Marked for Matys Donavin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2036
Remy Rees-Dottin damages knee ligaments — 144 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 144 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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Eden Meunier breaks a bone — 42 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout21 Apr 2036
“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.
Market21 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Apr 2036
A falling-out at RWDM
Geronimo Londar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Daniel Ezendu 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 dugout21 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreson Semedo, and the manager let it.
Market21 Apr 2036
The clock does Andreson Semedo’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee RWDM could ask drops and the wages Andreson Semedo can ask rise.
Market21 Apr 2036
Kwasi Poku linked with a move away
The name of Kwasi Poku keeps appearing in other people's back pages. RWDM say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” RWDM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Matys Donavin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matys Donavin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RWDM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A falling-out at RWDM
Geronimo Londar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at RWDM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asbjørn Bøndergaard 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.
Market24 Mar 2036
Len de Bont is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at RWDM has been clear about where Len de Bont stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market24 Mar 2036
Kwasi Poku linked with a move away
The name of Kwasi Poku keeps appearing in other people's back pages. RWDM say nothing, which says plenty.
Market24 Mar 2036
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs RWDM money.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. RWDM lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” RWDM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market25 Feb 2036
Only the photograph left for Matys Donavin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matys Donavin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RWDM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Tempers go at RWDM
Daniel Ezendu 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Asbjørn Bøndergaard 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 ratings25 Feb 2036
The game went through Kwasi Poku — 6.99
Marked 6.99 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“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.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad25 Feb 2036
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and RWDM will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2035
A falling-out at RWDM
Glenn Knorr and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2035
“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 RWDM know it.
Match29 Dec 2035
The goals have deserted RWDM
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at RWDM can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Jan Encuentra 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 ratings31 Dec 2035
Marked 7.39 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, RWDM had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
The manager makes an example of Wille Jakobsson
“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 dugout31 Dec 2035
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 dugout31 Dec 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
The form table has caught Uroš Kojić
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2035
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 May 2035
“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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 May 2035
Words exchanged at RWDM
Luke Cundle 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.
Squad7 May 2035
A row about effort at RWDM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kwasi Poku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 May 2035
Still no ink between RWDM and Gui
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RWDM, another week without a signature from Gui.
Squad7 May 2035
Riley Carr slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Riley Carr is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 May 2035
Gui without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Gui was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout7 May 2035
“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.