Marked for Brahim Adoum
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The offer went to Elect Sport this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Achimi, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan move for Hassan Hissein is in the works
Gazelle have made the call to US Moursal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Brahim Adoum 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
Osée Natoyoum damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
$43.0K on the table at Elect Sport. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Achimi 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 dugout26 Jun 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market26 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market26 Jun 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Armand Moreau may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Gazelle will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Osée Natoyoum
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gazelle lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gazelle have done the hard part with US Moursal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The offer went to Elect Sport this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Brahim Moustapha has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Dylan Achimi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brahim Adoum 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager makes an example of George Wallace
“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 dugout15 May 2028
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 Bedis Matoussi is on it.
Market15 May 2028
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Gazelle could ask drops and the wages Aliou Souleyman Hendji can ask rise.
Market15 May 2028
The name of Dylan Achimi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gazelle say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Gazelle has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
A falling-out at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gazelle can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 May 2028
Osée Natoyoum 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 dugout8 May 2028
This is not rotation. Brahim Moustapha has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom8 May 2028
87% of the income goes out in wages at Gazelle
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Bedis Matoussi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bedis Matoussi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Gazelle have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Armand Moreau, and the manager let it.
Market29 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gazelle, another week without a signature from Aliou Souleyman Hendji.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Dylan Achimi 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 Gazelle, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.
Market29 Nov 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Brahim Adoum may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
Adoum Fachir hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
No deal for Cleo Ssetuba at that price
Gazelle offered $36.0K; AFC Leopards said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Gazelle asked and Foullah Edifice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Osée Natoyoum 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 Jul 2027
“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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mark Ojong’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Brahim Adoum 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The offer went to AFC Leopards this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Gazelle asked and Foullah Edifice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osée Natoyoum 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdramane Mbainaissem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brahim Adoum is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marius 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
One of our own: Adam Djimet joins the Gazelle first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Djimet is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saleh Doungous, and the manager let it.