14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United 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 Victoria United people have started saying his name 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 The request is on a desk at Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Faustin Ambassa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Dynamo Douala is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Serge Daura 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Collins Fai 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aigle Royal de Moungo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Fortuna Mfou for Didier Nkomo Ossomba 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.
The deal with Unisport Bafang is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Collins Fai 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
8 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.
Serge Daura 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Collins Fai 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Collins Fai 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Nokoue was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.32 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.