Marked for Antônio Andrade
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to KV Mechelen's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KV Mechelen has to find a result from somewhere.
Market8 Jan 2029
KV Kortrijk come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and KV Mechelen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
KV Mechelen asked and Anderlecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Mechelen can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
No thanks: Karol Borys rejects the move
KV Mechelen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Westerlo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Mike Eerdhuijzen 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Bilal Bafdili again, and this time the name on the line is KAA Gent. KV Mechelen are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Hamza Sakhi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match6 Jan 2029
3 matches without a goal for KV Mechelen
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Oct 2028
A European night to remember for KV Mechelen
0‑0 against Keflavik, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Oct 2028
5 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.
Match29 Oct 2028
10 matches without defeat, and then Standard Liege. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match29 Oct 2028
The goals have deserted KV Mechelen
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KV Mechelen can tell you which week it ends in.
Match29 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lennart Mertens falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The team sheet said everything about Divock Origi
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Divock Origi.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KV Mechelen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market11 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Mechelen can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Sep 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lennart Mertens reports back to KV Mechelen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Hamza Sakhi wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and KV Mechelen know now that the thought has arrived.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bilal Bafdili, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I want to play”: Tobias Lawal speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad11 Sep 2028
KV Mechelen are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KV Mechelen, another week without a signature from Bilal Bafdili.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Alfie Kilgour falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
“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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KV Mechelen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Sep 2027
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
KV Mechelen close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 13 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Mechelen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Marsà was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Antônio Andrade is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. KV Mechelen will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Lennart Mertens
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 Sep 2027
KV Mechelen are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match28 Aug 2027
Beaten 2‑5 by Racing Genk, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match25 Aug 2027
Mouscron bow out of the cup
Club Brugge go through and Mouscron go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market30 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
A cup hiding at Club Brugge leaves Mouscron explaining themselves
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eden Witsel 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonas Albenas 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Mouscron will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Mouscron academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Lois De Bruyne has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mouscron 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Aiham Ousou
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mouscron have done the hard part with Charleroi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Noé Verron is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eden Witsel 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Louka Gautier commits to Mouscron for another 5 years.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Standard Liege 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
KAA Gent 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 May 2027
David Bates falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 May 2027
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad10 May 2027
A muscle injury and 19 days out for Tsubasa Nishi
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mouscron will quote 19 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout10 May 2027
Lois De Bruyne has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mouscron 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 dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hans Fellaini, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Oumare Tounkara damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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 Apr 2027
The step up is real for Noé Verron
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Mouscron is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jens Cools and Mouscron agree another 2 years.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Izu Onunta
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mouscron. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mouscron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The step up is real for Izu Onunta
At 19 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Mouscron
David Bates 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 Mar 2027
Jens Cools is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Livio Milts
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
Oumare Tounkara damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Howson 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jerson Cabral and Mouscron agree another 1 years.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
20 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.