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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saleh Ngaradoumbe has come out of that comparison in the side, and AS Algoy have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ahmat Ndoram 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.
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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and AS Algoy have had the benefit 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy 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 Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.
Djibrine Mahamat is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel Abakar 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Saleh Ngaradoumbe is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Algoy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saleh Ngaradoumbe and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. AS Algoy deserved better, and so did he.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mahamat Adoum is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
The name of Djibrine Mahamat has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
The terraces22 Jan 2029
The mood at AS Algoy 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.
CotonTchad will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AS Algoy were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS Algoy.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel Abakar 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 at AS Algoy 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 Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
“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 Algoy, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mahamat Youssouf will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
“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 Algoy, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamat Tokindang 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 Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Idriss Mbaiguedem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamat Adoum 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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Idriss Abba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.