Marked for Lewis Freestone
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.69, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Stevenage
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Esteban Franco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Lewis Freestone
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It needed Chem Campbell to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Lincoln City, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Steven Roberts chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Dominic Hyam, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jay Dasilva 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tommy Setford 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Stevenage
Something was said to Dominic Hyam and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joe Knight, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Louis Thompson is on it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
AFC Wimbledon next, and one man in the Stevenage dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Stevenage has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Layton Campbell is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Stevenage
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tommy Setford and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Carl Piergianni and Stevenage agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Esteban Franco 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Stevenage signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lewis Freestone, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Liam Gibbs 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Steven Roberts after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Stevenage
Tommy Setford 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.
Squad28 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carl Piergianni, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Plymouth Argyle defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tyreece Simpson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stevenage needing him to play as if none of it matters.