Marked for James Maddison
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Tottenham did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dejan Kulusevski 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of James Maddison
“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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Manchester United left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Micky van de Ven 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 ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rio Kyerematen and Tottenham agree another 5 years.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“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 Tottenham, and 6 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tottenham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tottenham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominic Solanke 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“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 Tottenham, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tyrone Mings and Tottenham agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ross Barkley 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Sandro Tonali 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over West Ham United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Tottenham training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Micky van de Ven 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Xavi Simons 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Burnley to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tottenham and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Tottenham lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Tours come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Tottenham did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ross Barkley gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ross Barkley has just signed for Tottenham, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandro Tonali and Tottenham agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tottenham this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
James Maddison wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Tottenham hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Cristian Romero 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.