Marked for Dorian Derbaci
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Sep 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 Servette this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Dylan Mbayo 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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 Servette know it.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The form table has caught Dylan Mbayo
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Marked 7.37 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Servette had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Dylan Mbayo asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Dorian Derbaci
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Jul 2029
8 matches without a win for Servette
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Servette are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Jul 2029
8 matches without a goal for Servette
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Andrea Giorgini gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Andrea Giorgini has just signed for Servette, and for once the answer mattered.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Servette can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Servette had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Young Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Servette asked and Lugano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“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; Servette are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Servette
Houboulang Mendes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Jul 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Servette did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Servette
Jamie Atangana 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Giotto Morandi 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Servette can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Servette this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Cas Odenthal 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
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.
Loan watch26 Mar 2029
“I watch every Servette game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sion runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Servette would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Servette heard it as anything else.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Giotto Morandi 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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Genoa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to FC Nordsjaelland: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Jamie Atangana keeps the shirt for now, at Servette's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Dorian Derbaci 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 Dorian Derbaci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Dec 2028
The season ends: position 1 for Servette
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 35 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Match9 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Servette
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Servette are no longer polite ones.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Dorian Derbaci: 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.” Servette have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match9 Dec 2028
6 matches without a goal for Servette
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market11 Dec 2028
“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 Servette, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cas Odenthal 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Servette
Elias Pasche 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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
The afternoon belonged to Kevin Rüegg
A mark of 7.35, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Oct 2028
Houboulang Mendes 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Servette
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giotto Morandi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Remo Arnold gets it from the manager
“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.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market16 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Justin Hammel signs something — a contract at Servette or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Wil next, and one man in the Servette dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Jamie Atangana wants to know why he earns 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 Servette have no good answer.
Market16 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Houboulang Mendes may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aarau people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Thun had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with Zurich 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Servette pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Aarau
Serxho Ujka 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
$29.0K was the most the club would pay and Zurich 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Aarau training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Mees 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 targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Servette have kept their man, and Aarau go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market19 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Aarau will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done: Justin Hammel joins from Grasshopper in a deal worth $2.8M. Now comes the harder part.
Market19 Jun 2028
Servette say no — this time
The offer from Lausanne-Sport for Andrés Molinas 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Servette have paid $1.2M for Dorian Derbaci, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lausanne-Sport have kept their man, and Servette go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Servette
Houboulang Mendes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The town asked, and Servette paid $2.8M
Justin Hammel was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kastrijot Ndau and Servette agree another 4 years.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“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 Jun 2028
Kastrijot Ndau 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
Aarau say no — this time
The offer from Young Boys for Arne Sicker 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Vis Pesaro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Aarau
Marvin Hübel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Aarau have gone to Zurich 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Zurich have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dorian Derbaci. The answer from Aarau has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Joshua Mees 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Servette have kept their man, and Aarau go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Aarau are still strangers to each other
5 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
The clock does Arne Sicker’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Aarau could ask drops and the wages Arne Sicker can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 2028
Aarau say no — this time
The offer from Thun for Joshua Mees 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The deal with Grasshopper 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Aarau
Marvin Hübel 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Joshua Mees 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Aarau asked and Luzern 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 dugout5 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Dorian Derbaci
“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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Elias Filet has moved up it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Amr Khaled is still paying for one afternoon at Aarau
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.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Izer Aliu 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 Izer Aliu is on it.
In brief
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The dugout
Leon Frokaj asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
The window opens at Aarau
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Squad
Sky Heesen has had enough of the bench
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aarau is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market29 May 2028
Victor Petit 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 Aarau can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Aarau
Marvin Hübel 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.
Squad29 May 2028
12 clean sheets and the golden glove for Marvin Hübel
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 12 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Aarau
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joshua Mees was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Aarau
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market29 May 2028
The clock does Joshua Mees’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Aarau could ask drops and the wages Joshua Mees can ask rise.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 Dorian Derbaci is on it.
Market29 May 2028
Aarau have made Elias Filet available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.