The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Walsall will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Walsall and Port Vale have settled on $710.0K. 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Walsall had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Chelsea, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Derby County have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
0‑3 against Bradford City, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 The request is on a desk at Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Milton Keynes Dons for Néstor Caicedo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Walsall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Kacey Wooster has come up in conversations Walsall were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$1.4M on the table at Derby County. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Walsall know it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Walsall can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Néstor Caicedo again, and this time the name on the line is Milton Keynes Dons. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
Walsall asked and Fulham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.1M 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.
Walsall have gone to Grimsby 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Walsall offered $3.2M; Newcastle United 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.
$1.1M on the table at Newcastle 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.
$490.0K on the table at Leyton Orient. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gelana Affronti 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Walsall will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Walsall 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.
Queens Park Rangers paid $880.0K and Walsall took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Oreshkevich is living that version at Walsall, and it tends to show in the first month.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Walsall lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Everton paid $5.8M and Walsall took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Bastian Tapia 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 Bristol City 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Walsall lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Robinson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Walsall will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The phone has started ringing about Néstor Caicedo again, and this time the name on the line is Portsmouth. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
Gustavo Sangaré 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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 Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Walsall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Walsall offered $3.4M; Fulham 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Walsall have done the hard part with Cardiff City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Walsall 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall 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 Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Walsall will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to Fulham 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.
Newcastle United wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The phone has started ringing about Owen Asemota again, and this time the name on the line is Barnet. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Walsall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Blackpool waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Walsall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$1.1M on the table at Newcastle 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.
Dajaune Brown 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.
Walsall asked and Stade de Reims said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gelana Affronti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Walsall, another week without a signature from Kacey Wooster.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Walsall are still learning each other
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Walsall will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Salford City for Néstor Caicedo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Aston Villa paid $5.2M and Walsall took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The chase for Guilherme Cardoso ended with $510.0K changing hands and Peterborough United out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Walsall asked and Reading said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Gustavo Sangaré 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Robinson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Millwall for T.J. Tahid was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Sinclair Armstrong has come up in conversations Walsall were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Walsall can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Dajaune Brown stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 loan enquiry to Stade de Reims: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Moses Sesay is in the works
The dugoutAlex Iwobi loses the manager who believed in him
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fletcher Holman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sinclair Armstrong 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hugo Lamouliatte has his answer from Walsall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Hugo Lamouliatte is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Walsall 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.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín García 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 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.
Something was said to Juan David Martínez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Walsall 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sinclair Armstrong signs something — a contract at Walsall or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Néstor Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tommaso Montano signs something — a contract at Walsall or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Robinson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 17 on 52 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
20 shut-outs in 38 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Owen Asemota has been having a lot of them.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Marked 9.74 — 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.
37 appearances at Milton Keynes Dons and the goals have stopped going in. Walsall lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Martín García 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. T.J. Tahid has agreed terms with Sunderland for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Emersonn 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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Emersonn in the middle of it, and Notts County unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
18 shut-outs in 36 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Owen Asemota has been having a lot of them.
“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 Walsall know it.
Gustavo Sangaré 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tommaso Montano signs something — a contract at Walsall 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 Néstor Caicedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Robert Robinson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Sinclair Armstrong 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.
35 appearances at Milton Keynes Dons and the goals have stopped going in. Walsall lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
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 Robert Robinson to a room that had heard them before.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Alex Iwobi is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Walsall can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Néstor Caicedo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Juan David Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fletcher Holman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall 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 Leon Routh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 goals in one match, Sinclair Armstrong on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Walsall and Wigan Athletic.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
17 shut-outs in 32 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Owen Asemota has been having a lot of them.
Néstor Caicedo 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 Leon Routh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Walsall told Emersonn something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.61, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch3 Mar 2031
Owen Asemota’s loan is measured in nothing happening
15 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Milton Keynes Dons. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Walsall who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robert Robinson after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gustavo Sangaré 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.
He is 23 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Martín García 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bastian Tapia has just signed for Walsall, and for once the answer mattered.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Gabriele Selleri has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Walsall have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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.
T.J. Tahid 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 taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and West Bromwich Albion waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Walsall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal that would have taken Sinclair Armstrong to Real Madrid has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Walsall with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
$1.6M was the most the club would pay and West Ham 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.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Preston have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Leon Routh 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.
The phone has started ringing about Néstor Caicedo again, and this time the name on the line is Northampton Town. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
$1.6M on the table at West Ham 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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Walsall 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.
The deal that would have taken Tommaso Montano to Sheffield United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Walsall with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Néstor Caicedo 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. Crewe Alexandra have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shrewsbury Town wanted more than $340.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The offer went to Crewe Alexandra 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.
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.
Walsall asked and Cardiff 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Leon Routh 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gustavo Sangaré scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Kacey Wooster again, and this time the name on the line is Ipswich Town. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Shrewsbury 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Sheffield United for T.J. Tahid was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabio Rodrigues Nallet did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.57, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Leon Routh 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.
500 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 offer from Ajax Cape Town for Kacey Wooster was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Walsall have done the hard part with Brighton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Walsall have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Leon Routh 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Sinclair Armstrong stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gustavo Sangaré 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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Dec 2030
A brace, and Alex Iwobi takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alex Iwobi provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fletcher Holman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Iwobi. 3‑1 against Gillingham, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Néstor Caicedo 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 Leon Routh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 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.
Leon Routh 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Robert Robinson to a room that had heard them before.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Walsall can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Leon Routh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Walsall can tell you which week it ends in.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Routh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Walsall 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tommaso Montano has his answer from Walsall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
9 appearances at Milton Keynes Dons and the goals have stopped going in. Walsall lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néstor Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
0‑3 to Birmingham, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
0‑3 to Blackpool, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Leon Routh 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
9 new faces, and Walsall are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh March will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Oct 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.” Robert Robinson chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Walsall told Hugo Lamouliatte something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Gustavo Sangaré 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Sangaré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Walsall, another week without a signature from Fabio Rodrigues Nallet.
Nobody at Walsall 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 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 is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Leon Routh 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 is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Birgir Óliver Árnason is living that version at Walsall, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fletcher Holman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh March will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Walsall know it.
Gustavo Sangaré 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Osman Asante has just signed for Walsall, and for once the answer mattered.
A 3‑1 win over Oxford United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Routh 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.
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 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.
Something was said to Sinclair Armstrong and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Daniel Bahia reports back to Walsall with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The offer from Salford City for Josh March was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Ham United have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tranmere Rovers wanted more than $390.0K 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.
Callum Maycock 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Juan David Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Callum Maycock
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $206.2K of what Walsall paid for Ryan Battrum is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Brighton have accepted the money. What Walsall do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Walsall heard it as anything else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for Alfie McNally
Shrewsbury Town have accepted the money. What Walsall do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with Stoke City is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Walsall offered $350.0K; Brighton 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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.
Walsall asked and Bournemouth 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Walsall moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Robert Robinson, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
The offer went to Brighton 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.
The offer went to Newport County 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Peterborough United for Daniel Bahia was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Leicester City paid $1.6M and Walsall took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The phone has started ringing about Daniel Bahia again, and this time the name on the line is Peterborough United. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
Walsall have gone to Newport County 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néstor Caicedo 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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh March will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and Newport County 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 at Walsall 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Néstor Caicedo signs something — a contract at Walsall 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 Kacey Wooster trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barrow AFC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Walsall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Brighton 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.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
$170.0K on the table at Newport County. 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. Charlton Athletic have kept their man, and Walsall 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$330.0K was the most the club would pay and Shrewsbury 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 name of Josh March has come up in conversations Walsall were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Martín García 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.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Walsall have done the hard part with Cardiff City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. West Ham United have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Leon Routh 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 Néstor Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Daniel Bahia again, and this time the name on the line is Bristol Rovers. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
The chase for Michael Decandia ended with $500.0K changing hands and Blackburn Rovers out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$350.0K on the table at Brighton. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$330.0K on the table at Shrewsbury 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.
Walsall have gone to Oxford 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.
Leon Routh 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. David Paraschiv has just signed for Walsall, and for once the answer mattered.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Blackburn Rovers; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Cambridge United for Owen Asemota was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Walsall have done the hard part with Tranmere Rovers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Tikhonov has, at Walsall, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Queens Park Rangers paid $1.7M and Walsall took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Everything agreed with Bournemouth, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Blackburn Rovers keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dmitry Kanaev has just signed for Walsall, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Thomas-Asante 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.
Walsall asked and Huddersfield 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Add another name to the list: Newcastle United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alex Iwobi. The answer from Walsall has not changed — yet.
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.
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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Walsall will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Walsall people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
Walsall asked and Reading said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Lloyd 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 offer from Norwich City for Alex Iwobi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Walsall heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néstor Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Walsall asked and Gillingham 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 phone has started ringing about Ben Winterbottom again, and this time the name on the line is Bromley. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sinclair Armstrong has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Paolo Ceppi 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 Néstor Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 goals in 42 games at Exeter City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Walsall updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Daniel Bahia has written the date down.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Walsall know it.
Néstor Caicedo 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 Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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.
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.
Something was said to Juan David Martínez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Burke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutJosh March has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Walsall can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Lorenzo Bordo stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Walsall told Daniel Bahia something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harrison Burke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Walsall had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néstor Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Walsall, another week without a signature from Brad Collins.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Walsall, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 8 on 72 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Crawley Town had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Walsall did not stop to explain themselves.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh March will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mitchell Weiser 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Walsall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Paolo Ceppi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Gudmundsson. 3‑1 against Grimsby Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. T.J. Tahid 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Walsall and Luton Town, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Walsall 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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harrison Burke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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. Walsall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh March will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Néstor Caicedo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Walsall needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Burke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Josh March is on 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robert Robinson after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. George Lloyd will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Alex Iwobi 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sergio Nieto has, at Walsall, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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.
Dajaune Brown 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Walsall know it.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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.
Ryan Battrum 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.
A 1‑0 win over Stockport County, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Néstor Caicedo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Walsall had all but put away. Wrexham will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Juan David Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. George Lloyd will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad18 Feb 2030
5 new faces, and Walsall are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Mitchell Weiser's mistake
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harrison Burke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Walsall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Daniel Bahia reports back to Walsall with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.95, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 dugout11 Feb 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Alcaraz's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I watch every Walsall game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bristol City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Alcaraz provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Almería waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Walsall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Walsall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Néstor Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Walsall lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Harrogate Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Walsall is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Charlton Athletic for Dylan Thomas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Alex Iwobi 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 Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Walsall asked and Southampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 words a physio says slowly. 42 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 Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Up for the corner, and Ryan Battrum delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ryan Battrum scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Baldvin Þór Berndsen is living that version at Walsall, and it tends to show in the first month.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Blackburn Rovers have kept their man, and Walsall go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Walsall have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Sheffield Wednesday for Harrison Burke was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
4 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Courtney Clarke scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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 Walsall know it.
6 goals in one match, Carlos Alcaraz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Walsall and Barnsley.
The phone has started ringing about Harrison Burke again, and this time the name on the line is Sheffield Wednesday. Walsall are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brandon Thomas-Asante. 1‑0 against Wycombe Wanderers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Walsall can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Néstor Caicedo 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The 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.
0‑3 against Grimsby Town, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Walsall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Harrison Burke has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Néstor Caicedo 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 Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Dajaune Brown 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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Walsall, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
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 Robert Robinson to a room that had heard them before.
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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brad Collins trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Robert Robinson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dylan Thomas has his answer from Walsall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Burke trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Roman Dixon 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Néstor Caicedo 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 Walsall know it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Walsall, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yaya Sangaré has his answer from Walsall; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustavo Sangaré's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“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 Walsall will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Walsall 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alex Iwobi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Walsall escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Néstor Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Walsall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Gudmundsson 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Balázs Tóth
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Bahia
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Néstor Caicedo 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.
“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; Walsall are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A 1‑0 win over Blackburn Rovers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Bahia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Courtney Clarke has his answer from Walsall; 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Walsall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
“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 Walsall, and it is not being withdrawn.
Roman Dixon 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 Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Walsall know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kacey Wooster 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 Walsall that is a harder question to answer.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes George Lloyd a promise
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Walsall 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 Walsall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Chesterfield; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Up for the corner, and Roman Dixon delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Roman Dixon scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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. 7.94, 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 Walsall 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 Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Walsall has been clear about where Brandon Thomas-Asante stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Gudmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Walsall know it.