Marked for Kyano Doesburg
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Apr 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 The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Tyrell Malacia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Groningen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liam van Nistelrooij, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Sven Mijnans has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Groningen 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Maarten Paes 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 Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tyrell Malacia signs something — a contract at Groningen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Nerves in the Groningen squad
Tyrell Malacia has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Menno Koch has been promised minutes
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 Menno Koch has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Oct 2028
15 matches without a win for Groningen
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Groningen are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Oct 2028
Groningen beaten on the continent
1‑2 against Rosenborg, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Kyano Doesburg: 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Groningen
Tyrell Malacia 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Jorg Schreuders 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Maarten Paes
“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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 7.59 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Groningen had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; David van der Werff will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Sep 2028
Groningen do the business in Europe
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Groningen came through the finding-out well against Racing Genk.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Khadim Ngom breaks a bone — 55 days out
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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Kyano Doesburg: 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Sep 2028
Maarten Paes wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Groningen hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match17 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Groningen
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Groningen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorg Schreuders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Groningen asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match16 Sep 2028
Groningen come up short against AZ
AZ left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.