Marked for Mark Travers
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
There were 7 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.
Market13 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Brentford heard it as anything else.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Nathan Collins 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market13 Sep 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Brentford have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Brentford, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 8.45 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Brentford did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Michael Kayode 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Iván Morante gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $13.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Everton drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jordan Henderson 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antoni Milambo. 3‑2 against Newcastle United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.73 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.65 — 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kaye Furo
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 41. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market31 Aug 2026
Brentford pay $13.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jordan Pickford 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match29 Aug 2026
Crystal Palace made Everton work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Beto
Marked 8.09 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Manchester City pay $12.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market17 Aug 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 Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jordan Pickford 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ray Robert and Everton agree another 3 years.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.