Hassan Mahamat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 easiest signature of my career.” Hassan Mbainaissem and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 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.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
3‑8 to Renaissance, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Djibrine Oumar, 16, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between AS Etat Major and Renaissance, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Djibrine Oumar, 16, plays like he has been here for years — 9.94
A mark of 9.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oumar Allamine and AS Etat Major agree another 2 years.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between AS Etat Major and AS DGSSIE, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Hassan Mahamat 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 9.07 — 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between AS Etat Major and AS PSI, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 Etat Major 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Mahamat has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. AS Etat Major scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
A season average of 7.25 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marius Mahamat was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Moussa Mbainaissem commits to AS Etat Major for another 1 years.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Haroun, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ahmat Hissein scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Gazelle, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
A brace, and Saleh Abba takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saleh Abba provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7 goals in one match, Saleh Abba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AS Etat Major and Foullah Edifice.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
In brief
SquadWords at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ali Haroun to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdramane Ndoram 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.
In brief
The dugoutMoussa Doungous has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. AS Etat Major scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdoulaye Allamine did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djibrine Youssouf and AS Etat Major agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marius Mahamat has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Marius Mahamat was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
8.19. 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ali Haroun could afford to be generous.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Mbainaissem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djibrine Youssouf and AS Etat Major agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
1 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.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Ngaradoumbe has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marius Mahamat and AS Etat Major agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is 16, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
AS Etat Major ran out of time with AS PSI. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
AS PSI have accepted the money. What AS Etat Major do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
AS Etat Major close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brahim Youssouf is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Etat Major 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.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Djibrine Youssouf signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmat Ndoram will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
AS Etat Major asked and US Moursal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Narcisse Mahamat and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oumar Allamine trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ahmat Allamine and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Etat Major know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moussa Doungous and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Ezechiel Bechir is on it.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Ezechiel Allamine leaves AS Etat Major the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Mahamat has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Issa Mbainaissem has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Tokindang has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Hassan Mahamat 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 easiest signature of my career.” Idriss Mbainaissem and AS Etat Major agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Hissein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Ahmat Mbainaissem leaves AS Etat Major the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Etat Major know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
Brahim Youssouf 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Ahmat Ndoram again, and this time the name on the line is Gazelle. AS Etat Major are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 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 Moussa Doungous is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamat Moustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marius Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ahmat Mbaiguedem has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmat Ndoram will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS Etat Major could ask drops and the wages Hassan Mahamat can ask rise.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Hissein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marius Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AS Etat Major would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Mbainaissem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Hassan Mahamat 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 Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AS Etat Major would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AS Etat Major would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Youssouf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Mbainaissem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
He is 15, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Etat Major know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ali Haroun was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AS Etat Major dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gazelle? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdoulaye Allamine and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saleh Abba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Marius Mahamat scored in the 87th minute, AS Algoy had already begun thinking about the journey home, and AS Etat Major took the lot.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marius Mahamat. 3‑2 against AS Algoy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 16 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Narcisse Abba has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmat Bechir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Hissein has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
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.
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 Moussa Doungous is on it.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Etat Major know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Djibrine Oumar, 15, plays like he has been here for years — 9.04
A mark of 9.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The phone has started ringing about Brahim Youssouf again, and this time the name on the line is AS DGSSIE. AS Etat Major are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oumar Tokindang and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
“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 Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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 1‑3 Ali Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmat Mbaiguedem'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.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
Marked 4.80. 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ahmat Youssouf will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at AS Etat Major escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
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 Ahmat Youssouf to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. AS Etat Major rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and US Moursal had no answer to any of it.
The hardest thing about being 15 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Djibrine Oumar did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmat Mbaiguedem and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
At 15 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ali Haroun on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marius Tokindang’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Etat Major needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at AS Etat Major 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
1‑5 against CotonTchad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Brahim Youssouf is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS Etat Major and CotonTchad, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Hassan Mahamat 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 Nov 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 hardest thing about being 15 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Djibrine Oumar did not need any: 8.49, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Djibrine Oumar. 2‑1 against AS Algoy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS Etat Major.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ali Haroun on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Moussa Doungous is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Mbainaissem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassan Mahamat and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between AS Etat Major and Renaissance, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 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 AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Ahmat Youssouf 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AS Etat Major opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Ahmat Youssouf stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“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 Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djibrine Souleymane is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hassan Mbainaissem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmat Mbaiguedem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Etat Major, another week without a signature from Brahim Souleymane.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ali Haroun 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from US Bougouba for Marius Mahamat 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Hassan Mahamat has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AS Etat Major.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
In brief
The dugoutHassan Mahamat asks for a word with the manager
“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 Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
A conversation is coming this week. AS Etat Major will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marius Mahamat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AS Etat Major told Abdramane Ngaradoumbe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
He is 17, he is averaging 7.22, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7 goals in 6 games at AS PSI — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Etat Major updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Youssouf 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Hassan Mahamat's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmat Mbaiguedem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Hassan Mahamat 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Youssouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Etat Major can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djibrine Youssouf and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Galactik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.