“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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Agustín Buteler is living that version at Portsmouth, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Márk Kosznovszky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nicolas Schmid has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Portsmouth have made the call to Everton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
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.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Terry Devlin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Adam Egnell 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Portsmouth are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yunus Emre Konak 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrian Segecic. 2‑1 against Southampton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The goal that put Southampton ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Portsmouth equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The mood at Portsmouth has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Joey Brandt is living that version at Portsmouth, and it tends to show in the first month.
Adam Egnell 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 mood at Portsmouth has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Portsmouth is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Márk Kosznovszky has agreed terms with Sheffield United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Kent was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Adam Egnell 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ryan Kent.
1 for Adam Egnell, marked 7.63, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ryan Kent was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Leicester City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Portsmouth know it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Harvey Blair.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tottenham have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.68 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Portsmouth know it.
6 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ipswich Town have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frazer Blake-Tracy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Portsmouth game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Fleetwood Town runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
0‑3 to Ipswich Town, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leeds United have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryan Kent, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Nobody left the Portsmouth dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frazer Blake-Tracy 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Peter Hawkins left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Tim Stålheden is in the works
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Yunus Emre Konak 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Kent 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 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Adam Egnell 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frazer Blake-Tracy 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 Portsmouth, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Peter Hawkins left the room before anybody could ask which.
Yunus Emre Konak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Kent 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Portsmouth, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Franco Umeh has his answer from Portsmouth; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Ryan Kent 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 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.
Thiago Salischiker Rucci 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.
Marked 7.08 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Portsmouth know it.
Dante Waite is 20, and Portsmouth have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portsmouth lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yunus Emre Konak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thiago Salischiker Rucci 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Portsmouth can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Adrian Segecic is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Terry Devlin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jorge Grant’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Portsmouth needing him to play as if none of it matters.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Umeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adam Egnell 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frazer Blake-Tracy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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 Portsmouth, and 6 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
1 for Márk Kosznovszky, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yunus Emre Konak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jacob Farrell 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.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A 1‑0 win over Shrewsbury Town, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Adam Egnell, marked 7.26, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Ryan Kent 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.
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.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frazer Blake-Tracy 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portsmouth lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
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.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Portsmouth ran out of time with Chelsea. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Lincoln City; Portsmouth go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Umeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yunus Emre Konak 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Márk Kosznovszky 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Genoa have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Portsmouth have done the hard part with Chelsea, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Portsmouth close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 20 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yunus Emre Konak 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. 74 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.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Central Coast Mariners had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Huddersfield Town paid $1.9M and Portsmouth took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
4 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.
4 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portsmouth have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cheltenham Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ryan Kent 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Huddersfield Town will make the call about Zak Swanson this week. Portsmouth have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luke Le Roux will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portsmouth have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Peterborough United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Portsmouth have done the hard part with Sheffield United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Zak Swanson 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.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Portsmouth know it.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The chase for Jed Ward ended with $860.0K changing hands and Blackpool out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
The chase for Ollie Wright ended with $200.0K changing hands and Burton Albion out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ollie Wright has, at Portsmouth, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frazer Blake-Tracy 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Portsmouth has been clear about where Joe Buršík stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portsmouth lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Portsmouth is running low.
$490.0K on the table at Peterborough United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$200.0K on the table at Burton Albion. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Portsmouth asked and Bristol Rovers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yunus Emre Konak 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Portsmouth, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutJosh Murphy has become a man the manager trusts
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portsmouth lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Umeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Portsmouth have done the hard part with Peterborough United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
12 new faces, and Portsmouth are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Zech Medley is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Portsmouth people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fulham paid $13.5M and Portsmouth took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luke Brooke-Smith has gone, the accounts have $13.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
$490.0K on the table at Peterborough United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Lincoln City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Peterborough United have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fulham waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portsmouth will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Portsmouth have gone to Peterborough United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Portsmouth asked and Stevenage said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Portsmouth offered $490.0K; Peterborough United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yunus Emre Konak 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.
Agustín Sciaroni 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Accrington Stanley waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portsmouth will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Nottingham Forest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Middlesbrough for Harvey Blair 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.
Portsmouth have gone to Peterborough United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Ryan Kent 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cheick Doucouré provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ben Killip will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cheick Doucouré. 3‑1 against Watford, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ryan Kent.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portsmouth will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luke Brooke-Smith did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dan Neil. 2‑0 against Wrexham, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The offer went to Newcastle United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Newport County moved on, Jordan Williams reports back to Portsmouth, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Carlos Baleba 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abu Kamara 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.
$6.9M on the table at West Ham United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Portsmouth know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abu Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Portsmouth asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑3 against Blackburn Rovers, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
$4.9M on the table at Newcastle United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
1 for Dan Neil, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
Josh Knight 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.
Portsmouth asked and Everton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.79, and 2 involvements.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sunderland have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 19 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.
The name of Toby Steward has come up in conversations Portsmouth were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luke Brooke-Smith is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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 Mike Penders is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
At 19 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.
In brief
SquadIbane Bowat falls out with a teammate over standards
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Josh Knight 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luke Brooke-Smith. 2‑0 against Leicester City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Peter Hawkins on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutNicolas Schmid asks for a word with the manager
SquadA Portsmouth teenager takes the young player award
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portsmouth will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Knight will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I did not go to Bournemouth to sit and watch. I want to come back to Portsmouth and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Peter Hawkins left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutNicolas Schmid dropped after a run of poor form
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Josh Knight 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.81, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Peter Hawkins to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Mike Penders
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. West Bromwich Albion kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Portsmouth will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portsmouth is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.89, and 2 involvements.
Thomas Waddingham 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Terry Devlin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Portsmouth have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hayden Matthews will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Portsmouth will try again when the window opens; Leeds United may not be selling by then.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 22 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Ryan Kent 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Portsmouth people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$10.6M on the table at Leeds United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Knight will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portsmouth the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Portsmouth go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hayden Matthews 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.
“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 Portsmouth, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Portsmouth have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Macarthur FC for Hayden Matthews 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Portsmouth is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portsmouth they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Manchester United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Portsmouth training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Kent 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.
Portsmouth asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.