Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Galactik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ahmat Ndoram 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ahmat Ndoram 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.
a squad player 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.
Nobody at Galactik 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 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.
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 Galactik would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AS PSI keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $27.0K has been paid because Idriss Mbainaissem is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Abanga Mahamat Youssouf 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Idriss Souleymane 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Issa Moustapha is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saleh Adoum 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 Idriss Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Galactik will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Galactik have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have shaken hands with AS PSI; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Bechir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Galactik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$27.0K on the table at AS Algoy. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$22.0K was the most the club would pay and Stars Jeunes Talents were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ahmat Ndoram 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.
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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AS Etat Major had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idriss Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Oumar Tokindang is on it.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Etat Major waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Saleh Hissein again, and this time the name on the line is Gazelle. AS Algoy are listening politely and promising nothing.
Youssouf Ndoram 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 Abdramane Moustapha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS DGSSIE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brahim Souleymane 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idriss Mbainaissem 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.
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.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Ngaradoumbe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Algoy 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 Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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 Ali Abba is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Ndoram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Youssouf Ndoram 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.
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.
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 Abba is on 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 Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
An order from above at AS Algoy: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moussa Ngaradoumbe and AS Algoy agree another 2 years.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdramane Moustapha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Issa Djimet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brahim Souleymane signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Abba is on 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.
Brahim Souleymane 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Saleh Moustapha is the division's best young player this month
At 17 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. AS Algoy will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idriss Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument AS Algoy will have this month.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument AS Algoy will have this month.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pierre Oyongo signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutOumar Tokindang has become a man the manager trusts
MatchContinental football is in reach for AS Algoy
The dugoutBrahim Ndoram knocks on the manager's door
Successful dribbles: 32. 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 Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Youssouf Ndoram 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Abdoulaye Haroun to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdramane Moustapha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 4 times, 1 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Renaissance go through and AS Algoy go home, 0‑6 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Moustapha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ali Abba did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS Algoy and Renaissance, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marius 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.