The mood at Galactik has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Galactik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
8 new faces, and Galactik are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Benjamin Ngakoutou signs something — a contract at Galactik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The mood at Galactik has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Galactik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 12 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Galactik can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Galactik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ahmat Mbaiguedem 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Abba 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. Brahim Abakar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Galactik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 Galactik, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Galactik until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mahamat Abba from Stars Jeunes Talents for $36.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Galactik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
a squad player 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gazelle have kept their man, and Galactik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Lionel Samba was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Galactik says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Galactik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and Galactik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Galactik are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mahamat Haroun signs something — a contract at Galactik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Galactik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 12 and 17 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.
Galactik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stars Jeunes Talents, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mattéo Paumier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
$36.0K for a squad player, and Galactik supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: a squad player from Stars Jeunes Talents for $36.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Elect Sport have kept their man, and Galactik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
$36.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Galactik, the club has $36.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Oumar Oumar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gazelle have kept their man, and Stars Jeunes Talents go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stars Jeunes Talents, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stars Jeunes Talents will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. a squad player had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Stars Jeunes Talents had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at BA All Stars, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Stars Jeunes Talents have gone to AS Etat Major with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
“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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and 10 appearances in 44 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamat Tokindang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Galactik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stars Jeunes Talents, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Galactik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS PSI have kept their man, and Galactik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The deal that would have taken a squad player to AS DGSSIE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Stars Jeunes Talents with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Ousmane Hissein 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.
Stars Jeunes Talents asked and Aiglons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Stars Jeunes Talents game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Renaissance runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout8 Feb 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 1‑2 Narcisse Allamine left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ousmane Hissein's mistake
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Stars Jeunes Talents asked and CotonTchad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I did not go to AS DGSSIE to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stars Jeunes Talents and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
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.
Marked 8.64 — 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.
Abdramane Moustapha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stars Jeunes Talents can pretend not to have heard.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The chase for Oumar Mahamat ended with $33.0K changing hands and AS Algoy out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Oumar Oumar 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
3 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.
Stars Jeunes Talents asked and Hearts of Oak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stars Jeunes Talents asked and CotonTchad 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” a squad player has his answer from Stars Jeunes Talents; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I did not go to AS DGSSIE to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stars Jeunes Talents and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
AS Etat Major have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Ousmane Hissein 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 20 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.
“I did not go to Galactik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stars Jeunes Talents and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Narcisse Allamine after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stars Jeunes Talents can pretend not to have heard.
Ousmane Hissein was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Stars Jeunes Talents, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Questions about Marius Adoum on the training pitch
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Oumar Oumar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have kept their man, and Stars Jeunes Talents go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. a squad player is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
AS Etat Major have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Oumar Oumar 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 Ahmat Oumar has come up in conversations Stars Jeunes Talents were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Galactik paid $13.0K and Stars Jeunes Talents took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.