Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
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.
Danny Bakker 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrew Roberts after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Crawley Town told Jack Powell something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Barrow AFC? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
At 19 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.
Denzel 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 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacim El Hassani 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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Crawley Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
Marked 7.92. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Young has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timothy Hawkins has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Crawley Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taylor Richards and Crawley Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lewis Richards trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutHarry Forster is still being punished for one mistake
“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 Crawley Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Jacob Chapman 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.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Crawley Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Crawley Town know it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Guy and Crawley Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Richards 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 Crawley Town can tell you which week it ends in.
Nacim El Hassani 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.
Taylor Richards 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Taylor Richards’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Crawley Town.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacim El Hassani 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Crawley Town, another week without a signature from Jack Aitchison.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Crawley Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Crawley Town know it.
Jacob Chapman 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.
Shrewsbury Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacim El Hassani 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 a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Andrew Roberts left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Jacob Chapman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Crawley Town will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Francisco Vera will call it something else in private.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dion Pereira. 1‑0 against Accrington Stanley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrew Roberts on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Crawley Town have done the hard part with Leicester City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Blackburn Rovers keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wrexham have kept their man, and Crawley Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Latta N'Dabrou 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denzel. 1‑0 against Grimsby Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Crawley Town can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Crawley Town asked and Middlesbrough said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Latta N'Dabrou 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Crawley Town can tell you which week it ends in.
Jacob Chapman 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Swansea City have kept their man, and Crawley Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nacim El Hassani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Crawley Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Richards 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 Crawley Town can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Jack Aitchison
Amin Nabizada 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Something was said to Jack Powell and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Crawley Town will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Salford City defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Crawley Town can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Crawley Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Crawley Town know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards 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.” Andrew Roberts after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadCrawley Town are still strangers to each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Charlie Barker's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
4 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.
Taylor Richards 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Latta N'Dabrou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Crawley Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Richards 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrew Roberts after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Crawley Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The chase for Harry Griffiths ended with $510.0K changing hands and Notts County out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crawley Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lewis Richards is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Crawley Town, another week without a signature from Jack Aitchison.
Crawley Town asked and Bristol City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Crawley Town had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at West Bromwich Albion, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Crawley Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taylor Richards 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.
He is 19, and nobody at Crawley Town signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Crawley Town have made the call to Liverpool. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrew Roberts on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Latta N'Dabrou is living that version at Crawley Town, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with Hull City 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.
Taylor Richards 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Simmons has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Foster is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anthony Howard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Charles Watson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.