Marked for Jayden Lienou
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Mar 2036
11 saves: Blake Irow was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 Mar 2036
0‑4 to Club Brugge, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market10 Mar 2036
“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.
Match10 Mar 2036
The season ends: position 15 for Lommel
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad10 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Thorgan Boyata out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Mar 2036
No end in sight to Lommel's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lommel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Mar 2036
A falling-out at Lommel
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Paulo Moreira 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 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Blake Irow
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Lucas Forsberg
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Forsberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match1 Mar 2036
4 matches without a win for Lommel
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lommel are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Lommel
Ryan Ogam 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.
Match1 Mar 2036
KV Kortrijk left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jayden Lienou, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Lommel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Mar 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Vando Félix.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Bengtsson commits to Lommel for another 3 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Vando Félix without the man who signed him
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The dugout
Felipe Mosquera knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 May 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Lommel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Lommel is running low.
Market21 May 2035
Only the photograph left for Cyrill Emch
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cyrill Emch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 May 2035
Artem Husol 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 Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Moreira 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 dugout21 May 2035
Kenny Olinga 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.
Market21 May 2035
“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 dugout21 May 2035
Lukas Jensen 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 Lukas Jensen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 May 2035
Diego Robles back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Lommel has worked with Diego Robles before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Market21 May 2035
The clock does Ben Winterburn’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lommel could ask drops and the wages Ben Winterburn can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2035
29 days out for Lukas Jensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lommel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Luis Yanes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Yanes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Mar 2035
A falling-out at Lommel
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes 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 Mar 2035
The manager makes an example of Oliver Pickles
“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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
8 new faces, and Lommel 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.
Market19 Mar 2035
“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 dugout19 Mar 2035
Kenny Olinga 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.