Marked for Patrick Mabouka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2032
Patrick Ekandjoum damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
Fee done, terms next for Samuel Handy
Stade Renard de Melong and Victoria United have settled on $690.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Stade Renard de Melong is running low.
Market28 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Moustapha Bissene 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
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 Desire Onguene is on it.
Market28 Jun 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sidoine Koularambai signs something — a contract at Stade Renard de Melong or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Patrick Ekandjoum
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stade Renard de Melong lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Jun 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Renard de Melong can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Panthere du Nde, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Stade Renard de Melong asked and Panthere du Nde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to Colombe du Dja et Lobo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
Emmanuel Ntcham 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2032
Patrick Ekandjoum damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Squad17 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Renard de Melong this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2032
Nobody at Stade Renard de Melong 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.
The dugout17 May 2032
Desire Onguene 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 Stade Renard de Melong, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2032
Patrick Ekandjoum damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
The terraces29 Mar 2032
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.
Match29 Mar 2032
Position 14 and 15 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.
Market29 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Moustapha Bissene 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 dugout29 Mar 2032
Stephane Ntcham has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stade Renard de Melong 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
The manager makes an example of Fabrice Kunde
“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.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
Yannick M'Boné 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 Stade Renard de Melong, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
51 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 May 2031
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stade Renard de Melong lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 May 2031
Moustapha Bissene 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.
Squad19 May 2031
Franck Ntsague 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 dugout19 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Patrick Mabouka
“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.
The dugout19 May 2031
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.