Marked for Noah Karamoko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jul 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Jul 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jul 2036
A move Robert Koňařík 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. Robert Koňařík is living that version at Preußen Münster, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
$2.1M from the owner keeps Preußen Münster afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2036
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.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words at Preußen Münster training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Karamoko 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jun 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Market30 Jun 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.
Market30 Jun 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Jano ter Horst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
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.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Noah Karamoko 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.
Squad30 Jun 2036
The medical room confirms 62 days on the sidelines for Borja Calvo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
A loan enquiry to Köln: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
Borussia Dortmund have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jun 2036
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom16 Jun 2036
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Preußen Münster is running low.
Market16 Jun 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and TSG Hoffenheim waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market16 Jun 2036
Lukas Mai 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 Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jun 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Grigoris Politakis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2036
The deal with RB Leipzig 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.
Boardroom16 Jun 2036
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Grigoris Politakis has agreed terms with Werder Bremen for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Lasse Eickel 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 Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2036
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jun 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jesper Lindstrøm
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Jun 2036
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Jun 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom9 Jun 2036
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Noah Karamoko 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.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Lasse Eickel 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.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
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 2036
Noah Karamoko 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.
Boardroom9 Jun 2036
The borrowing at Preußen Münster reaches $78.9M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $78.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad9 Jun 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darío Ramírez commits to Preußen Münster for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jun 2036
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market2 Jun 2036
Mats Seiler 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 Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Jun 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Fernando Dickes has agreed terms with Hannover 96 for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad2 Jun 2036
Jano ter Horst 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 Jun 2036
A move Lorenzo Garofalo 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. Lorenzo Garofalo is living that version at Preußen Münster, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 May 2036
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 May 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 May 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fernando Dickes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 May 2036
Jano ter Horst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 May 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 May 2036
The manager makes an example of José Copete
“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.
Squad26 May 2036
The formation has left Gabriele Alesi behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Preußen Münster will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout26 May 2036
Mats Seiler 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 Mats Seiler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 May 2036
Adnane Abid runs his contract down
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Preußen Münster money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 May 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jesper Lindstrøm
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom19 May 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Preußen Münster
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market19 May 2036
Only the photograph left for Darío Ramírez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darío Ramírez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 May 2036
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market19 May 2036
The Lasse Eickel talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Preußen Münster know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 May 2036
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Preußen Münster could get for him.
The dugout19 May 2036
Mats Seiler 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 May 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jesper Lindstrøm
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 May 2036
The season ends: position 15 for Preußen Münster
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 29 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market12 May 2036
Adnane Abid has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 May 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.
Squad12 May 2036
Jano ter Horst 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.
Squad12 May 2036
Noah Karamoko 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.
Boardroom12 May 2036
112% of the income goes out in wages at Preußen Münster
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.
Market12 May 2036
“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 dugout12 May 2036
Kevin Danso 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 May 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Boardroom5 May 2036
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Preußen Münster can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 May 2036
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market5 May 2036
Mats Seiler 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 Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 May 2036
Jano ter Horst 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.
Boardroom5 May 2036
$2.8M from the owner keeps Preußen Münster afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad5 May 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 May 2036
The borrowing at Preußen Münster reaches $81.6M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $81.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market5 May 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Apr 2036
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Apr 2036
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Nürnberg, and it could have been more.
Market28 Apr 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.
Player ratings28 Apr 2036
A brace, and Adnane Abid takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adnane Abid provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Preußen Münster may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings28 Apr 2036
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market28 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Lasse Eickel 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Noah Karamoko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Apr 2036
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom21 Apr 2036
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Preußen Münster is running low.
Market21 Apr 2036
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Lasse Eickel 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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Words at Preußen Münster training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Karamoko 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.
Match19 Apr 2036
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Apr 2036
The manager makes an example of Kaio Eduardo
“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.
Boardroom21 Apr 2036
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Market14 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Emil Rohd runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Lasse Eickel 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 Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Preußen Münster training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Karamoko 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 dugout14 Apr 2036
The manager makes an example of Justin Heekeren
“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.
Match12 Apr 2036
A 2‑0 win over Magdeburg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.19, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Marked 8.01 — 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.
In brief
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Squad
Home is on Mohammed Hussein's mind
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Kevin Danso's mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Apr 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Match5 Apr 2036
0‑4 to FC Augsburg, 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Preußen Münster can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces7 Apr 2036
Anger at Preußen Münster spills outside the ground
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.
The dugout7 Apr 2036
Mats Seiler: 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.” Preußen Münster have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Lasse Eickel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead7 Apr 2036
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Mar 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
Market31 Mar 2036
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Mathieu Breton
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathieu Breton will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Jano ter Horst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Preußen Münster training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Danso 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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Preußen Münster is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market31 Mar 2036
“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 dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kasper Dolberg, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Mats Seiler'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Mar 2036
125 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom24 Mar 2036
Pressure builds in the Preußen Münster boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match24 Mar 2036
Every point is an argument now for Preußen Münster
Position 16 and 21 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Mar 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Mar 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Mar 2036
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Preußen Münster training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Karamoko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Mar 2036
Jesper Lindstrøm damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Market17 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.
Market17 Mar 2036
Adnane Abid has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Jano ter Horst 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.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“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.
Match15 Mar 2036
0‑2 to Darmstadt 98, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
Jano ter Horst 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Mar 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jesper Lindstrøm
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Mar 2036
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Lasse Eickel 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Mar 2036
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
The borrowing at Preußen Münster reaches $84.9M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $84.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
112% of the income goes out in wages at Preußen Münster
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Mar 2036
146 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad3 Mar 2036
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match1 Mar 2036
5 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 dugout3 Mar 2036
Mathieu Breton: 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.” Preußen Münster have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Mar 2036
Mathieu Breton has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Lasse Eickel 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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Noah Karamoko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
Pressure builds in the Preußen Münster boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market25 Feb 2036
Darío Ramírez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Feb 2036
4 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Lasse Eickel 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.
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Kenzo Goudmijn
“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.
Match23 Feb 2036
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Feb 2036
Only the photograph left for Adnane Abid
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adnane Abid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
“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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Lasse Eickel 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 Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Feb 2036
The shirt still fits. Lukas Mai is back at Preußen Münster, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
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 dugout18 Feb 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lasse Eickel, and the manager let it.
Match16 Feb 2036
St. Pauli left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Feb 2036
Yannis Lawson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market11 Feb 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.
Boardroom11 Feb 2036
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Darío Ramírez 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.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Jano ter Horst 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.
Match9 Feb 2036
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VfL Bochum have kept their man, and Preußen Münster go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Feb 2036
“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.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Feb 2036
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Jan 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Preußen Münster
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match26 Jan 2036
12 matches without a win, and then this, against Holstein Kiel. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market28 Jan 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom28 Jan 2036
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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Everybody at Preußen Münster saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Boardroom28 Jan 2036
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jan 2036
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Preußen Münster are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The terraces7 Jan 2036
Anger at Preußen Münster spills outside the ground
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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
33 days out for Bujar Pllana after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Preußen Münster will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Jan 2036
Only the photograph left for Brayan Nzita
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brayan Nzita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Nobody could get near Emil Rohd
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
Everything agreed with Mainz 05, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Lasse Eickel 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
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2035
Bujar Pllana breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Nov 2035
Yannis Lawson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Lasse Eickel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2035
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Noah Karamoko 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 Nov 2035
“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.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Brayan Nzita 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 Preußen Münster, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Nov 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Preußen Münster could get for him.
Market19 Nov 2035
The Lasse Eickel story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lasse Eickel signs something — a contract at Preußen Münster or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Oct 2035
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Oct 2035
103 days out for Bujar Pllana after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Preußen Münster will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Oct 2035
Matthew Clarke has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Jano ter Horst 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 Oct 2035
Noah Karamoko 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 dugout29 Oct 2035
“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.
The dugout29 Oct 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 dugout29 Oct 2035
Mats Seiler 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.
Market29 Oct 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Octavio Martínez has his answer from Preußen Münster; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2035
0‑3 to St. Pauli, 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.
Market8 Oct 2035
“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 Preußen Münster, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Oct 2035
Mariusz Kutwa has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Preußen Münster they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Lasse Eickel 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Justin Heekeren
“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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2035
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Preußen Münster lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Preußen Münster may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Sep 2035
Only the photograph left for Brayan Nzita
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brayan Nzita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Preußen Münster this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Köln have kept their man, and Preußen Münster go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Sep 2035
0‑1 to Holstein Kiel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Sep 2035
7 new faces, and Preußen Münster 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 Sep 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jano ter Horst
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Sep 2035
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lasse Eickel reports back to Preußen Münster with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Preußen Münster may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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.
Market10 Sep 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Preußen Münster is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Lasse Eickel 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Noah Karamoko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jano ter Horst
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Preußen Münster lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Preußen Münster people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Preußen Münster will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobias van den Elshout will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Preußen Münster the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jul 2035
Brayan Nzita 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 Preußen Münster can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Jano ter Horst 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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Noah Karamoko gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Noah Karamoko has just signed for Preußen Münster, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
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 dugout30 Jul 2035
“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.