Marked for Daeshon Lawrence
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Meliga Promise: 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.” Valerenga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Ghayas Zahid 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Valerenga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brice Ambina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Brayan Gil 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 Brayan Gil is on it.
Market19 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brice Ambina’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Valerenga. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valerenga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Feb 2029
The name of Carl Lange has come up in conversations Valerenga were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market26 Feb 2029
Martin Meling has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valerenga they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Valerenga
Ghayas Zahid 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Valerenga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brice Ambina 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Valerenga now.
Squad26 Feb 2029
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valerenga are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market26 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brayan Gil’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market19 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valerenga people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Ghayas Zahid 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Daeshon Lawrence has just signed for Valerenga, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Valerenga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brice Ambina 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daeshon Lawrence commits to Valerenga for another 3 years.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Arthur Floch
“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.
Market19 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brice Ambina’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Bolton Wanderers boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match24 Jun 2028
A 0‑3 beating by Wrexham was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match26 Jun 2028
40 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market26 Jun 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 Bolton Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jun 2028
At 21, Daeshon Lawrence is already the best thing here
An average of 6.58 in a first team he is several years too young for. Bolton Wanderers have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bolton Wanderers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Xavier Simons commits to Bolton Wanderers for another 4 years.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Eoin Toal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Fredrik Sjøvold 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.