From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Stevenage, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Baily Cargill out for 98 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mansfield Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Bolton Wanderers spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Max Dickov
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
George Abbott, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Sep 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: George Abbott. 2‑1 against Bolton Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Joe Gardner 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kyle Knoyle 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Baily Cargill breaks a bone — 106 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mansfield Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Cardiff City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ryan Sweeney, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Sep 2026
Mansfield Town have made Max Dickov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Baily Cargill out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mansfield Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Joe Gardner at 21 — 7.87
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joe Gardner did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Baily Cargill out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mansfield Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Joe Gardner at 21 — 7.72
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joe Gardner did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Liam Roberts
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Joe Gardner had Mansfield Town level again within 2 minutes, and Leyton Orient never got to play with a lead at all.
Match29 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market31 Aug 2026
Carey Bloedorn is 20, and Mansfield Town have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Mansfield Town are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Baily Cargill out for 128 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mansfield Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Joe Gardner 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Joe Gardner’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mansfield Town.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Joe Gardner 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Will Evans finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Mansfield Town have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Baily Cargill out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mansfield Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Barrow AFC for Deji Oshilaja was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Mansfield Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rhys Oates. 1‑0 against Northampton Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Mansfield Town support went home talking about one name.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
No investment in the facilities at Mansfield Town
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Baily Cargill has his answer from Mansfield Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 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 Mansfield Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Deji Oshilaja and Mansfield Town agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Mansfield Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Liam Roberts's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market10 Aug 2026
Michael Harvey is 14, and Mansfield Town have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Mansfield Town agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ryan Sweeney 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Nathan Moriah-Welsh’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
Max Dickov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mansfield Town has been clear about where Max Dickov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mansfield Town, another week without a signature from Dom Dwyer.