Marked for Adam Phillips
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sam Hoskins 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kyle McAdam is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Armando Shashoua at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Northampton Town.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Burton Albion leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Lincoln City, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sam Hoskins 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 Northampton Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Adam Phillips at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Northampton Town.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jon Guthrie, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Northampton Town have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tyrese Fornah 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Northampton Town's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Northampton Town has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tyrese Fornah 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Bradford City left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Northampton Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Richards 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Northampton Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Northampton Town are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tom Eaves 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 Northampton Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of James Dadge has come up in conversations Northampton Town were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tyrese Fornah 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 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dean Campbell, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Huddersfield Town was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market31 Aug 2026
Max Dyche puts it in writing
“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 Northampton Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Elliott List 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Northampton Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Fornah 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elliott Moore, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Reggie Rose commits to Northampton Town for another 4 years.
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
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Northampton Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Cundo
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Elliott List 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 Northampton Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Aug 2026
Salford City pay $470.0K, 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A move Billy Blacker would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Billy Blacker is living that version at Northampton Town, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Taylor Richards 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Billy Blacker and Northampton Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market24 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Northampton Town signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market24 Aug 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Adam Phillips would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adam Phillips is living that version at Northampton Town, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Elliott List 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tyrese Fornah commits to Northampton Town for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Northampton Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Fornah 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Northampton Town, another week without a signature from Adam Phillips.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months and counting on Elliott List
Still no offer on the table, and Elliott List’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.