The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MB Rouissat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Redouane Maachou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sofiane Mahrez 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. Islam Ounas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Belgourai is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Soufiane Aznabet 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
BoardroomMB Rouissat pull $2.0M back off the table
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ghilas Belgacem is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Redouane Maachou 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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 mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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. 109 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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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 Jun 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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.
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.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Siaka Bagayoko is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Georg Schmidt has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MB Rouissat, and 6 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kheiredine Merzougui provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at MB Rouissat pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
17 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Georg Schmidt 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 MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kheiredine Merzougui and MB Rouissat agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MB Rouissat, and 0 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mas´ud Danjuma at his very best
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at MB Rouissat has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at MB Rouissat will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MB Rouissat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
13 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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. 46 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 terraces31 Jan 2028
The mood at MB Rouissat has turned into something else
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.
12 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. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
11 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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 Jan 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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. 71 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MB Rouissat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Soufiane Aznabet 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.
Add another name to the list: MC El Bayadh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Naoufel Merdja. The answer from MB Rouissat has not changed — yet.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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 MC Alger ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when MB Rouissat equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 14 and 11 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
154 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Fouad Rahmani 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MB Rouissat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
161 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
Position 14 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fouad Rahmani 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 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 MB Rouissat, 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 MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.47, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fouad Rahmani 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MB Rouissat know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kheiredine Merzougui and MB Rouissat agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Redouane Maachou 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 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Belgourai is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MB Rouissat has been clear about where Mouad Redjem stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Georg Schmidt made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djafar Zabaiou is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Hamza Yacoub is a MB Rouissat player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at MB Rouissat
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ridha Djahdou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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; Youcef Bellahcene recited it perfectly.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jordan Vale commits to MB Rouissat for another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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 terraces19 Jul 2027
MB Rouissat spend $150.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $150.0K for Youssouf Benhemada, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadWords at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
1 for Mohamed Belgourai, marked 7.22, 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.
Khiry Shelton 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Aznabet 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.