Marked for Belia
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Nov 2029
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
46 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Nov 2029
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Mostaganem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market19 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Belia keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Mohamed Taib 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 ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Ridha Djahdou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Nov 2029
CS Constantine left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faik Amrane, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jun 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ES Mostaganem people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The offer went to CR Belouizdad this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The offer went to JS Kabylie this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Mohamed Abdelsalam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Chouaib Boulkaboul 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
The Ali Haroun talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ES Mostaganem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Adem Aichouche 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 ES Mostaganem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Supporters organise against the ES Mostaganem board
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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
Pressure builds in the ES Mostaganem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdelhafid Benamara 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
No hiding place for Belia
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Belia, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djamel Benlamri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 May 2029
Every point is an argument now for ES Mostaganem
Position 16 and 9 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 May 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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 dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Hachoud, and the manager let it.
Squad14 May 2029
Chouaib Boulkaboul 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 dugout14 May 2029
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.
Squad14 May 2029
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at ES Mostaganem says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The dugout14 May 2029
The manager makes Belia a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ES Mostaganem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
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.
Squad7 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taher Ben Khelifa and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Mohamed Abdelsalam 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 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at ES Mostaganem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout7 May 2029
Mehdi Zeffane loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Mehdi Zeffane's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout7 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Belia
“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.
The dugout7 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Hachoud trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ES Mostaganem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Anger at ES Mostaganem spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ES Mostaganem is running low.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chouaib Boulkaboul 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 dugout23 Apr 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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager makes Belia a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ES Mostaganem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Apr 2029
Position 16, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market16 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Taib, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djamel Benlamri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chouaib Boulkaboul 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Belia 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Mohamed Taib knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Taib trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ES Mostaganem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at ES Mostaganem says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
29 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
Supporters organise against the ES Mostaganem board
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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ES Mostaganem
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market26 Feb 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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Feb 2029
6 matches without a goal for ES Mostaganem
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Zeffane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ali Ehab signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Ehab commits to ES Mostaganem for another 4 years.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Belia
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Nov 2028
16 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Match25 Nov 2028
15 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ES Mostaganem can tell you which week it ends in.
Match27 Nov 2028
Position 16, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Zeffane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
No hiding place for Belia
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Belia, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match23 Sep 2028
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.
Match23 Sep 2028
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Mohamed Taib 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 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djamel Benlamri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Belia 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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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 ES Mostaganem dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ES Mostaganem
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Belia gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Belia has just signed for ES Mostaganem, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Harrogate Town, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Abdou Sissoko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
ES Mostaganem asked and Paradou 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 dugout26 Jun 2028
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“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.