Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Burnley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Igor 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.
Lucas Pires 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Burnley will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A brace, and Ellis Simms takes the afternoon — 9.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ellis Simms provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
7 goals in one match, Ellis Simms on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Burnley and Blackburn Rovers.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Burnley have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Desábato will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quilindschy Hartman 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Crystal Palace waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Burnley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Burnley can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Burnley had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Penarol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Burnley offered $230.0K; Milton Keynes Dons 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.
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.
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.
Josh Cullen 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tristan Crama wants continental football; whether Burnley can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑6 to Nottingham Forest, 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.
Position 20 on 19 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Burnley and Nottingham Forest, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Barnsley will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kelechi Nwakali has pre-agreed a move to Burnley, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jaydon Banel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Moore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Josh Cullen 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Richard Allen to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Something was said to Jens Hjertø-Dahl and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jaydon Banel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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.” Richard Allen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Igor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyle Walker 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wigan Athletic waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Burnley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Burnley, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Burnley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Burnley close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor 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 Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Burnley have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Burnley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Kaminski will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Thomas Kaminski has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chesterfield waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Burnley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Burnley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everton paid $2.7M and Burnley took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The deal with Blackburn Rovers 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Simon Moore has agreed terms with West Ham United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Federico Marchesi has just signed for Burnley, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barnsley waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Burnley is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Burnley, and it is not being withdrawn.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Burnley have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
“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 Burnley know it.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ugo Raghouber will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Burnley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
5 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Burnley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
Josh Cullen 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.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Agil Nadirov has, at Burnley, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Josh Cullen 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
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.
Something was said to Kyle Walker and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutKyle Walker knocks on the manager’s door
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
“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 Burnley know it.
Josh Cullen 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.
1‑5 to Manchester United, 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.
Leyton Orient go through and Burnley go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Burnley and Manchester United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Josh Cullen 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.
Leeds United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Curtis Nelson has pre-agreed a move to Burnley, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Burnley dressing room in a hurry
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Burnley may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Burnley can tell you which week it ends in.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Burnley can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyle Walker 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Richard Allen to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hannibal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Burnley can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Burnley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyle Walker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Richard Allen after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutKyle Walker knocks on the manager’s door
0‑5 to Chelsea, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyle Walker 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 Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Burnley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyle Walker 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.
Josh Cullen 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Burnley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Burnley offered $5.5M; Bristol City 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Quilindschy Hartman and Burnley agree another 5 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Burnley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 16 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sol Brynn
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Burnley is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
20 clean sheets from 35 appearances at Bristol City. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Burnley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A brace, and Armando Broja takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Armando Broja provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Burnley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kortney Hause was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Burnley they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Igor 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.
“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 Burnley know it.
15 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Bristol City. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kortney Hause was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.