Marked for Keyane el Ouansaidi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
Don-Angelo Konadu 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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; FC Eindhoven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at FC Eindhoven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mertens 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Something was said to Boris van Schuppen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Keyane el Ouansaidi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Noah Lewis
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
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.
Looking ahead2 Apr 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dylan Mertens’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and FC Eindhoven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market2 Apr 2029
The Sven Simons story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sven Simons signs something — a contract at FC Eindhoven or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
No sign of nerves from Louie Bradbury at 20 — 7.87
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Louie Bradbury did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market26 Mar 2029
Owen Renfrum has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Eindhoven they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Eindhoven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Farouq Limouri 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 terraces26 Mar 2029
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match24 Mar 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Don-Angelo Konadu. 2‑0 against MVV Maastricht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.95 on the card, and the FC Eindhoven support went home talking about one name.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
Igor Sanders 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 FC Eindhoven can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Nick Dobben 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 Farouq Limouri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Nov 2028
9 new faces, and FC Eindhoven 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dyon Dorenbosch, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dylan Mertens’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and FC Eindhoven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Boris van Schuppen may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tyrese Simons’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2028
7 matches without a win for FC Eindhoven
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around FC Eindhoven are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Nov 2028
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Nick Dobben 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 FC Eindhoven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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; FC Eindhoven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Farouq Limouri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Tyrese Simons
“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 dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Owen Promes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Dylan Mertens 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 Dylan Mertens trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Nov 2028
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Nick Dobben 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 FC Eindhoven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Sven Simons 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Boris van Schuppen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Owen Renfrum is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thomas Kok’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and FC Eindhoven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad16 Oct 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at FC Eindhoven has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market16 Oct 2028
FC Eindhoven have let the market know Boris van Schuppen can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market16 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. FC Eindhoven know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes Hyman Ali a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FC Eindhoven. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.