“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 The request is on a desk at Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tranmere Rovers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Swindon Town is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Queens Park Rangers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Filozofe Mabete, marked 7.45, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Swindon Town moved before anybody else could: a new deal for David Hill, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Bristol Rovers wanted more than $95.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
13 academy players handed senior numbers at Swindon Town
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Swindon Town asked and Chelsea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Swindon Town asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Casemiro 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 offer went to Bristol Rovers this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Swindon Town offered $350.0K; Preston said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Casemiro 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.
Swindon Town have gone to Preston 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 offer went to Harrogate Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Swindon Town asked and Brighton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Swindon Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shrewsbury Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Swindon Town is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Sebastián Flores 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. Stoke City have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filozofe Mabete signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ismaël Touré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tommy Goodger will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Swindon Town the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Chelsea is saying, and nobody at Swindon Town is enjoying the guessing.
The offer went to Harrogate Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Swindon Town asked and Blackburn Rovers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Clay Atkins 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.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Swindon Town offered $32.0K; Harrogate Town said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinald Krrashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Blackburn Rovers have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Swindon Town have made the call to Chelsea. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bohdan Karpyn is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gavin Kilkenny signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Swindon Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
$32.0K on the table at Harrogate Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Doncaster Rovers wanted more than $51.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomThe Swindon Town production line keeps running
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
Swindon Town offered $350.0K; Preston said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
$51.0K on the table at Doncaster Rovers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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.
Swindon Town asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Swindon Town have made the call to Plymouth Argyle. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Preston this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$32.0K on the table at Harrogate Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Swindon Town offered $17.0K; Crawley Town said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Swindon Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Burnley, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Casemiro 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 offer went to Crawley Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$32.0K was the most the club would pay and Harrogate Town were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Swindon Town asked and Crawley Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Swindon Town has been clear about where William Okine stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Swindon Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$32.0K on the table at Harrogate Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Harrison Minturn has written the date down.
Ollie Stephenson has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
In brief
The dugoutIsmaël Touré knocks on the manager's door
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
Clay Atkins 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Swindon Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A loan enquiry to Eintracht Braunschweig: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Swindon Town have made the call to Crawley Town. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutRicardinho asks for a word with the manager
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Swindon Town have no good answer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stephen Price trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
Francis Gethoi 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Swindon Town that is a harder question to answer.
Casemiro 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reinald Krrashi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 May 2031
A Swindon Town teenager takes the young player award
Thomas Ellis is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Swindon Town, another week without a signature from Francis Gethoi.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
BoardroomThe Swindon Town production line keeps running
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Swindon Town hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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. 7.60, and 2 involvements.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bohdan Karpyn 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ismaël Touré did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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 21 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.
Clay Atkins 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Swindon Town can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.” David Hill after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Swindon Town is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Tranmere Rovers defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bohdan Karpyn is on it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filozofe Mabete, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Apr 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 0‑2 David Hill left the room before anybody could ask which.
Francis Gethoi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Swindon Town would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinald Krrashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Swindon Town who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Match5 Apr 2031
After 4 games, Swindon Town finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Harrogate Town; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” David Hill after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Swindon Town has been clear about where Tommy Goodger stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tommy Goodger
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Swindon Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
Clay Atkins 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
100% of the income goes out in wages at Swindon Town
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.
“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 Swindon Town know it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aaron Drinan signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Casemiro 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Casemiro. 1‑0 against Fleetwood Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” David Hill, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Ellis did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Casemiro 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 Gavin Kilkenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” David Hill on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reinald Krrashi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.63 for the rest of it.
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Stephen Price 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.
Clay Atkins 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.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Ellis did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Sebastián Flores 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 a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adam McCoy has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinald Krrashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Francis Gethoi 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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Oldham Athletic will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Swindon Town were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Thomas Ellis, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Casemiro scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stoke City have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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 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.
0‑3 against Newport County, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
$43.0K was the most the club would pay and Grimsby Town were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Swindon Town will try again when the window opens; Barnsley may not be selling by then.
A brace, and Thomas Ellis takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomas Ellis provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Swindon Town until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Swindon Town hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Exeter City moved on, Tommy Goodger reports back to Swindon Town, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
$320.0K on the table at Barnsley. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Grimsby Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$250.0K was the most the club would pay and Millwall were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.58 for the rest of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Stoke City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Casemiro 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 offer went to Crawley Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Swindon Town offered $300.0K; Barnsley said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
$3.0M was the most the club would pay and Newcastle United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The offer went to Barnsley this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Swindon Town told Reinald Krrashi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Steven Hill decided nobody was going anywhere. Cheltenham Town had no time left to answer.
10 matches without a win, and then this, against Cheltenham Town. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings13 Jan 2031
Steven Hill, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Swindon Town have gone to Newcastle United 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.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
$190.0K settles it between the clubs for Niklas Schulz
Derby County have accepted the money. What Swindon Town do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Sebastián Flores 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.
Swindon Town asked and Exeter 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.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Leicester City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Swindon Town asked and Wolverhampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinald Krrashi 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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Half the programme played, position 13, 32 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Francis Gethoi 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 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.
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.
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.
Clay Atkins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by David Hill to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Swindon Town has been clear about where Bohdan Karpyn stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutMax Thompson asks for a word with the manager
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Crawley Town will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. David Hicks has pre-agreed a move to Swindon Town, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Swindon Town know it.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hill to a room that had heard them before.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reinald Krrashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” David Hill was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Swindon Town dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Fleetwood Town defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” David Hill after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Harrison Minturn has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam McCoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Ryan Tafazolli’s negotiating for him
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gavin Kilkenny scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Francis Gethoi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam McCoy 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.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Thomas Ellis scored in the 85th minute, Exeter City had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Swindon Town took the lot.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Swindon Town have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Thomas Ellis, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Swindon Town heard it as anything else.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Stephen Price decided nobody was going anywhere. Lincoln City had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Casemiro 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Three points for Swindon Town, 1‑0 the final word against Lincoln City in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Oldham Athletic will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Swindon Town were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Reinald Krrashi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 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.
Casemiro 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Swindon Town, another week without a signature from Stephen Price.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Charles Jones has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Reinald Krrashi has written the date down.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Casemiro scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Sebastián Flores 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Reinald Krrashi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” David Hill kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gavin Kilkenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
“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 Swindon Town know it.
Francis Gethoi 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” David Hill after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
André Ceitil damages knee ligaments — 110 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gavin Kilkenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Swindon Town ran out of time with Cambridge United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Martin and Swindon Town agree another 3 years.
Francis Gethoi 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.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon 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 Gavin Kilkenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Swindon Town will try again when the window opens; Derby County may not be selling by then.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Swindon Town, another week without a signature from Reinald Krrashi.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Reinald Krrashi did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.85, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Swindon Town close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything agreed with Derby County, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Swindon Town will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Reinald Krrashi did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Watford were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Marked 9.97 — 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.
Swindon Town have gone to Cardiff 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.
André Ceitil damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
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.
Cambridge United have accepted the money. What Swindon Town do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer went to Watford this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
4 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Swindon 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 Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
146 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Aston Villa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$3.0K on the table at Cardiff City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Swindon Town asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
153 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Swindon Town hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Brighton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Swindon Town have gone to West Bromwich Albion 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Bromwich Albion have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of William Okine
BoardroomA $526.5K-a-year partner for Swindon Town
209Edition
The Swindon Town Sentinel
29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad29 Jul 2030
André Ceitil damages knee ligaments — 162 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 162 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.
The offer went to Bournemouth this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Casemiro 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
William Okine 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.
“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 Swindon Town know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bohdan Karpyn is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Flores signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Minturn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Cambridge United have accepted the money. What Swindon Town do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Casemiro 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.
$120.0K on the table at West Bromwich Albion. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Rotherham United wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Swindon Town asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Swindon Town will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Aston Villa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Swindon Town have gone to West Bromwich Albion 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.
$130.0K on the table at Rotherham United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Swindon 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 Kaloyan Atanasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Swindon Town would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutIsmaël Touré asks for a word with the manager
MarketThe clock does Ryan Tafazolli’s negotiating for him
Everything agreed with Rotherham United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to West Bromwich Albion this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Swindon Town and Aston Villa have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Everything agreed with Salford City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Swindon Town have gone to Everton 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.
Swindon Town have gone to Walsall 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.
Sebastián Flores and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Haydn Lewis is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Swindon Town have gone to West Bromwich Albion 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.
Swindon Town offered $160.0K; Walsall said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Salford City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Swindon Town will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have shaken hands with Bournemouth; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Swindon Town have gone to Walsall 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 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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
William Okine 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ryan Tafazolli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aston Villa have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Swindon Town are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ryan Tafazolli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Swindon Town that is a harder question to answer.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Casemiro 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ryan Tafazolli has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Casemiro 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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 new face in his position, and Casemiro suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Swindon Town have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Trevan Sanusi 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Trevan Sanusi 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reinald Krrashi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Harrison Minturn has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Casemiro has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Clay Atkins on the training pitch
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Swindon Town heard it as anything else.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Swindon Town will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 May 2030
A place in the month's best eleven for Max Thompson
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Max Thompson has come out of that comparison in the side, and Swindon Town have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Swindon Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 63 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Gavin Kilkenny decided nobody was going anywhere. Tranmere Rovers had no time left to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bohdan Karpyn 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robbie Cundy, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” David Hill chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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 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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Max Thompson talk too
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad15 Apr 2030
William Okine 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.
Clay Atkins 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.
“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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Swindon Town would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Casemiro 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 easiest signature of my career.” Gavin Kilkenny and Swindon Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
William Okine 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” David Hill kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; William Okine will call it something else in private.
Casemiro 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 William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Swindon Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Sebastián Flores has moved up it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Swindon Town has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Swindon Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
BoardroomThe Swindon Town production line keeps running
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Salford City were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Trevan Sanusi 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Casemiro. 1‑0 against Salford City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad25 Mar 2030
William Okine 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Swindon Town lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
10 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Barnet left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Okine 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Trevan Sanusi is still being punished for one mistake
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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Swindon Town lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Bohdan Karpyn 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 86% of everything Swindon Town earn
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Robbie Cundy
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Max Thompson
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.
Casemiro 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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.
“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.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hill to a room that had heard them before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Charles Jones is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Okine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clay Atkins 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Swindon Town can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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 deal with Chelsea 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.
Thomas Ellis 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
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.
Swindon Town asked and Walsall 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 arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $306.8K of what Swindon Town paid for Alex Henderson is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.90, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Swindon Town close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Swindon Town heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Chelsea this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Thomas Ellis 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.
Swindon Town ran out of time with Peterborough United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reading have kept their man, and Swindon Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$1.1M on the table at Fleetwood Town. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Swindon 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 Gavin Kilkenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Fleetwood Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Louis Millard 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.
A loan enquiry to Newcastle United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” David Hill on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Peterborough United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Swindon Town asked and Fleetwood Town said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
Swindon Town have gone to Fleetwood Town 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.
Casemiro 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.
Portsmouth paid $440.0K and Swindon Town took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Flores 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Reinald Krrashi and Swindon Town agree another 4 years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Swindon Town have done the hard part with Millwall, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Reinald Krrashi 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Max Thompson now has 50 of them across 161 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ryan Tafazolli scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Swindon Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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. 7.79, and 2 involvements.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bohdan Karpyn 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Henderson. 1‑0 against Tranmere Rovers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastián Flores was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Accrington Stanley held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Swindon Town answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“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 Swindon Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thomas Ellis 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haydn Lewis 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 1‑1 draw with Burton Albion leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” David Hill was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Swindon Town dressing room was either.
Accrington Stanley next, and one man in the Swindon Town dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Michael Mortume’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Swindon Town.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Flores 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7.56, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Swindon Town had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” David Hill kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Swindon Town, another week without a signature from Ryan Tafazolli.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Thompson signs something — a contract at Swindon Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutCharles Jones knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ryan Tafazolli
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, David Hill could afford to be generous.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gavin Kilkenny 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.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Swindon Town had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” David Hill, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ryan Tafazolli 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Flores 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Swindon Town are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Manchester City go through and Swindon Town go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
0‑3 against Bristol Rovers, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Casemiro 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 Sebastián Flores was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Swindon Town hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Casemiro provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Swindon Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Flores 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Swindon Town told Adam McCoy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Swindon Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, David Hill could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Swindon Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Looking ahead22 Oct 2029
Swindon Town take on the side everybody is chasing
Gillingham arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Casemiro 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastian Starke Hedlund and Swindon Town agree another 1 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arnór Daði Aðalsteinsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Swindon Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Swindon Town would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Swindon Town can pretend not to have heard.
17 combined actions and 6.82. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
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.
“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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tom Wooster has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Swindon Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Henderson has his answer from Swindon Town; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Reinald Krrashi and Swindon Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bohdan Karpyn obliged against Reading. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Swindon Town.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Casemiro 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Harrogate Town, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.