At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Evan Ferguson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Brighton and Manchester City.
The phone has started ringing about Michael Martin again, and this time the name on the line is Queens Park Rangers. Brighton are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Eiran Cashin 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.
399 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brighton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diego Coppola 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jack Fletcher will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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 bid was some way short and Brighton did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
Ville Koski 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.
Squad12 Jul 2038
The manager has not finished forgetting Yankuba Minteh'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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brighton lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Brighton heard it as anything else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brighton lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Crystal Palace have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liam Wright. The answer from Brighton has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Eiran Cashin 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brighton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brighton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Babis Kostoulas 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Wright will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Wright will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Sheffield the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Brighton will enjoy reviewing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.59 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.52 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
38 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.75 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
434 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Diego Coppola 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.
The offer from LA Galaxy for Liam Wright 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yankuba Minteh signs something — a contract at Brighton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Babis Kostoulas 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Evan Ferguson 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Coppola. 1‑0 against Nottingham Forest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Three points for Brighton, 3‑2 the final word against Tottenham in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Feb 2038
Babis Kostoulas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.47. 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.
8.58. 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Tottenham tried to reorganise, Brighton did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 96% of everything Brighton earn
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Evan Ferguson
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Huddersfield Town for Liam Wright 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Yankuba Minteh
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
Josh Hamilton was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.09. 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Sheffield kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Brighton will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
13 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2037
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evan Ferguson 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.
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diego Coppola 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.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Brighton, and 4 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Coppola signs something — a contract at Brighton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Brighton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diego Coppola 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.
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.
14 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
“I watch every Brighton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Birmingham runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Cardiff City will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Brighton were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Babis Kostoulas 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Evan Ferguson 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
Babis Kostoulas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
Marked 9.23 — 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Everton tried to reorganise, Brighton did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Babis Kostoulas 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.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Evan Ferguson 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 offer from Leeds United for Liam Wright 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brighton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evan Ferguson 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Brighton, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Coppola signs something — a contract at Brighton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Sheffield have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liam Wright. The answer from Brighton has not changed — yet.
Diego Coppola 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matthew Robinson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Evan Ferguson 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brighton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 offer from Queens Park Rangers for Liam Wright 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matthew Robinson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Brighton have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Words at Brighton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Babis Kostoulas 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Micah Hamilton obliged against Birmingham. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Brighton.
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Liam Wright, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.78
A mark of 8.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Babis Kostoulas 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matthew Robinson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brighton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Evan Ferguson 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.