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.
Florent Warna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdoulaye Abba's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adam Djimet signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezechiel Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Issa Abba has come out of that comparison in the side, and AS Algoy have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Algoy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hassan Doungous trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezechiel Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Algoy game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at US Moursal runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdoulaye Abba is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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 know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AS DGSSIE had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Sep 2026
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel Mbainaissem 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 watch every AS Algoy game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CotonTchad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdramane Abakar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
AS PSI arrived with $37.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Narcisse Mahamat has gone, the accounts have $37.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.0K has been paid because Djibrine Djimet is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
$15.0K was the most the club would pay and US Moursal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
AS Algoy spend $3.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.0K for Djibrine Djimet, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS Algoy 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 Narcisse Bechir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Adam Abakar 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 name of Hassan Doungous has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from US Moursal for Ezechiel Mbainaissem 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 name of Adam Djimet has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Hassan Allamine 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 Abdramane Doungous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.