Marked for Kéfren Ali
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Julien Maggiotti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Yanis Barka 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 dugout8 Apr 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean-Pierre Longonda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“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.
Market8 Apr 2030
The clock does Mathys Houdayer’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Stade Lavallois could ask drops and the wages Mathys Houdayer can ask rise.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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 Benjamin Bešić is on it.
Market8 Apr 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Stade Lavallois would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market4 Jun 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Mamadou Samassa 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eliezer Mayenda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
Stade Lavallois asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jun 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mathys Houdayer has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Stade Lavallois.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
A loan move for Amir Kernif is in the works
Stade Lavallois have made the call to Olympique de Marseille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to OGC Nice: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Lancine Bamba: 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.” Stade Lavallois have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Apr 2029
Ewan Rein 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 Stade Lavallois can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Mamadou Samassa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eliezer Mayenda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Kéfren Ali 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.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Nordan Mukiele 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Otis Caporusso has moved up it.
Market2 Apr 2029
Stade Lavallois have let the market know Eliezer Mayenda can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2029
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stade Lavallois lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market29 Jan 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nordan Mukiele had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Ilane Touré gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ilane Touré has just signed for Stade Lavallois, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stade Lavallois have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
The deal with FC Lorient is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Mamadou Samassa 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eliezer Mayenda 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.