Marked for Arnaud Ntcham
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Oct 2035
16 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Luke Kenda 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Luke Kenda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match27 Oct 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Christian Song to a room that had heard them before.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Arnaud Ntcham 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.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Oyongo
“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 dugout29 Oct 2035
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Pierre Hongla has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dynamo Douala will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Oct 2035
No end in sight to Dynamo Douala's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dynamo Douala has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces22 Oct 2035
Anger at Dynamo Douala spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match20 Oct 2035
10 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Luke Kenda 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
This is not rotation. Maxime Toko-Ekambi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dynamo Douala is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Oct 2035
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Stephane Mbia knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
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 1‑2 Christian Song left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arnaud Ntcham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2035
Luke Kenda 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 Dynamo Douala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cotonsport Garoua have kept their man, and Dynamo Douala go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Kameni and Dynamo Douala agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arnaud Ntcham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
The manager makes an example of Samuel Kameni
“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 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
Dynamo Douala spent the window trying to move Falahidine Saïd-Ahamada on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Market10 Sep 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dynamo Douala, another week without a signature from Edgar Moukandjo.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Aug 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dynamo Douala can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Luke Kenda 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 Dynamo Douala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cotonsport Garoua have kept their man, and Dynamo Douala go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Aug 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arnaud Ntcham commits to Dynamo Douala for another 3 years.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A loan enquiry to Panthere du Nde: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout13 Aug 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.
Market13 Aug 2035
The clock does Franck Bekono’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dynamo Douala could ask drops and the wages Franck Bekono can ask rise.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
Herve Ngamaleu 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Jan 2035
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
No thanks: Maxime Mbarga rejects the move
Dynamo Douala had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cotonsport Garoua, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Luke Kenda 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
Dynamo Douala asked and Cotonsport Garoua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match6 Jan 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Jan 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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arnaud Ntcham and Dynamo Douala agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
“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.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
Luke Kenda has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dynamo Douala 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
Crisis
Market1 Jan 2035
“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 Dynamo Douala, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Luke Kenda 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.
Match30 Dec 2034
0‑1 to Panthere du Nde, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market1 Jan 2035
“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 dugout1 Jan 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad1 Jan 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Collins Embolo commits to Dynamo Douala for another 3 years.
The dugout1 Jan 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 dugout1 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Ganago, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Jan 2035
A first team debut at 16 for Arnaud Ntcham
Off the academy pitches and into a senior shirt, at 16. The parents in the stand will keep the programme, and so will he.