31 goals and a season average of 7.49. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
A brace, and Eden Creol takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eden Creol provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Franky Tiambou 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 Feb 2035
Ashraf Magdy 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.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Dynamo Douala had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Aigle Royal de la Menoua did not stop to explain themselves.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Eden Creol 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodrigue Ele signs something — a contract at Aigle Royal de la Menoua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aigle Royal de la Menoua can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Colombe du Dja et Lobo for Luc Bide Ndohoungar 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aigle Royal de la Menoua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eden Creol 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.
Victoria United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Aigle Royal de la Menoua were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Eden Creol 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.
Match9 Dec 2034
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Aigle Royal de la Menoua. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Ashraf Magdy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
Seini Hamit was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua has to find a result from somewhere.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Okai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aigle Royal de la Menoua the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Elton Ndzeryuy 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.
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Bandile Dlamini will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Okai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aigle Royal de la Menoua the goodbyes have quietly begun.
73 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Eden Creol 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 needed Bandile Dlamini to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Fortuna Mfou, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Habdoullah Lifab and Aigle Royal de la Menoua agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Eden Creol 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.
Franky Tiambou 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.
Marked 5.37. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anass Serbouti and Aigle Royal de la Menoua agree another 2 years.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Collins Aboubakar 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. Andre Aboubakar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Elton Ndzeryuy 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.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gazelle Garoua moved on, Yehor Marchenko reports back to Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eden Creol 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and it is not being withdrawn.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aigle Royal de la Menoua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Michel Mbeumo is living that version at Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Habdoullah Lifab 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Okai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Eden Creol 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.
148 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ulrich Lobé 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 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.
155 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Fauve Azur Elite for Yehor Marchenko 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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Eden Creol 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.
Franky Tiambou 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. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ulrich Lobé 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. 94 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Feb 2034
Eden Creol 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. 108 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua, 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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Eden Creol’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aigle Royal de la Menoua.
Squad30 Jan 2034
Eden Creol 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.
Ulrich Lobé 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 needed William Ekanga Lobe to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Canon Yaounde, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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.
Aigle Royal de la Menoua have let the market know Alganam Doubay can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aigle Royal de la Menoua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Jan 2034
A brace, and Eden Creol takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eden Creol provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aigle Royal de la Menoua has been clear about where Samuel Okai stands, which is more than many ever get.