Marked for Mark Clarke
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Apr 2029
Position 18, 25 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Wolverhampton may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match14 Apr 2029
Manchester City left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hugo Bueno, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
the manager: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Adilson Malanda 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
The form table has caught Raúl Jiménez
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Market16 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Wolverhampton know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces16 Apr 2029
Everybody has an opinion about José Sá
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market22 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Wolverhampton have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Musa Barrow 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 Wolverhampton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal have kept their man, and Wolverhampton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match20 Jan 2029
Sunderland made Wolverhampton work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Musa Barrow was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniel Allen on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Wolverhampton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adilson Malanda 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
$37.4M settles it between the clubs for Marcus Edwards
Burnley have accepted the money. What Wolverhampton do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Wolverhampton asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Jul 2028
The offer from Newport County for Marshall Munetsi 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
“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.
Market24 Jul 2028
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Market24 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wolverhampton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.8M — a club that wants Marcus Edwards enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Mateo Kovačić 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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Saša Kalajdžić
“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
Market17 Jul 2028
Benfica pay $50.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 Wolverhampton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Wolverhampton asked and Chesterfield 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 terraces17 Jul 2028
Supporters turn on the $50.5M sale of Bart Verbruggen
He is going to Benfica, the club has $50.5M 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.
Market17 Jul 2028
The bid was some way short and Wolverhampton did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Jul 2028
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Jul 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Joshua Zirkzee wants continental football; whether Wolverhampton can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
José Sá 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Wolverhampton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adilson Malanda 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.