Marked for Ben Killip
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christopher Ellis damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
John Swift 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Toby Steward is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match10 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Portsmouth
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Portsmouth can tell you which week it ends in.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
Regan Poole spends the afternoon fouling
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Market
The Ben Killip story refuses to die
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
John Swift 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Sep 2026
So close: Ben Killip’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Charlton Athletic moved on, Ben Killip reports back to Portsmouth, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Conor Shaughnessy 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Portsmouth man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Gustavo Caballero was the best thing in any of them.
Match12 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bristol City defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portsmouth can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
John Swift 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
West Bromwich Albion pay $600.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Coventry City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Keshi Anderson 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Portsmouth will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
John Swift 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Portsmouth
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
The chase for Hidde ter Avest ended with $3.1M changing hands and Oxford United out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad17 Aug 2026
John Swift 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Caballero. 3‑2 against Millwall, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Hidde ter Avest from Oxford United for $3.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adrian Segecic has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Conor Shaughnessy 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Portsmouth will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.