Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Rennais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stade Rennais have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Melvin Jambry will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Rennais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lucas Michal 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 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.
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.
Up for the corner, and Samson Baidoo delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Samson Baidoo scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stade Rennais is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Lucas Michal 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.
Squad10 Apr 2034
Samson Baidoo 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad10 Apr 2034
7 new faces, and Stade Rennais 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Angers SCO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Angers SCO can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khalil Liam Kie will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Julian Lægreid 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Erico Cuello wants continental football; whether Angers SCO can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Diaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Angers SCO is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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 Angers SCO know it.
“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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
40 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2034
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Ristić, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2034
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Angers SCO know it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad6 Mar 2034
Junior Diaz 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mika Biereth. 3‑1 against Paris Saint-Germain, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Laurent Philippe clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bourg-Peronnas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $204.5K of what Angers SCO paid for Antonin Cartillier is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bruny Nsimba has just signed for Angers SCO, and for once the answer mattered.
Julian Lægreid 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.
In brief
SquadMika Biereth falls out with a teammate over standards
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Angers SCO is running low.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Angers SCO have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Angers SCO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.97, 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.
Julian Lægreid 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 Jan 2034
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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 Angers SCO people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mollo Bessala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Angers SCO will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Angers SCO have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Monaco 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.
Angers SCO have gone to RC Lens 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Angers SCO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad12 Dec 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Diaz 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.
LOSC Lille will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Thauan Lara has pre-agreed a move to Angers SCO, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.02, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces5 Dec 2033
The mood at Angers SCO has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom5 Dec 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Angers SCO
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Angers SCO know it.
Julian Lægreid 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 Dec 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Diaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
9 combined actions and 6.62. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Angers SCO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mollo Bessala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad14 Nov 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
“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 Angers SCO know it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ernie Weaver has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Angers SCO have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Angers SCO 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.” Angers SCO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Diaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Angers SCO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronald Cornet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marko Ristić has just signed for Angers SCO, and for once the answer 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 Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Oct 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Angers SCO lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad17 Oct 2033
Mika Biereth 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.
Adama Bojang scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Stade Rennais, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout17 Oct 2033
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 Laurent Philippe left the room before anybody could ask which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Rennais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Rennais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mollo Bessala has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Stade Rennais have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Angers SCO made Stade Rennais work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 Oct 2033
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamidou Makalou 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.
Player ratings17 Oct 2033
Sam Amo-Ameyaw was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Angers SCO lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonin Cartillier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Julian Lægreid 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.
Squad10 Oct 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Diaz 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.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mollo Bessala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Antonin Cartillier is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adama Bojang will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Angers SCO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad3 Oct 2033
Mika Biereth 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Angers SCO lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Angers SCO people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Ronald Cornet to FC Villefranche has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Angers SCO with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Angers SCO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Angers SCO will try again when the window opens; Monaco may not be selling by then.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bismark Ampofo has agreed terms with ESTAC Troyes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Angers SCO asked and Olympique de Marseille 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Angers SCO people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfie Chang will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Angers SCO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with RC Strasbourg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Angers SCO people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Angers SCO can pretend not to have heard.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Angers SCO have done the hard part with US Concarneau, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 Mika Biereth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Boardroom12 academy graduates step up at Angers SCO
$13.7M settles it between the clubs for Ethan Mbappé
Olympique de Marseille have accepted the money. What Angers SCO do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Angers SCO have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Angers SCO can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Aug 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
Angers SCO offered $74.0K; Monaco said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and Angers SCO go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The offer from Raków Częstochowa for Mika Biereth 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Rouen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Angers SCO 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 Angers SCO, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Daniel Marques Nunes to Bourg-Peronnas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Angers SCO with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jul 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mika Biereth 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.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Angers SCO have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Squad11 Jul 2033
7 new faces, and Angers SCO 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 May 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Diaz 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.
Nobody at Angers SCO 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.
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 Kylian Aïssi has written the date down.
81 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Angers SCO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Angers SCO can pretend not to have heard.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 May 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yakyne Youssouf Moumini 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Angers SCO, another week without a signature from Mollo Bessala.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mollo Bessala is living that version at Angers SCO, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angers SCO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ronald Cornet and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Words at Angers SCO training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Diaz 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paradou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Olympique Akbou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yanis Delaveau. The answer from USM Alger has not changed — yet.
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dramane Kamagaté 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CS Constantine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Alger they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with CR Belouizdad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Che Malone 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. USM Alger have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to MC Alger; USM Alger go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Mollo Bessala 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 Aug 2032
Che Malone 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CR Belouizdad have kept their man, and USM Alger go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Mollo Bessala’s negotiating for him
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
USM Alger had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CR Belouizdad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at USM Alger, another week without a signature from Mohamed Idir Hadid.
CR Belouizdad 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.
Nobody at USM Alger 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Alger they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Olympique Akbou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yanis Delaveau. The answer from USM Alger has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Che Malone 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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MB Rouissat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mouhammade Camara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Che Malone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mollo Bessala 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.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Words at USM Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dramane Kamagaté 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 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 Mohamed Idir Hadid is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. USM Alger know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Alger people have started saying his name in the past tense.
USM Alger and MC Alger have settled on $1.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CR Belouizdad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Che Malone 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. MC Alger have lost him in all but the paperwork.
MC Alger and JS Kabylie have settled on $1.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 MC Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 MC Alger have had the benefit of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahima Kébé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MC Alger the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$890.0K was the most the club would pay and USM Alger 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.
The offer from MB Rouissat for Dramane Kamagaté 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at USM Alger is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 USM Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The medical room confirms 75 days on the sidelines for Raouf Benguit, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Che Malone 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.