Marked for André Nkong
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
Precious Agwu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eden Creol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of André Nkong
“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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Maurice Beboum 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 Maurice Beboum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ismaël Fansu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market20 Nov 2028
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Aigle Royal de la Menoua money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Lucien Ntolo 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Sep 2028
A stepping stone, not a home, for Yanis Gregoire
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Aigle Royal de la Menoua were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad11 Sep 2028
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Marcus Kouam
“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
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
Abdullahi Shehu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Habdoullah Lifab was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Maurice Beboum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Ngom Echabe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ulrich Lobé 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Blaise Fuh Ndiforchu 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
André Nkong 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
The knee: Éric Mefoe out for 48 days
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Ulrich Lobé 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Panthere du Nde left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match11 Sep 2027
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Desire Mbeumo to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to André Nkong, and the manager let it.