Marked for Taigy Dugard
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 May 2030
At last: Leones win one
13 matches without a win, and then this, against Real Cartagena. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 May 2030
Tempers go at Leones
Exequiel Mereles 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.
Squad20 May 2030
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 terraces20 May 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Montoya has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match18 May 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Montoya. 2‑0 against Real Cartagena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout20 May 2030
Taigy Dugard 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.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Leones had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout20 May 2030
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Gustavo Cordoba could afford to be generous.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 May 2030
No end in sight to Leones's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leones has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Jorge 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.
Match4 May 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 May 2030
Tempers go at Leones
Jerónimo Echeverri 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.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout6 May 2030
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gustavo Cordoba to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout6 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Ramos, and the manager let it.
Squad6 May 2030
Joseph Timi slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joseph Timi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jan 2030
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.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Leones asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Leones
Frank Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jan 2030
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.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Lloreda, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Exequiel Mereles trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A season on the outside for Taigy Dugard
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Leones has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The manager makes Glen Masava a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leones. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout7 Jan 2030
“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.
Market7 Jan 2030
Leones say no — this time
The offer from Deportivo Pereira for Juan Diego Arboleda 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Leones
Exequiel Mereles and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Glen Masava gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Glen Masava has just signed for Leones, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Juan Manuel Jorge 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.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2030
Leones asked and Atletico Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
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 dugout7 Jan 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Paris Brunner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Ilian Mhand 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
Market18 Dec 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Ajaccio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
Market18 Dec 2028
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what AC Ajaccio could get for him.
Looking ahead18 Dec 2028
Next up at home: US Creteil, who go into it in position 12. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market20 Nov 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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Daniel Meyer is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.43 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Paris Brunner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Nov 2028
AC Ajaccio rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Clermont Foot had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Émile Gonzalez
“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.
Match18 Nov 2028
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Elisha Owusu 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 Elisha Owusu is on it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Marc-Aurel Koffi falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
The division's best last weekend was a AC Ajaccio man
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Oct 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 AC Ajaccio, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“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.
Match21 Oct 2028
4 matches without a win for AC Ajaccio
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AC Ajaccio are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Paris Brunner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Home is on Euder's mind
“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; AC Ajaccio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match21 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A row about effort at AC Ajaccio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Borodine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ibrahim Bekakchi wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and AC Ajaccio now know that too.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 52. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces9 Oct 2028
Anger at AC Ajaccio spills outside the ground
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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
26 days out for Hervé Caron after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AC Ajaccio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robin Maulun and AC Ajaccio agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Paris Brunner 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.
Market9 Oct 2028
Taigy Dugard is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AC Ajaccio has been clear about where Taigy Dugard stands, which is more than many ever get.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Wages eat 87% of everything AC Ajaccio earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Oct 2028
Ilian Mhand hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Ajaccio can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Hervé Caron breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Robin Maulun and AC Ajaccio agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Paris Brunner 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.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Sep 2028
1‑2 to Sochaux, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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 Loïc Badiashile is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Ajaccio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match2 Sep 2028
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Nimes had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and AC Ajaccio did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A brace, and Daniel Meyer takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Meyer provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Window shuts: 18 in, 15 out at AC Ajaccio
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Paris Brunner 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.