The Sparta Rotterdam Chronicle
Market12 Mar 2035
Sofiane Tahri puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Sparta Rotterdam, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Sofiane Tahri
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sofiane Tahri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sparta Rotterdam the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
Vintage Crysencio Summerville — 8.07
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Tibor Knaus says Sparta Rotterdam went back on their word
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Tempers go at Sparta Rotterdam
Amadou Ba 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 terraces12 Mar 2035
The crowd has taken to Patrick Dumfries
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match10 Mar 2035
Sparta Rotterdam get the job done against Almere City
A 1‑0 win over Almere City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
Nobody could get near Patrick Dumfries
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Will Freney 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.
In brief
- Squad Home is on Lucas Lima's mind
- The dugout A promise honoured for Crysencio Summerville
- Squad A last season at home is what Lucas Lima is after