“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Markus Dragovic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telstar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Markus Dragovic has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Justin Devenny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marco Boras 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daley Xavi Simons will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Telstar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Devenny 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.
Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
MVV Maastricht will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Telstar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naledi Hlongwane provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Amir Ammi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Márk Bíró is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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.
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Telstar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Devenny 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.
Joshua Cantt 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Omar Achouitar's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naledi Hlongwane provided it, and the 7.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rick Aké has just signed for Telstar, and for once the answer mattered.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Hateboer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 4‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.