Marked for Paul Glatzel
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 May 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Scanlon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I did not go to Trelleborg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Swindon Town and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jamie Shackleton's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Paul Glatzel
“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.
Market24 May 2027
The Aaron Drinan story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aaron Drinan signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Swindon Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Mads Andersen 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Junior Hoilett 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Paul Glatzel 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
No place for Ollie Clarke in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ollie Clarke has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Boris Palacios knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Swindon Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Next up at home: Harrogate Town, who go into it in position 24. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mads Andersen 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
1‑3 to Colchester United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Hoilett 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market1 Mar 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filozofe Mabete has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Cheltenham Town next, and one man in the Swindon Town dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Swindon Town's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Swindon Town has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Feb 2027
Paul Glatzel 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 Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Swindon Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Swindon Town close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The deal with Benfica is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: West Ham United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ollie Palmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Pauli have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ollie Palmer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Lewis Ward: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 20 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ollie Palmer 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Swindon Town asked and Colchester United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
He is 20 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Crawley Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.72, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ollie Palmer. 3‑2 against Accrington Stanley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match12 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ollie Palmer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. James Scanlon 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ollie Palmer had Swindon Town level again within 4 minutes, and Accrington Stanley never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad14 Dec 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Swindon Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kaelan Majekodunmi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Connor Ripley and Swindon Town agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Hoilett was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Swindon Town told Mads Andersen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Swindon Town 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Tom Nichols 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Connor Ripley’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Swindon Town needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Jake Batty knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jake Batty trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jake Batty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Luton Town is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Swindon Town have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Harrison Minturn for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Swindon Town will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aaron Drinan commits to Swindon Town for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Swindon Town 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Swindon Town has been clear about where Harrison Minturn stands, which is more than many ever get.
Looking ahead10 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Crawley Town in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A season on the outside for Jake Batty
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Swindon Town has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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 Swindon Town, another week without a signature from Gavin Kilkenny.