The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mohamed-Ali Cho 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OGC Nice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Dec 2040
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djaoui Cissé 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Clermont Foot the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that OGC Nice will enjoy reviewing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around OGC Nice they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 for Moctar Guirassy, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Robert Duval will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around OGC Nice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stade Lavallois will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. OGC Nice were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings10 Sep 2040
A brace, and Marco Romano takes the afternoon — 7.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marco Romano provided it, and the 7.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mohamed-Ali Cho 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OGC Nice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match8 Sep 2040
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for OGC Nice. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
197 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mohamed-Ali Cho 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OGC Nice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The mood at OGC Nice has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mohamed-Ali Cho 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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 OGC Nice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed-Ali Cho 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.
Squad9 Jul 2040
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siyabonga Mabena 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OGC Nice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Nimes for Siyabonga Mabena 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at OGC Nice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OGC Nice can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OGC Nice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 May 2040
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djaoui Cissé 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2040
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djaoui Cissé 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.
The mood at OGC Nice has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad12 Dec 2039
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djaoui Cissé 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sofiane Diop 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nathan Simons has just signed for OGC Nice, and for once the answer mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OGC Nice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sofiane Diop 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.
Squad16 May 2039
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isak Jansson 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Apr 2039
Words at OGC Nice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moïse Bombito 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Mar 2039
Isak Jansson 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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. OGC Nice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 OGC Nice, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OGC Nice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2039
Isak Jansson 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.