Marked for Ian
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2031
38 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Luke McGee 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 Tranmere Rovers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2031
A muscle injury sidelines Ian for 19 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Tranmere Rovers will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad19 May 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charlie Whitaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 May 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Luca Martinazzi
“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.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 May 2031
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 May 2031
A promise honoured for Ian
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tranmere Rovers told Ian something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Apr 2031
No end in sight to Tranmere Rovers's wait for a win
33 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tranmere Rovers has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Apr 2031
6 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Luke McGee and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Smith was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Apr 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Apr 2031
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom14 Apr 2031
100% of the income goes out in wages at Tranmere Rovers
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Tranmere Rovers's wait for a win
30 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tranmere Rovers has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Mar 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tranmere Rovers they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Luke McGee 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 Tranmere Rovers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Tranmere Rovers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Smith 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.
Match22 Mar 2031
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Tranmere Rovers can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“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 dugout24 Mar 2031
The form table has caught Ian
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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
One booking too many, and Charlie Whitaker sits out. Tranmere Rovers lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Mar 2031
The run now stands at 28, and the questions being asked around Tranmere Rovers are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Match8 Mar 2031
Beaten 0‑3 by Burton Albion, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Luke McGee 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.
Match8 Mar 2031
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charlie Whitaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Mar 2031
60 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“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
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2031
The run now stands at 25, and the questions being asked around Tranmere Rovers are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Luke McGee and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Charlie Whitaker 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.
Match15 Feb 2031
1‑2 to Barrow AFC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Ian 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.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
Wages swallow 92% of the Tranmere Rovers income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
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 ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Jan 2031
22 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.
Boardroom27 Jan 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tranmere Rovers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market27 Jan 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tranmere Rovers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Jan 2031
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Everything agreed with Notts County, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Luke McGee 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 Tranmere Rovers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bristol City have kept their man, and Tranmere Rovers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match25 Jan 2031
Northampton Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Jan 2031
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.
The terraces6 Jan 2031
The mood at Tranmere Rovers 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.
Match6 Jan 2031
Every point is an argument now for Tranmere Rovers
Position 24 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match4 Jan 2031
A 0‑3 beating by Swindon Town was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market6 Jan 2031
“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 Tranmere Rovers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luke McGee and Tranmere Rovers agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Luke McGee 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Ian 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Dec 2030
No end in sight to Tranmere Rovers's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tranmere Rovers has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Luke McGee and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Tranmere Rovers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charlie Whitaker 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.
Match21 Dec 2030
Milton Keynes Dons left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Luke McGee
“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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2030
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Tranmere Rovers are no longer polite ones.
Match23 Nov 2030
2‑6 against Cambridge United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
A brace, and Charlie Whitaker takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Charlie Whitaker provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Luke McGee and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Tranmere Rovers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charlie Whitaker 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 dugout25 Nov 2030
Nathan Smith 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Beaten 6 times: a bad day for Luke McGee
2 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.