Marked for Callum Guy
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Aug 2028
Santiago Magnotta damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Aug 2028
Mason Hancock 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 Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
The phone has started ringing about Yuki Ohashi again, and this time the name on the line is Melbourne Victory. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market7 Aug 2028
Callum Guy has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Yuki Ohashi 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brighton have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Rashaan Fernandes 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Walsall know it.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Jul 2028
Walsall say no — this time
The offer from Reading for Callum Burton was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The deal with Oxford United 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Walsall
Yuki Ohashi 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Walsall
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felix Čejka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Walsall have made the call to Burnley. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Favour Fawunmi
“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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Mason Hancock 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 Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Brighton keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Mark Harris 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashaan Fernandes 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
This league is too small for Sidnei Tavares
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Walsall will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Walsall will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Walsall have gone to Brentford with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Lincoln City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market12 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Callum Guy
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Callum Guy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market12 Jun 2028
Arthur Read has left for Reading in a $1.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
$110.0K on the table at Sheffield Wednesday. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Walsall
Mason Hancock and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Walsall lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Feb 2028
6 matches without a win for Walsall
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Walsall are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
George Sebine, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Walsall may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Feb 2028
George Sebine 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashaan Fernandes 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
11 new faces, and Walsall 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
Corey Addai 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Hawkins
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Walsall lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Callum Burton: 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.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Harry Anderson 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Arthur Read ran the middle of the pitch — 6.84
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.84, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad25 Oct 2027
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Mason Hancock
“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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Benjamin Atkinson after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Magnotta 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Walsall lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Walsall
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Walsall are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Walsall
James Furlong 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.
Transfer targets27 Sep 2027
$76.0K was the most the club would pay and Bournemouth were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Oldham Athletic, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match21 Sep 2027
Rotherham United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 2027
64 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Sep 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jul 2027
Roman Dixon 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 Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Walsall have gone to Swansea City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Stockport County this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Walsall offered $620.0K; Liverpool said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jul 2027
James Furlong 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Aaron Pressley
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Walsall
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Efrén Mendoza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 May 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Callum Burton 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Corey Addai wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Walsall have no good answer.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until James Furlong signs something — a contract at Walsall or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout17 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Walsall
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Walsall is running low.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
The mood at Walsall has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
David Kasumu goes up and wins it — 7.53
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.53 for the rest of it.
Squad26 Apr 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Apr 2027
A goal on 88 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match24 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Notts County leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Corey Addai 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Callum Guy
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
The mood at Walsall has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Walsall
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match27 Feb 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Corey Addai
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Mahamadou Sangaré at 20 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mahamadou Sangaré did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market1 Mar 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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Feb 2027
At last: Walsall win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Cheltenham Town. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.