Marked for Noah Mapolin
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 May 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Charlton Athletic is running low.
Squad28 May 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Charlton Athletic may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 May 2029
Lloyd Jones 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 Charlton Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 May 2029
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 May 2029
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Logan Williams, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 May 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 May 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Charlton Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2029
Will Collar 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 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Peter van Ooijen and Charlton Athletic agree another 1 years.
Squad21 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 May 2029
The Lloyd Jones talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Charlton Athletic know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad21 May 2029
Somebody is after Kayne Ramsay’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Kayne Ramsay suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Charlton Athletic have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Nov 2028
A one-man rearguard from Owen Foster
There were 12 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Andorra's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Andorra has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the Andorra boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market6 Nov 2028
“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 Andorra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Aingeru Olabarrieta 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
As if he never left: Noah Mapolin returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Noah Mapolin is a Andorra player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Match4 Nov 2028
Zaragoza left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Manu Nieto runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Cambuur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Armando Obispo 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Daan Visser gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Sky Heesen 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 Cambuur, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Wiebe Kooistra keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Cambuur say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Nerves in the Cambuur squad
Armando Obispo has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Cambuur's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cambuur has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Cambuur
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Leroy Fränkel: 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.” Cambuur have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Apr 2028
At 21, Wiebe Kooistra is already the best thing here
An average of 7.16 in a first team he is several years too young for. Cambuur have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cambuur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Apr 2028
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.