0‑3 against Wigan Athletic, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Chem Campbell 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.
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.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Stevenage 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 deal that would have taken Mathaeus Roberts to AFC Wimbledon has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Stevenage with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stevenage this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Stevenage training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Phillips 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Oxford United moved on, Jamie Reid reports back to Stevenage, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Teddy Bishop has just signed for Stevenage, and for once the answer mattered.
Jamie Reid 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Stevenage training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carl Piergianni 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 needed Mathaeus Roberts to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Bradford City, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stevenage, another week without a signature from Teddy Bishop.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stevenage this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Doncaster Rovers made Stevenage work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Stevenage training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phoenix Patterson 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stevenage this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chem Campbell and Stevenage agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Stevenage training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Phillips 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.
Jamie Reid 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stevenage, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mathaeus Roberts has his answer from Stevenage; what he does with it is the next window’s story.