Renald Xhemo damages knee ligaments — 103 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.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 Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Dossche was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Le Puy Foot 43 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Le Puy Foot 43 could ask drops and the wages Mark Gulič can ask rise.
In brief
The dugoutGregor Vigla asks for a word with the manager
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Le Puy Foot 43 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yanis Rafii 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.
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.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Le Puy Foot 43 know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
11 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.
“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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
10 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.
“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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Moussa Faty 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SM Caen have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Moussa Faty 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naël Moussa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
9 combined actions and 7.06. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Le Puy Foot 43, another week without a signature from Roger Tamba.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Le Puy Foot 43 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naël Moussa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Le Puy Foot 43 has been clear about where Nikolay Kozlov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Le Puy Foot 43 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Le Puy Foot 43 could ask drops and the wages Mark Gulič can ask rise.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Dossche 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Le Puy Foot 43 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Le Puy Foot 43 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Le Puy Foot 43 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Dossche was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mark Gulič has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Le Puy Foot 43 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Eldin Gustafsson has, at Le Puy Foot 43, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naël Moussa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with SM Caen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Radja Hazard has just signed for Le Puy Foot 43, and for once the answer mattered.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Naël Moussa 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.