The Excelsior Gazette
Squad16 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Nino Cappon out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Excelsior
4 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lars Ritzka 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
The goals have deserted Excelsior
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Excelsior can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Emeka Peters is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Excelsior
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alexandre Penetra 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
One of our own: Rick Timber joins the Excelsior first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rick Timber is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market16 Aug 2027
One of our own: Marco Berghuis joins the Excelsior first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Berghuis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Rick Timber joins the Excelsior first team
- Market Excelsior promote Jordy Brobbey from within
- Player ratings Thomas Buitink runs at them all day