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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Miles Leaburn takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miles Leaburn provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Leaburn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Charlton Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Charlton Athletic has to find a result from somewhere.
At 21 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Miles Leaburn 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amari'i Bell, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 1‑3 Anthony Cunningham left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutKayne Ramsay asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Charlton Athletic will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 22 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Lloyd Jones 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 Anthony Cunningham left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is 20, and nobody at Charlton Athletic signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
In brief
The dugoutCharlie Kelman is still being punished for one mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Charlton Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miles Leaburn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Timothy Ouma 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.
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Lloyd Jones is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jacob Hunter and Charlton Athletic agree another 3 years.
0‑4 to Southampton, 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.
“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 Charlton Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lloyd Jones 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 Miles Leaburn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Greg Docherty again, and this time the name on the line is AFC Wimbledon. Charlton Athletic are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jeffrey Schlupp is living that version at Charlton Athletic, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Jordan Bowery
Mansfield Town have accepted the money. What Charlton Athletic do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sonny Carey and Charlton Athletic agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lloyd Jones 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.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Charlton Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.