Marked for Daan Engel
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SC Aubagne Air Bel is running low.
Market25 Mar 2030
Yasser Zahli 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 SC Aubagne Air Bel can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Daan Engel: 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.” SC Aubagne Air Bel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Mar 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SC Aubagne Air Bel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Malick Sylla 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 Mar 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billal El Kaddouri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces25 Mar 2030
The crowd has taken to Aldo Solano
At 23 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.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Billal El Kaddouri was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Aldo Solano
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Théo Epailly
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match23 Feb 2030
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market25 Feb 2030
Théo Mouyemé has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SC Aubagne Air Bel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Malick Sylla 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 Feb 2030
Billal El Kaddouri 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 dugout25 Feb 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Laurent Royer on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Dagău, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Feb 2030
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. SC Aubagne Air Bel lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 May 2029
Billal El Kaddouri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Jan Dýcka 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.
Squad21 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SC Aubagne Air Bel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout21 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Daan Engel
“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 dugout21 May 2029
Jan Dýcka 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.
The dugout21 May 2029
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
Crisis
Market14 May 2029
“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 dugout14 May 2029
Raïs Ali keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SC Aubagne Air Bel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 May 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 SC Aubagne Air Bel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 May 2029
Elijah Owona 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.
Market14 May 2029
Daan Engel is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SC Aubagne Air Bel has been clear about where Daan Engel stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout14 May 2029
Yasser Zahli knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Aubagne Air Bel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 May 2029
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
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Laurent Royer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SC Aubagne Air Bel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Billal El Kaddouri 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SC Aubagne Air Bel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikel García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Elijah Owona and SC Aubagne Air Bel agree another 4 years.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at SC Aubagne Air Bel now.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
El Omar Fardi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Aubagne Air Bel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SC Aubagne Air Bel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at SC Aubagne Air Bel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikel García 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yasser Zahli, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Oct 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 dugout30 Oct 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.” Laurent Royer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Timothée Dutot knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Aubagne Air Bel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market30 Oct 2028
Daan Engel is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SC Aubagne Air Bel has been clear about where Daan Engel stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The formation has left Aldo Solano behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. SC Aubagne Air Bel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Sep 2028
Daan Engel 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 SC Aubagne Air Bel can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Sep 2028
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Aubagne Air Bel has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at SC Aubagne Air Bel until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The deal with Sochaux 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
$540.0K was the most the club would pay and Le Puy Foot 43 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Billal El Kaddouri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nantes have kept their man, and SC Aubagne Air Bel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Mikel García 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 dugout4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malick Sylla, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Denis-Will Poha
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Aubagne Air Bel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SC Aubagne Air Bel can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with RC Strasbourg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at SC Aubagne Air Bel is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ismaël Boura 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Romain Bayard 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at SC Aubagne Air Bel now.