It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
RWDM interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
RWDM and Standard Liege have settled on $590.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anderlecht have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadDaniel Ezendu falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KV Kortrijk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RWDM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
RWDM have gone to Dender 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.
Antoni Uchroński 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club Brugge have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ezendu 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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
RWDM have gone to Standard Liege 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.
RWDM asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RWDM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Aug 2036
A brace, and Daniel Ezendu takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Ezendu provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
RWDM and Dender have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4 against KV Mechelen, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining 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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jan Encuentra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RWDM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asbjørn Bøndergaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
RWDM and RAAL La Louviere have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Standard Liege is saying, and nobody at RWDM is enjoying the guessing.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. David Aguy 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.
Antoni Uchroński 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. Club Brugge have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at RWDM training over how hard people work
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Dender have accepted the money. What RWDM do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. RWDM have done the hard part with Racing Genk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Daniel Ezendu 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 had been thinking. Asbjørn Bøndergaard 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and RFC Liege waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RWDM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from KV Mechelen for Dries Boyata 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zakaria Ztouti 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.
Daniel Ezendu 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.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. RWDM have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adam Beymik is living that version at RWDM, and it tends to show in the first month.
Everything agreed with Anderlecht, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Antoni Uchroński 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charleroi have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ezendu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Westerlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RWDM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tom Glisenti is living that version at RWDM, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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 RWDM know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RWDM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Benjamín Borowik has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means RWDM have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Westerlo have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Daniel Ezendu 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 had been thinking. Asbjørn Bøndergaard 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.
KV Kortrijk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Maxim Buekers has pre-agreed a move to RWDM, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
RWDM asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RWDM, another week without a signature from Liam Selin.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 14 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antoni Uchroński 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 had been thinking. Daniel Ezendu 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 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 RWDM know it.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. RWDM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel Ezendu 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 Asbjørn Bøndergaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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 Samuel Martínez is on it.
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Geronimo Londar 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.
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 dugoutLen de Bont knocks on the manager's door
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
130 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. RWDM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at RWDM can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antoni Uchroński 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 words a physio says slowly. 144 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Geronimo Londar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Daniel Ezendu 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee RWDM could ask drops and the wages Andreson Semedo can ask rise.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. RWDM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RWDM 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 Asbjørn Bøndergaard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RWDM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Andreson Semedo 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.
“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 RWDM know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asbjørn Bøndergaard 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 RWDM can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason RWDM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RWDM 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 Daniel Ezendu 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 RWDM, another week without a signature from Youssuf Sylla.
“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; RWDM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Martin Gjone's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutYoussuf Sylla knocks on the manager’s door
1‑4 to Racing Genk, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Geronimo Londar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RWDM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Antoni Uchroński 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 had been thinking. Daniel Ezendu 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matys Donavin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around RWDM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daniel Ezendu 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.
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.
Marked 6.99 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Antoni Uchroński 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.
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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Daniel Ezendu 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at RWDM can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RWDM, another week without a signature from Asbjørn Bøndergaard.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” RWDM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Uroš Kojić has agreed terms with Charleroi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Geronimo Londar 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about RWDM and Club Brugge in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
RWDM asked and Anderlecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The deal with Racing Genk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ezendu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 RWDM know it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around RWDM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 RWDM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Glenn Knorr 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.
RWDM asked and Anderlecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ezendu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RWDM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RWDM 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 RWDM 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 Daniel Ezendu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. RWDM will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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 RWDM know it.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at RWDM can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Jan Encuentra 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.
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.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Glenn Knorr 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.
0‑1 to Dender, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Manu Mocsnik 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.
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
12 new faces, and RWDM 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 dugout17 Dec 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. RWDM will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RWDM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 RWDM, 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 RWDM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Daniel Ezendu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to RWDM.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Manu Mocsnik 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.
Geronimo Londar 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 had been thinking. Jan Encuentra 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.
15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Diego Guerra has agreed terms with OH Leuven for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Glenn Knorr 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 Kwasi Poku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Daniel Ezendu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means RWDM have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and RWDM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Vladan Čarapić again, and this time the name on the line is RAAL La Louviere. RWDM are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 RAAL La Louviere, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at RAAL La Louviere is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cristian De Angelis has agreed terms with Union SG for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Louis Mouton 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niklas Ødegård was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bradley de Jesus has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means RAAL La Louviere have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at RAAL La Louviere can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutManuel Ángel asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Monju Momuluh
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around RAAL La Louviere they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 RAAL La Louviere, and it is not being withdrawn.
Djibril Lamego 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daniel Ezendu has, at RAAL La Louviere, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Julián Vilchez wants continental football; whether RAAL La Louviere can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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; RAAL La Louviere are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadLuka Bentt falls out with a teammate over standards