Marked for Samuel Phillips
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Feb 2028
19 days out for Samuel Phillips after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Salford City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.41, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market14 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Salford City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Feb 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Salford City have 4 straight wins of it.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Salford City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Whatmuff 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 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Taylan Harris’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Salford City.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Jamie Donley at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Salford City.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Feb 2028
The match ball belongs to Jamie Donley, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match1 Feb 2028
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Feb 2028
26 days out for Samuel Phillips after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Salford City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Leo Shahar, 20, steals the show — 7.77
Marked 7.77 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market7 Feb 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.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Salford City close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 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.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A goal and an assist for Ryan Graydon — 7.36
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.36 beside his name.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Kallum Cesay 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Samuel Phillips out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Salford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
No deal for Owen Beck at that price
Salford City offered $3.2M; Liverpool 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.
Market31 Jan 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 Salford City, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Salford City asked and Leeds 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Whatmuff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Jan 2028
1‑2 to Oldham Athletic, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Ben Woodburn 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Fabio Borini 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 Salford City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Samuel Phillips out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Salford City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$3.2M 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.
Market24 Jan 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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with SC Paderborn, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Salford City asked and Sunderland 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 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Whatmuff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Jan 2028
A 2‑1 win over Tranmere Rovers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces24 Jan 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Cole Stockton, 33, rolls back the years — 7.96
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market17 Jan 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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Salford City — 7.55
1 for Brandon Cooper, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
$1.3M 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Kallum Cesay 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match15 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cole Stockton. 3‑1 against Accrington Stanley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.