The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: KAA Gent keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Alouis Diriken 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.
RAAL La Louviere paid $310.0K and Waasland-Beveren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serxho Ujka 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.
Waasland-Beveren asked and Antwerp said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A brace, and Jevon Simons takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jevon Simons provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lokeren-Temse have accepted the money. What Zulte Waregem do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 The request is on a desk at Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Zulte Waregem have gone to Standard Liege with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The chase for Kurt Abrahams ended with $170.0K changing hands and Waasland-Beveren out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Thomas Claes 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Waasland-Beveren have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Alouis Diriken was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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 Waasland-Beveren know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serxho Ujka 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 Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The deal with Waasland-Beveren 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zulte Waregem heard it as anything else.
The offer went to Lokeren-Temse 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.
Zulte Waregem asked and Westerlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Enrique Lofolomo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Zulte Waregem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Claes 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Waasland-Beveren people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oscar Barreto and Waasland-Beveren agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serxho Ujka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Club NXT were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
$8.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Chris Lokesa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
He is going to Antwerp, the club has $8.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Anderlecht keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sergio Garcia is living that version at Waasland-Beveren, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dante Rigo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Waasland-Beveren asked and RFC Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dante Rigo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
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.
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 Marc Giger is on it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lennart Mertens and Waasland-Beveren agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dante Rigo 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 Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Waasland-Beveren would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dante Rigo 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; Waasland-Beveren are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Charles Courtois left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutMarc Giger has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dante Rigo 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.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
Something was said to Lorents Apold-Aasen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Beerschot in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marc Giger signs something — a contract at Waasland-Beveren or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waasland-Beveren can pretend not to have heard.
16 goals in 30 games at Dunav Ruse — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Waasland-Beveren updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilho Cleonise was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sieben Dewaele 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.
11 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 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.
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 Marc Giger is on it.
1 for Dante Rigo, marked 7.53, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilho Cleonise was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dender will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Krzysztof Koton has pre-agreed a move to Waasland-Beveren, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Waasland-Beveren can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilho Cleonise 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.
Sieben Dewaele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Beau Reus has gone, the accounts have $2.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Universidad Catolica paid $2.9M and Waasland-Beveren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lennart Mertens. 4‑3 against RFC Liege, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals in one match, Lennart Mertens on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Waasland-Beveren and RFC Liege.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilho Cleonise 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.
KAA Gent will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Briek Morel has pre-agreed a move to Waasland-Beveren, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Waasland-Beveren will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilho Cleonise was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Waasland-Beveren will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilho Cleonise 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 Waasland-Beveren know it.
Ousmane Kanté was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Waasland-Beveren, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Eupen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dante Rigo signs something — a contract at Waasland-Beveren or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Marc Giger 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; Waasland-Beveren are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It needed Lennart Mertens to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Club NXT, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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.” Charles Courtois chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
0‑4 to KV Kortrijk, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilho Cleonise 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 Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Carrasco and Waasland-Beveren agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Charles Courtois after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The offer from Bloemfontein Celtic for Kurt Abrahams 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilho Cleonise 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.
Waasland-Beveren asked and Olympic Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
$92.0K was the most the club would pay and Sint-Truiden 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Beau Reus 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.
Jesse van de Haar 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 at Waasland-Beveren 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
$180.0K was the most the club would pay and Racing Genk 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.
Union SG paid $390.0K and Waasland-Beveren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beau Reus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Waasland-Beveren asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marc Giger 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 phone has started ringing about Junior Diouf again, and this time the name on the line is Dunav Ruse. Waasland-Beveren are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Waasland-Beveren will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Union SG waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Waasland-Beveren is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Waasland-Beveren, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $193.4K — a club that wants Saïdou Touré enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Racing Genk 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Beau Reus 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.
Sieben Dewaele was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I 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 Waasland-Beveren know it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Marc Giger 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Waasland-Beveren have had the benefit of it.
15 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like 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.
“I watch every Waasland-Beveren game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Yverdon runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beau Reus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdul Ouédraogo'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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Waasland-Beveren have no good answer.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Waasland-Beveren would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Waasland-Beveren may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 May 2027
Lukáš Ambros 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Lukáš Ambros 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.
Noah Mawete Kinsiona 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.
Dante Rigo has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Waasland-Beveren, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Waasland-Beveren. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lennart Mertens provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.37 for the rest of it.
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 Beau Reus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sieben Dewaele 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; Waasland-Beveren are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Christian Brüls will call it something else in private.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Beau Reus had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Waasland-Beveren saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lukáš Ambros 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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Chris Lokesa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Waasland-Beveren needing him to play as if none of it matters.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Waasland-Beveren would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beau Reus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Charles Courtois left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Beau Reus signs something — a contract at Waasland-Beveren or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Kurt Abrahams wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Kurt Abrahams found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Lokeren-Temse went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 7.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Waasland-Beveren they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kurt Abrahams. 3‑2 against Lokeren-Temse, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lukáš Ambros 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 Waasland-Beveren 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.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Waasland-Beveren close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Waasland-Beveren 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 Beau Reus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. RFC Liege tried to reorganise, Waasland-Beveren did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lennart Mertens provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Dante Rigo takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dante Rigo provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Waasland-Beveren can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beau Reus is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ferre Slegers scored in the 85th minute, Seraing had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Waasland-Beveren took the lot.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Waasland-Beveren have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Waasland-Beveren had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Charles Courtois, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdul Ouédraogo'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.
Beau Reus 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.
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 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 Waasland-Beveren know it.
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dante Rigo'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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.