Marked for Jake Bickerstaff
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Maeson King 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Cheltenham Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyle Bartley 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 terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gideon Kodua has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 8.16 — 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cheltenham Town told Alfie Whiteman something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Cheltenham Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cheltenham Town have done the hard part with Aston Villa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.72, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kyle Bartley was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Swindon Town have kept their man, and Cheltenham Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Daniel Kelly 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Accrington Stanley had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“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.
Match4 Jan 2027
Half the programme played, position 12, 31 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
63 days out for Tom Bradshaw after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cheltenham Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Daniel Kelly 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ajay Matthews, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 101% of the Cheltenham Town 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tom Bradshaw breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester City is saying, and nobody at Cheltenham Town is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.2K — a club that wants Sheldon Kendall enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 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 Cheltenham Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Cheltenham Town have gone to Millwall with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Match18 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tom Bradshaw breaks a bone — 134 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andreas Weimann and Cheltenham Town agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
An offer of $76.0K for Ben Wilson
Cheltenham Town have gone to Coventry City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cheltenham Town know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Tom Smith is in the works
Cheltenham Town have made the call to Colchester United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.