Marked for Lucas Dalsgaard
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sərtan Taşkın
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalborg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Cody Drameh 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Aalborg
Gabriel Larsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Aalborg are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Aalborg told Fawaz Abdullahi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market15 Nov 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 May 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aalborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 May 2032
William Clem 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.
Squad24 May 2032
A falling-out at Aalborg
Mathijs Tielemans and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2032
A muscle injury sidelines Gaute Vetti for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aalborg will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout24 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Issa Niaré, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2032
Sam Dalby knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sam Dalby trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Apr 2032
Joran Gerbet has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aalborg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Apr 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 Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Merijn van de Wiel has just signed for Aalborg, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Cody Drameh 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Merijn van de Wiel and Aalborg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Johan Kury
“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.
Market26 Apr 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market26 Apr 2032
Aalborg shop where it costs nothing
Merijn van de Wiel signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 2032
Only the photograph left for Fredrik Nissen
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fredrik Nissen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aalborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Aalborg
Luca Kjerrumgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Cody Drameh 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
The medical room confirms 38 days on the sidelines for Marcus Emil Sørensen, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pontus Almqvist trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Aalborg would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Mar 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market15 Mar 2032
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Aalborg money.