Marked for Pierre Ntcham
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Feb 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Feb 2036
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Fortuna Mfou until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Raphaël Agoua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Renato Verdi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
Nabil Mahrez gets picked when it counts
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 Nabil Mahrez is on it.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Marcel Ngamaleu
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Nov 2035
Gazelle Garoua will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Fortuna Mfou were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match26 Nov 2035
Fortuna Mfou are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Nov 2035
Whatever happens, Fortuna Mfou do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Sebastian Arnaud 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.
Match24 Nov 2035
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Didas Miafang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Nov 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pierre Ntcham commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Sep 2035
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Sebastian Arnaud 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.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2035
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nurudeen Araromi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
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 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market1 Oct 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Mfou, another week without a signature from Kyaharkat Danyaro.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Sep 2035
A muscle injury sidelines Nurudeen Araromi for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Fortuna Mfou will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Raphaël Agoua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Sep 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karl Moukoudi 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Landry Bassogog is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Sep 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Franck Dawa 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Karl Etame has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pierre Ntcham commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 3 years.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
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 dugout10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chidozie Ndidi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pierre Ntcham
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Raphaël Agoua 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 dugout30 Jul 2035
This is not rotation. Olivier Ngamaleu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Fortuna Mfou have made the call to Panthere du Nde. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
Joseph Mbock 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 Joseph Mbock trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2035
A fracture rules Hassan Ibrahim out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fortuna Mfou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Jul 2035
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Mfou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Jul 2035
A muscle injury and 17 days out for Marcel Ngamaleu
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Fortuna Mfou will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Didas Miafang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
The manager makes an example of Collins Mbeumo
“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 dugout23 Jul 2035
Serge Eloundou has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2035
63 days out for Hassan Ibrahim after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Mfou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Jul 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pierre Ntcham
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Jul 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Collins Mbeumo commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 4 years.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Didas Miafang 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 dugout16 Jul 2035
“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 dugout16 Jul 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2034
Amara Condé 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
This is not rotation. Olivier Ngamaleu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
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 Serge Eloundou is on it.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Benjamin Song 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.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2034
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gazelle Garoua in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcel Ngamaleu has written the date down.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Pierre Ntcham 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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
88 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout16 Oct 2034
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 Nurudeen Araromi is on it.
Market16 Oct 2034
“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.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Georges Ondoa
“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.
Market16 Oct 2034
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcel Ngamaleu has written the date down.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
Boris Siani 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.
Market16 Oct 2034
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Kendry Domingo arrives at Fortuna Mfou with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market16 Oct 2034
Still no signature from Boris Siani
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Fortuna Mfou could get for him.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Pierre Ntcham has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Pierre Ntcham keeps the shirt for now, at Fortuna Mfou's convenience rather than his own.