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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leroy Fränkel 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Lommel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lommel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olivier Aertssen 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mamadou Ndiaye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ryan Ogam 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8 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 Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Otávio's mistake
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Timon Railić has just signed for Lommel, and for once the answer mattered.
“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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leroy Fränkel 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑4 to Club Brugge, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Forsberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Vando Félix.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lommel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam 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 goal that put Standard Liege ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Lommel equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frederick Reuter, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Deiro Ochoa 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.
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.
Position 15 and 15 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel 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 Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Joshua Onyeka has come up in conversations Lommel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Moreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Lommel close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
$580.0K on the table at Anderlecht. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Everything agreed with Racing Genk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
6 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 clubs have shaken hands with Club Brugge; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ryan Ogam 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. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Lommel training over how hard people work
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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lommel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 33 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kenny Olinga 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
MatchÁlex Rubio among the goals in a wild afternoon
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OH Leuven waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lommel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Lommel 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.
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kenny Olinga 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
0‑3 to KV Mechelen, 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.
The offer from Charlton Athletic for Blake Irow 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Standard Liege, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Lommel 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.
Ryan Ogam 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Union SG left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Álex Rubio’s negotiating for him
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Lommel know it.
Ryan Ogam 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
2‑6 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 15 and 6 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Frederick Reuter has just signed for Lommel, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Lommel and Club Brugge in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
10 new faces, and Lommel are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Club Brugge.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Otávio is still paying for one afternoon at Lommel
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ryan Ogam provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Forsberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Joe Bhaskaran 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.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
14 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Lommel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Vando Félix 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Tomás Mendes 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ryan Ogam 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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Felipe Mosquera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutOtávio is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomé Almeida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gaëtan Accard is living that version at Lommel, and it tends to show in the first month.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
8 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lommel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ryan Ogam 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. Jaiz Benjaddi has, at Lommel, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nahil Kanté has just signed for Lommel, and for once the answer mattered.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Vando Félix.
In brief
The dugoutBen Winterburn asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Otávio's mistake
MarketThe clock does Ben Winterburn’s negotiating for him
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 23 gone
That is the business done at Lommel until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokeren-Temse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lommel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Union SG 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.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Paulo Moreira, marked 7.62, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomé Almeida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Anderlecht is saying, and nobody at Lommel is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Ryan Ogam 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.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lommel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to Charleroi, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lommel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Standard Liege, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Olivier Aertssen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lucas Forsberg reports back to Lommel with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel 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 Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel 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. Lommel have done the hard part with Anderlecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tomé Almeida has agreed terms with Dender for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Ryan Ogam 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. KAA Gent have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Moreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adnan Openda is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timothy Onana is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Charles Januzaj has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
SquadWords at Lommel training over how hard people work
Squad7 new faces, and Lommel are still learning each other
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alie Conteh
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lommel asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadPaulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Westerlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lommel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
Ryan Ogam 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. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Lommel 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 Paulo Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lommel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with RAAL La Louviere; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Leroy Fränkel has, at Lommel, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lommel have done the hard part with Standard Liege, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Lommel have paid $820.0K for Timothy Castagne, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $230.0K has been paid because Blake Irow is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Lommel and Waasland-Beveren have settled on $820.0K. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Forsberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Lommel, 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 Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Moreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lommel has been clear about where Harry Leonard stands, which is more than many ever get.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam 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.
Lokeren-Temse will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Samuele Capolupo has pre-agreed a move to Lommel, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad28 May 2035
Tomás Mendes 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 new man at Lommel has worked with Diego Robles before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lommel are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Lucas Ness.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lommel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Lommel can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel 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 Lommel 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 Tomás Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Álex Rubio is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The new man at Lommel has worked with Diego Robles before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cyrill Emch will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Lucas Forsberg.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Mendes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Mar 2035
8 new faces, and Lommel are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Position 12 on 31 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 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 Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Artem Husol 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Moreira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Forsberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cyrill Emch has agreed terms with Antwerp for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Artem Husol 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 shirt still fits. Tomás Mendes is back at Lommel, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tomás Mendes is living that version at Lommel, and it tends to show in the first month.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Valentín Adamo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Lommel have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Lommel asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Paulo Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahima Cissé will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Joe Bhaskaran 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lommel dressing room was either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bertil Grønkjær has his answer from Lommel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel 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 Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ryan Ogam. 1‑0 against RWDM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lommel had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lommel told Filip Stevanović something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ibrahima Cissé
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lommel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ryan Ogam 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luis Escorcia wants continental football; whether Lommel can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Lommel are still learning each other
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cameron Ashia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lommel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ryan Ogam 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Filip Stevanović has his answer from Lommel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lommel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ryan Ogam provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from FH for Benoný Breki Andrésson 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Racing Genk; Lommel go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ryan Ogam 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. Union SG have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
0‑4 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lommel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lommel have done the hard part with Racing Genk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luis Escorcia wants continental football; whether Lommel can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FH waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lommel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from FH for Benoný Breki Andrésson 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lommel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ryan Ogam 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.
10 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Lommel asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lommel asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Standard Liege 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.
Lommel have made the call to Standard Liege. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miguel Vieira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Lommel, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Lommel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2034
5 new faces, and Lommel are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lommel, another week without a signature from Luis Escorcia.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lommel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lommel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Standard Liege 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.
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.
Ryan Ogam 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 131 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Racing Genk is saying, and nobody at Lommel is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A loan enquiry to Standard Liege: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A loan enquiry to Standard Liege: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Miguel Vieira’s negotiating for him
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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Lommel will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Lommel asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Standard Liege, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Union SG keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Lommel asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lommel have done the hard part with Union SG, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ryan Ogam 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.
Lommel asked and Union SG said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Lommel are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Standard Liege 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lommel 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 Lommel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cyrill Emch has, at Lommel, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad29 May 2034
Dawid Bugaj 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.
KV Mechelen will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Raphael van Geelkerken has pre-agreed a move to Lommel, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lommel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ryan Ogam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2034
Words at Lommel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Bugaj 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lommel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lommel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.