Marked for Nader Alaa
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Jan 2032
Nobody wins at AS PSI
30 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Feb 2032
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
Player ratings2 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Jan 2032
5‑1, and Aboubakkar Moussa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS PSI tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad2 Feb 2032
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market2 Feb 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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
AS PSI close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 9 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.
Match31 Jan 2032
AS PSI cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jan 2032
AS PSI make home a hard place to visit
29 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad26 Jan 2032
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match21 Jan 2032
AS PSI through in the cup
A 3‑0 win over AS DGSSIE, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match24 Jan 2032
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market26 Jan 2032
Nader Alaa 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 AS PSI can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
A brace, and Goukouni Abakar takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Goukouni Abakar provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market26 Jan 2032
AS PSI say no — this time
The offer from Gazelle for Mahamat Tchari 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Jan 2032
AS PSI make home a hard place to visit
28 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamat Harouna
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market19 Jan 2032
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS PSI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS PSI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A falling-out at AS PSI
Nader Alaa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Bendjaloud Youssouf 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 dugout19 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of Manny Monthé
“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
Triumph
Match3 Jan 2032
Still nobody has beaten AS PSI
The unbeaten run reaches 26. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Mahamat Harouna damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Market5 Jan 2032
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS PSI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Anas Roshdy honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. AS PSI had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad5 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Jan 2032
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for AS PSI. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A move Junior Kuidjeu 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. Junior Kuidjeu is living that version at AS PSI, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
Wages eat 178% of everything AS PSI earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Dec 2031
Whatever happens, AS PSI do not lose
25 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match27 Dec 2031
The run at home goes on for AS PSI
27 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Dec 2031
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market29 Dec 2031
“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.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
Belts tighten at AS PSI
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Tempers go at AS PSI
Machoer Djisse 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Yusuf Mainge 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.
Match27 Dec 2031
The run is over for AS PSI
6 matches without defeat, and then AS Etat Major. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The AS PSI debt reaches $6.4M
-
Market
Moussa Adoum is free to find somewhere else
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at AS PSI
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Dec 2031
Mahamat Harouna damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Market15 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
“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 AS PSI know it.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Nader Alaa 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Boa-At Regain arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Boa-At Regain has, at AS PSI, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“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 dugout15 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout15 Dec 2031
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.
Market15 Dec 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Djibrine Abakar has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AS PSI.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Nov 2031
The run at home goes on for AS PSI
26 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamat Harouna
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Dec 2031
“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.
Player ratings1 Dec 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
The numbers do not look good at AS PSI
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match29 Nov 2031
AS PSI cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad1 Dec 2031
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Tempers go at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Match29 Nov 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS PSI and AS DGSSIE, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Nov 2031
Nobody wins at AS PSI
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Mamadou Diakité damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match24 Nov 2031
AS PSI up to position 2
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
Yannick Masra, 34, rolls back the years — 8.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market24 Nov 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Nov 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS PSI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match22 Nov 2031
AS PSI make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AS PSI have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
Nader Alaa beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. 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
Upbeat
Match15 Nov 2031
20 unbeaten for AS PSI
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 20 matches without defeat is a foundation AS PSI did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mamadou Diakité
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Nov 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match15 Nov 2031
6‑0, and Goukouni Abakar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS PSI tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market17 Nov 2031
“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.
Market17 Nov 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noël Allaramadji will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS PSI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Nader Alaa has a hand in both — 7.97
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.97, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A falling-out at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Marked 9.94 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Nov 2031
Whatever happens, AS PSI do not lose
18 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mamadou Diakité
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Machoer Djisse 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 dugout3 Nov 2031
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The dugout3 Nov 2031
Nader Alaa 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.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Ninety minutes of Brahim Goudja at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS PSI.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
122% of the income goes out in wages at AS PSI
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market3 Nov 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mahamat Tchari has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AS PSI.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Oct 2031
Nobody wins at AS PSI
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad27 Oct 2031
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Oct 2031
Still nobody has beaten AS PSI
The unbeaten run reaches 17. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS PSI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Both of them Nader Alaa's — 7.84
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market27 Oct 2031
“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.
Market27 Oct 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS PSI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Oct 2031
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Oct 2031
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match18 Oct 2031
16 unbeaten for AS PSI
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation AS PSI did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market20 Oct 2031
“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.
Market20 Oct 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS PSI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Oct 2031
A falling-out at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
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Squad20 Oct 2031
Gabkala Daba 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 dugout20 Oct 2031
The manager makes an example of Botché Candé
“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
Upbeat
Match11 Oct 2031
Nobody wins at AS PSI
22 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad13 Oct 2031
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Oct 2031
15 unbeaten for AS PSI
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation AS PSI did not have in the autumn.
Match11 Oct 2031
After 14 games, AS PSI finally taste it again
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Foullah Edifice; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Market13 Oct 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS PSI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Oct 2031
Only the photograph left for Mahamat Tchari
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mahamat Tchari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS PSI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Oct 2031
“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 AS PSI know it.
Squad13 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Sep 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mamadou Diakité
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS PSI lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Sep 2031
45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market29 Sep 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Abakar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS PSI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
A muscle injury sidelines Moussa Adoum for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AS PSI will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
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The dugout29 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nader Alaa, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
Wages eat 115% of everything AS PSI earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
Gabkala Daba gets picked when it counts
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 Gabkala Daba is on it.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at AS PSI
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The dugout
Manny Monthé asks for a word with the manager
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Market
The clock does Anas Roshdy’s negotiating for him
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Sep 2031
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS PSI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Sep 2031
“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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anas Roshdy is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 13 in, 15 out at AS PSI
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
AS PSI had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Elect Sport, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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 dugout1 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout1 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Nader Alaa
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
103% of the income goes out in wages at AS PSI
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Oumar Moustapha is in the works
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The dugout
Gabkala Daba has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Aug 2031
Mamadou Diakité damages knee ligaments — 128 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Market18 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Noël Allaramadji will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS PSI the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market18 Aug 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Nader Alaa has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
AS PSI asked and Levadia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2031
A row about effort at AS PSI
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manny Monthé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
The manager makes an example of Yusuf Mainge
“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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
A loan move for Oumar Moustapha is in the works
AS PSI have made the call to Stars Jeunes Talents. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Aug 2031
Mamadou Diakité damages knee ligaments — 135 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Match11 Aug 2031
66 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market11 Aug 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Aug 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS PSI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Aug 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS PSI are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Tempers go at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
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 dugout11 Aug 2031
“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
Upbeat
Market28 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS PSI can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
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Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at AS PSI
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabkala Daba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at AS PSI
Machoer Djisse and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
The manager makes an example of Nader Alaa
“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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
A loan enquiry to AS Algoy: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
Anas Roshdy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS PSI 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 dugout28 Jul 2031
Anas Roshdy 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Goukouni Abakar’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Jul 2031
The view from the top for AS PSI
66 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market14 Jul 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS PSI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Nader Alaa 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 AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Black Aces have kept their man, and AS PSI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Gabkala Daba 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 dugout14 Jul 2031
The manager makes an example of Yusuf Mainge
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
AS PSI have made the call to AS Algoy. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad14 Jul 2031
5 new faces, and AS PSI 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.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Brahim Goudja gets picked when it counts
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 Brahim Goudja is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jun 2031
Nobody above AS PSI
First, on 66 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market16 Jun 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS PSI people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A row about effort at AS PSI
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevy Fokam Sokeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nader Alaa, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
Brahim Goudja gets picked when it counts
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 Brahim Goudja is on it.
Market16 Jun 2031
The clock does Victor Ikechukwu’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS PSI could ask drops and the wages Victor Ikechukwu can ask rise.
Market16 Jun 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brahim Goudja’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AS PSI. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Jun 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS PSI have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Jun 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with AS Algoy, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS PSI can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Foster Gyamfi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Foster Gyamfi has just signed for AS PSI, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at AS PSI
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Stevy Fokam Sokeng 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 dugout9 Jun 2031
“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
Market2 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS PSI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS PSI may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Jun 2031
“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.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Jun 2031
The phone has started ringing about Djibrine Abakar again, and this time the name on the line is Elect Sport. AS PSI are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Gabkala Daba 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.
Market2 Jun 2031
AS PSI and Nader Alaa are talking past each other
“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.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to AS Algoy: 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
Upbeat
Market26 May 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS PSI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market26 May 2031
“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.
The dugout26 May 2031
Ezechiel Adoum: 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.” AS PSI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 May 2031
A falling-out at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 May 2031
Gabkala Daba 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 dugout26 May 2031
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 Stevy Fokam Sokeng is on it.
The dugout26 May 2031
Nader Alaa 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 Nader Alaa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 May 2031
The clock does Stevy Fokam Sokeng’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS PSI could ask drops and the wages Stevy Fokam Sokeng can ask rise.
Market26 May 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Goukouni Abakar’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 May 2031
66 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad19 May 2031
Words exchanged at AS PSI
Brahim Goudja 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at AS PSI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hubert Gyau 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 dugout19 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Mamadou Diakité
“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 dugout19 May 2031
Brahim Goudja gets picked when it counts
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 Brahim Goudja is on it.
The dugout19 May 2031
Nader Alaa 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.
Market19 May 2031
The clock does Victor Ikechukwu’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS PSI could ask drops and the wages Victor Ikechukwu can ask rise.
Market19 May 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brahim Goudja’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 May 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2031
A fracture rules Moussa Adoum out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Apr 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS PSI is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Apr 2031
“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.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Apr 2031
“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 AS PSI know it.
Squad7 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Apr 2031
A row about effort at AS PSI
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevy Fokam Sokeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Apr 2031
“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 dugout7 Apr 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Mar 2031
AS PSI cannot stop winning
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match22 Mar 2031
AS PSI make home a hard place to visit
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Moussa Adoum breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 Mar 2031
5‑0, and Goukouni Abakar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS PSI tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match24 Mar 2031
Nobody above AS PSI
First, on 63 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad24 Mar 2031
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Mar 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Mar 2031
A season average of 7.54 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Feb 2031
A fracture rules Moussa Adoum out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Feb 2031
9‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad10 Feb 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Brahim Goudja is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.62 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market10 Feb 2031
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Feb 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS PSI they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
A brace, and Anas Roshdy takes the afternoon — 8.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anas Roshdy provided it, and the 8.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match8 Feb 2031
AS PSI cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Victor Ikechukwu has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.