Ashley Barnes

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Retired
17 Sep 2028
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Marked for Ashley Barnes

88 Edition

The Coventry City Gazette

3 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market3 Apr 2028

Myles Peart-Harris hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coventry City can pretend not to have heard.

Market3 Apr 2028

Carl Rushworth raises the bar for Coventry City

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Coventry City heard it as anything else.

Squad3 Apr 2028

Tempers go at Coventry City

Ethan Pinnock 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.

Player ratings3 Apr 2028

Anthony Elanga runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings3 Apr 2028

Milan van Ewijk takes the honours

Marked 7.33 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Coventry City had the best player on the pitch.

The dugout3 Apr 2028

The manager makes an example of Ashley Barnes

“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.

The dugout3 Apr 2028

Victor Torp is still paying for one afternoon at Coventry City

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout3 Apr 2028

Timothy Jones on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timothy Jones after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout3 Apr 2028

When it matters, Ellis Simms plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

Back issues
60 Edition

The Coventry City Gazette

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad20 Sep 2027

Bartosz Nowak damages knee ligaments — 81 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.

Squad20 Sep 2027

Conrad Ambursley breaks a bone — 20 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad20 Sep 2027

Carl Rushworth keeps Coventry City in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market20 Sep 2027

Victor Torp asks to leave Coventry City

“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.

Squad20 Sep 2027

Words exchanged at Coventry City

Carl Rushworth 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.

Transfer targets20 Sep 2027

Doncaster Rovers tell Coventry City: Jay McGrath is not for sale

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.

Match18 Sep 2027

A bad afternoon for Coventry City against Crystal Palace

0‑1 to Crystal Palace, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout20 Sep 2027

Timothy Jones faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timothy Jones after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout20 Sep 2027

Elliot Anderson asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

54 Edition

The Coventry City Gazette

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets9 Aug 2027

Coventry City make their move for Lyndon Dykes

$870.0K on the table at Millwall. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market9 Aug 2027

Carl Rushworth wants more than Coventry City are offering

“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.

Squad9 Aug 2027

Words at Coventry City training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Tzolis 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.

Transfer targets9 Aug 2027

Door shut on Yuri Alberto

Coventry City asked and Chelsea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad9 Aug 2027

Tempers go at Coventry City

Josh Vickers 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.

Squad9 Aug 2027

The formation has left Ashley Barnes behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Coventry City will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market9 Aug 2027

Ashley Barnes brings the grey hairs Coventry City lacked

At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.

The dugout9 Aug 2027

Ellis Simms gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ellis Simms is on it.

Market9 Aug 2027

Carl Rushworth linked with a move away

The name of Carl Rushworth keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Coventry City say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

23 Edition

The Burnley Sentinel

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market4 Jan 2027

Ashley Barnes hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Burnley can pretend not to have heard.

Match2 Jan 2027

The wait goes on for Burnley

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad4 Jan 2027

The step up is real for Kaye Furo

At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market4 Jan 2027

Burnley may not be able to give Tyrell Malacia what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tyrell Malacia wants continental football; whether Burnley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Transfer targets4 Jan 2027

Elliot Anderson due for a Burnley medical

Everything agreed with Manchester City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad4 Jan 2027

Words exchanged at Burnley

Kaye Furo 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.

Match2 Jan 2027

West Ham United take the points off Burnley

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout4 Jan 2027

The manager makes an example of Armando Broja

“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.

Market4 Jan 2027

Burnley and Armando Broja are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief