Marked for Alexandre Chaidron
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
El Hadji Seck, 20, steals the show — 7.61
Marked 7.61 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.46 for the rest of it.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mamadou Diallo and Jong Gent agree another 5 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Briek Van Hoorick 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Jong Gent
Alexandre Chaidron 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Axel Doku left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
Jong Gent say no — this time
The offer from Lokeren-Temse for Briek Morel 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Briek Van Hoorick 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alexandre Chaidron and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Beerschot, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Looking ahead1 Feb 2027
Everything rides on Jong Genk
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Jong Gent know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Axel Doku faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Axel Doku after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong Gent will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Jong Gent than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Jong Gent
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Jong Gent
Bas Evers 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Lokeren-Temse left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hannes Vernemmen, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Preben Blondeel and Jong Gent agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Jong Gent
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mamadou Diallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Axel Doku left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Jong Gent
Position 16 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
El Hadji Seck, 19, steals the show — 8.43
Marked 8.43 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Jong Gent, 2‑1 the final word against Seraing in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Jong Gent
Briek Van Hoorick 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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. El Hadji Seck 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
13 matches without a win for Jong Gent
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Jong Gent are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” El Hadji Seck and Jong Gent agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
KV Kortrijk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Jong Gent
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Briek Van Hoorick was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Axel Doku to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
El Hadji Seck knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and El Hadji Seck trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Jong Gent
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hannes Vernemmen is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Briek Van Hoorick 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑1 to RSCA Futures, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Bas Evers
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bas Evers, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Jong Gent
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mamadou Diallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Axel Doku left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Abdoul Ayindé knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoul Ayindé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ruslan Vydysh signs something — a contract at Jong Gent or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Bas Evers
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Jong Gent say no — this time
The offer from El-Kanemi Warriors for Abubakar Abdullahi 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Oleksandr Soroka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Trey Kongolo
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Jong Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Diallo 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
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.” Axel Doku chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Waasland-Beveren will be the happier side with the point.