Marked for Maxim Deman
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jamiro Monteiro
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZ lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Apr 2029
Jorthy Mokio has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market30 Apr 2029
Maxim Deman 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 AZ can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Tempers go at AZ
Mexx Meerdink 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 Apr 2029
A row about effort at AZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stije Resink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Elijah Dijkstra
“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 dugout30 Apr 2029
Kees Smit has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AZ 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
Bram Nuytinck knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market30 Apr 2029
The Nick Homan question follows AZ around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nick Homan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“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.
Market26 Mar 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at AZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stije Resink 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Three points for AZ, 1‑0 the final word against Cambuur in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad26 Mar 2029
International break empties AZ
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2029
15 days out for Marcos Leonardo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZ will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Feb 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Mexx Meerdink
20 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 AZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AZ may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market26 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Wout Frimpong
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wout Frimpong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stije Resink 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
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Stije Resink
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Match
AZ come up short against NEC
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Player ratings
Mihai Nita ran the middle of the pitch — 7.01
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Marcos Leonardo takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Leonardo provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Maxim Deman: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at AZ
Kees Smit 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at AZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stije Resink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Leonardo. 2‑1 against Heracles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
No hiding place for Matěj Šín
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matěj Šín, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AZ told Marcos Leonardo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Mihai Nita gets picked when it counts
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 Mihai Nita is on it.