“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 The request is on a desk at Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Tyrone Owusu 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.
7 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Cody Blind after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Telstar close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrese Noslin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Telstar will try again when the window opens; TOP Oss may not be selling by then.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Telstar have gone to NEC with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$520.0K was the most the club would pay and Heerenveen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrese Noslin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tyrone Owusu 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.
Telstar have made the call to Heracles. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad9 Jul 2029
5 new faces, and Telstar are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Feyenoord 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.
Excelsior wanted more than $400.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Noslin 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Tiago Codinha has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The phone has started ringing about Tim van der Leij again, and this time the name on the line is Almere City. Telstar are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vitinho is living that version at Telstar, and it tends to show in the first month.
$410.0K was the most the club would pay and Heracles were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Alex Aguilar is a Telstar player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrese Noslin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
RKC Waalwijk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Shion Inoue has pre-agreed a move to Telstar, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Tyrone Owusu 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Plogmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Tim Geypens is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrese Noslin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
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.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tyrese Noslin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Luca Plogmann 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Paul Wanner 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Teun Gakpo could afford to be generous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrese Noslin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Paul Wanner. 3‑1 against Sparta Rotterdam, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tim Geypens 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.
“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 Telstar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Willem II have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Noslin 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.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I watch every Telstar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ADO Den Haag runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdoulaye Yahaya is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. De Graafschap have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Noslin 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.
“I watch every Telstar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ADO Den Haag runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Plogmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Rojendro Oudsten.
Nobody at Telstar 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against PSV in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Salah-Eddine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joep Koppert has, at Telstar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Noslin 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Telstar has been clear about where Layee Kromah stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I watch every Telstar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ADO Den Haag runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paul Wanner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Tyrese Noslin 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Teun Gakpo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Andre Grey and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zwolle in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Telstar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Telstar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Guus Offerhaus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Noslin 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Telstar will try again when the window opens; De Graafschap may not be selling by then.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJelani Seedorf has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Telstar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
RKC Waalwijk pay $800.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Plogmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrone Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Jeff Hardeveld.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJeroen Houwen knocks on the manager’s door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Owen Wijndal 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Owen Wijndal 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Telstar pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Telstar know it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Teun Gakpo to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutPaul Wanner knocks on the manager's door
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Owen Wijndal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.