Marked for Jonathan Tomkinson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
63 days out for Mauro Aguirre after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cheltenham Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Kamarl Grant 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Hugo Oviedo
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Oldham Athletic, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cheltenham Town told Marcus Dinanga something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Hugo Oviedo
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Joshua Ross, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Stevie Bausor 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cameron Walters
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cheltenham Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Myles Roberts and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Bolton was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cheltenham Town told Romeo Akachukwu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Cheltenham Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Josh Landers rejects the move
Cheltenham Town had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at West Ham United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alfie Marriott was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cheltenham Town know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Shaun McWilliams is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Cheltenham Town have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
James Bolton 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 Cheltenham Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.