Marked for Leon Parduzi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 May 2035
Leon Parduzi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Servette they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2035
Words exchanged at Servette
Jamie Roche 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.
Squad14 May 2035
“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.
The dugout14 May 2035
Adam Zouhar 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.
Squad14 May 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabio Miranda commits to Servette for another 4 years.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isak Bjerkebo 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.
Market14 May 2035
Servette and Tom Gaal are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market14 May 2035
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Servette money.
The dugout14 May 2035
Ryan Kessler 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 Ryan Kessler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
Pressure builds in the Servette boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Guljigit Alykulov damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Tosto 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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Servette
Adam Zouhar 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.
Market23 Apr 2035
“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.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Aaron Keller 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 dugout23 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Parduzi, and the manager let it.
Market23 Apr 2035
The clock does Kajetan Szmyt’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Servette could ask drops and the wages Kajetan Szmyt can ask rise.
Match23 Apr 2035
Servette have something to play for
Position 6 on 20 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Apr 2035
Guljigit Alykulov damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market16 Apr 2035
Leon Parduzi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Servette they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Servette
Serif Berbic 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 Apr 2035
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lois Ndema 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 dugout16 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ervin Omić, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Apr 2035
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Servette are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market16 Apr 2035
The clock does Lorenzo Tosto’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Servette could ask drops and the wages Lorenzo Tosto can ask rise.
Market16 Apr 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Adam Zouhar 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 Servette, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Leon Parduzi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leon Parduzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Servette the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words exchanged at Servette
Jamie Roche 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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
A row about effort at Servette
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Tosto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Mar 2035
“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.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Parduzi, and the manager let it.
Market19 Mar 2035
“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.
Market19 Mar 2035
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Servette money.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Arturo Medel has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Servette that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
Franco Castro 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes Steven Xhaka a promise
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Boardroom
The Servette academy earns its keep
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Ervin Omić
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Servette
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Servette is running low.
Squad26 Feb 2035
21 days out for Fabian Akanji after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Servette will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Feb 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cluver Sambi Mbungu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Servette the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A falling-out at Servette
Serif Berbic and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Lorenzo Tosto 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 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cluver Sambi Mbungu, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Servette, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Feb 2035
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Servette will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market26 Feb 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Servette could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Servette is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom19 Feb 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Leon Parduzi has agreed terms with Neuchâtel Xamax for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Servette
Serif Berbic 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
A row about effort at Servette
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Tosto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Feb 2035
Yverdon will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gabriel Abdias has pre-agreed a move to Servette, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2035
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.
Market19 Feb 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Servette, another week without a signature from Killian Cahill.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
The manager makes an example of Ryan Kessler
“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 dugout19 Feb 2035
Serif Berbic 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Oct 2034
5 matches without a win for Servette
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Servette are no longer polite ones.
Market30 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Servette is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2034
A falling-out at Servette
Jamie Roche and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Oct 2034
Danny Schmidt scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Yverdon, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Jamie Roche
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajetan Szmyt 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 ratings30 Oct 2034
Kajetan Szmyt ran the middle of the pitch — 6.69
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.69, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
Lois Ndema did the work nobody counts — 6.80
9 combined actions and 6.80. 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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2034
98% of the income goes out in wages at Servette
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Leon Parduzi
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Market
Andrej Vasović runs his contract down
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 2034
Ibrahim Salah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Servette they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2034
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Servette have done the hard part with Basel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Jamie Roche 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.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Salah 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 targets21 Aug 2034
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.
Match19 Aug 2034
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Aug 2034
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2034
A loan enquiry to Zurich: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Aug 2034
Leon Parduzi 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.