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Everything agreed with Notts County, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
No thanks: Finley Grigg rejects the move
Wycombe Wanderers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Manchester City, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Aaron Morley 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 Wycombe Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luca Cantarella is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Wycombe Wanderers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandile Duba 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 targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal have kept their man, and Wycombe Wanderers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Josh Landers
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Charlie Caton is in the works
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Market
The Souza talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jun 2030
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wycombe Wanderers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Jun 2030
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 70 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market24 Jun 2030
The offer from Deportivo Municipal for Daniel Harvie was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Jun 2030
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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Brighton keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Alex Lowry and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jun 2030
The step up is real for Joel Ortiz
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Wycombe Wanderers asked and Cheltenham 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Callum Doyle gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Callum Doyle has just signed for Wycombe Wanderers, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for John Lawrence
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wycombe Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Jun 2030
The offer from Preston for Bradley Ihionvien was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wycombe Wanderers have done the hard part with Brighton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Aaron Morley 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
14 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Match15 Jun 2030
A 1‑0 win over Charlton Athletic, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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The dugout
Josh Landers left out for the big one
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Joshua Simmons is in the works
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jun 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for John Lawrence
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wycombe Wanderers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
No thanks: Tom Booth rejects the move
Wycombe Wanderers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Crewe Alexandra, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Wycombe Wanderers and Crawley Town have settled on $370.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market10 Jun 2030
Souza wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Wycombe Wanderers hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match8 Jun 2030
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Exeter City. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Aaron Morley 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Daniel Harvie 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.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Jun 2030
13 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
John Lawrence damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Wandile Duba is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.27 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match1 Jun 2030
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Wycombe Wanderers are no longer polite ones.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Alex Lowry 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 Wycombe Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anders Hagelskjær and Wycombe Wanderers agree another 2 years.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
Josh Landers gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Ninety minutes of Aaron Morley at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Wycombe Wanderers.