From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
Jed Wallace hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what West Bromwich Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jamal Jimoh-Aloba is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Toby Collyer 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“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 West Bromwich Albion, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
West Bromwich Albion close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
West Bromwich Albion asked and Leeds United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at West Bromwich Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toby Collyer 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hugo Magallanes 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and West Bromwich Albion 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ben Killip
“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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Sheffield United next, and one man in the West Bromwich Albion dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Portsmouth drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and West Bromwich Albion go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Appearance number 100 for Daryl Dike
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Harrison Reed 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nicholas Davis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the West Bromwich Albion dressing room was either.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Josh Griffiths
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match29 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Southampton defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Isaac Price hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what West Bromwich Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Chris Mepham 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Martín have kept their man, and West Bromwich Albion go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match18 Aug 2026
Birmingham left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toby Collyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Mikey Johnston at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at West Bromwich Albion.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nicholas Davis kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around West Bromwich Albion people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
West Bromwich Albion asked and Manchester 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Callum Styles has come up in conversations West Bromwich Albion were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Isaac Price has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jack Dixon has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Henry Harvey has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Mikey Johnston at his very best
Marked 8.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at West Bromwich Albion.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Layton Love had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
Hull City come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and West Bromwich Albion did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Brentford, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chris Mepham and West Bromwich Albion agree another 4 years.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Aune Heggebø
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brayann Pereira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
8 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Chris Mepham knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chris Mepham trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A season on the outside for Aune Heggebø
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at West Bromwich Albion has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Chris Mepham in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at West Bromwich Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toby Collyer and West Bromwich Albion agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. West Bromwich Albion have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at West Bromwich Albion can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at West Bromwich Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayann Pereira 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Brentford have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Chris Mepham knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chris Mepham trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.