Marked for Afonso Lee
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces26 Sep 2033
Anger at OH Leuven 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.
Market26 Sep 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Sep 2033
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market26 Sep 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OH Leuven is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
Dean Bell: 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.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Sep 2033
Óscar Gil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A row about effort at OH Leuven
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryang Kayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Sep 2033
A 3‑1 win over Jong Gent, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout26 Sep 2033
Duke Verduin 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.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Williams Dolly at his very best
-
Squad
Appearance number 100 for Afonso Lee
-
Squad
5 new faces, and OH Leuven are still learning each other
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Sep 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Sep 2033
Joel Medina has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OH Leuven they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match10 Sep 2033
No end in sight to OH Leuven's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at OH Leuven has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Óscar Gil 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.
Squad12 Sep 2033
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Sep 2033
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OH Leuven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets12 Sep 2033
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.
The dugout12 Sep 2033
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings12 Sep 2033
Joe Gardner beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jul 2033
Lautaro Vázquez damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad25 Jul 2033
A fracture rules Maxence Prévot out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OH Leuven will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jul 2033
“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 OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Jul 2033
Peter Remmert has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OH Leuven they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets25 Jul 2033
The offer went to Anderlecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad25 Jul 2033
Words exchanged at OH Leuven
Bryang Kayo 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.
Transfer targets25 Jul 2033
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.
Squad25 Jul 2033
A row about effort at OH Leuven
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Williams Dolly was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jul 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ayman Rabhi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Jun 2033
Lautaro Vázquez damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Squad13 Jun 2033
61 days out for Maxence Prévot after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OH Leuven will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Jun 2033
“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 OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
The paperwork begins on Sam Proctor
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Racing Genk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Bryang Kayo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
OH Leuven asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Williams Dolly 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.
Market13 Jun 2033
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at OH Leuven, another week without a signature from Yury Maleev.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
KAA Gent have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 May 2033
Supporters organise against the OH Leuven board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad9 May 2033
Lautaro Vázquez damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad9 May 2033
96 days out for Maxence Prévot after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OH Leuven will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 May 2033
Hervin Goyes 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 OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 May 2033
Bryang Kayo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 May 2033
“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 OH Leuven know it.
The dugout9 May 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Williams Dolly, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 May 2033
William Balikwisha is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. William Balikwisha is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
The dugout9 May 2033
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Jan 2033
Supporters organise against the OH Leuven board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market17 Jan 2033
“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 OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 Jan 2033
4 matches without a win for OH Leuven
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around OH Leuven are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Bryang Kayo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2033
OH Leuven asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2033
Williams Dolly 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.
Match15 Jan 2033
OH Leuven cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout17 Jan 2033
“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.
Match15 Jan 2033
0‑1 to KV Mechelen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
Everything rides on Dender
-
Squad
OH Leuven are still strangers to each other
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OH Leuven can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Club Brugge, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Bryang Kayo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2032
The drought breaks for OH Leuven
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and RAAL La Louviere were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fayssal Harchaoui and OH Leuven agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
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.
Match7 Aug 2032
It finished 2‑0, and it was Thomas Buitink’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to OH Leuven.
Squad9 Aug 2032
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Jun 2032
Supporters organise against the OH Leuven board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Pressure builds in the OH Leuven boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
the manager has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at OH Leuven can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Anderlecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAA Gent have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Bryang Kayo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2032
A move Baptiste Kilala would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Baptiste Kilala is living that version at OH Leuven, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Dino Mehic 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.