“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Peterborough United know it.
Something was said to Alex Bass and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Peterborough United, another week without a signature from Jesse Debrah.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jake Garrett signs something — a contract at Peterborough United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Peterborough United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Peterborough United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Peterborough United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Rio Adébísí 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Pemi Aderoju's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at Peterborough United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Peterborough United have no good answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucca Kakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Pemi Aderoju's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Portsmouth in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cian Hayes signs something — a contract at Peterborough United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Peterborough United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Out, 1‑2 to Doncaster Rovers, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Peterborough United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Wycombe Wanderers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucca Kakai 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Peterborough United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Accrington Stanley waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Peterborough United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Peterborough United can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Tyrese Fornah ended with $1.6M changing hands and Northampton Town out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$220.0K on the table at Liverpool. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ethan Bristow 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
20 goals in 42 games at Walsall — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Peterborough United updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Peterborough United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Óscar Zambrano 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Delvalle was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chizzy Ezenwata did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $133.5K — a club that wants Jordan Houghton enough to be asked twice.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Peterborough United offered $130.0K; Stevenage 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“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 Peterborough United, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Peterborough United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matthew Garbett provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Kecskeméti TE for David Kamara 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.
Óscar Zambrano 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.