Marked for Ezechiel Oumar
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Stars Jeunes Talents is running low.
Match20 Sep 2027
Position 12 and 10 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market20 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Stars Jeunes Talents, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdramane Abba is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Adam Haroun in a row with a teammate
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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Brahim Tokindang out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stars Jeunes Talents will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Sep 2027
AS PSI come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stars Jeunes Talents did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market6 Sep 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stars Jeunes Talents have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Ezechiel Oumar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Youssouf Allamine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Marius Djimet has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“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 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Patrick Dawa knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stars Jeunes Talents have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Youssouf Allamine 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djibrine Abakar is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
“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 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Patrick Dawa asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 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 Stars Jeunes Talents can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Stars Jeunes Talents will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market16 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Stars Jeunes Talents have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“I watch every Stars Jeunes Talents game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS DGSSIE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Abba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Oumar Ngaradoumbe has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Jul 2027
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.
Match26 Jul 2027
Position 12 and 10 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stars Jeunes Talents people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jul 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer from Galactik for Oumar Ngaradoumbe 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Oumar Abba 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
Crisis
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Galactik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stars Jeunes Talents is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 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 Stars Jeunes Talents can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jun 2027
Michael Iheanacho has left for Aiglons in a $4.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Adam Souleymane 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Abdramane Abba knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Questions about Patrick Dawa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 May 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 dugout24 May 2027
Patrick Dawa: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stars Jeunes Talents have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 May 2027
Issa Oumar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Moussa Souleymane’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
Adam Bechir knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Bechir trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad17 May 2027
The training reports on Michael Iheanacho are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
Squad17 May 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Stars Jeunes Talents and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.