Marked for Benjamin Moore
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Sep 2044
“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 The request is on a desk at Manchester City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Sep 2044
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nico O'Reilly commits to Manchester City for another 2 years.
Squad5 Sep 2044
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Manchester City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Sep 2044
Words at Manchester City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Endrick 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.
Market5 Sep 2044
The bid was some way short and Manchester City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Sep 2044
“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.
Match3 Sep 2044
0‑1 to Wolverhampton, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market5 Sep 2044
Vitor Reis told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vitor Reis has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Manchester City.
Player ratings5 Sep 2044
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jul 2044
583 appearances across 18 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.
Market4 Jul 2044
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market4 Jul 2044
The offer from Brentford for Oliver Kelly 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.
Market4 Jul 2044
“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.
Squad4 Jul 2044
Carlos Baleba 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.
Squad4 Jul 2044
Endrick 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
Market22 Jun 2043
“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.
Market22 Jun 2043
Mark Murphy has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Manchester City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jun 2043
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Manchester City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jun 2043
Carlos Baleba 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.
Market22 Jun 2043
The phone has started ringing about Benjamin Moore again, and this time the name on the line is Chelsea. Manchester City are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad22 Jun 2043
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nico González, and the manager let it.