Marked for Birger Meling
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jul 2033
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. VfB Stuttgart lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces18 Jul 2033
Anger at VfB Stuttgart 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.
Squad18 Jul 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VfB Stuttgart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Jul 2033
Balša Papović hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VfB Stuttgart can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jul 2033
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal El Khannouss 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.
Squad18 Jul 2033
Marc Schulze is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market18 Jul 2033
Add another name to the list: Hamburger SV have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Otávio. The answer from VfB Stuttgart has not changed — yet.
The dugout18 Jul 2033
Tiago Tomás 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.
The dugout18 Jul 2033
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Apr 2033
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason VfB Stuttgart will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces25 Apr 2033
The mood at VfB Stuttgart has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market25 Apr 2033
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Apr 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VfB Stuttgart this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bilal El Khannouss 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 dugout25 Apr 2033
The manager makes an example of Fabian Bredlow
“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.
Market25 Apr 2033
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Birger Meling has his answer from VfB Stuttgart; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at VfB Stuttgart. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2032
Julian Brandt breaks a bone — 81 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Jul 2032
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ajax lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Jon Gallardo has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ajax can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
Tim Kleindienst: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Emergency meeting at Ajax
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market5 Jul 2032
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Tsygankov commits to Ajax for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jul 2032
Birger Meling has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2032
113 days out for Julian Brandt after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ajax will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Jun 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ajax have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Jun 2032
“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 Ajax, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Emergency meeting at Ajax
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ajax may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Jun 2032
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hilmir Rafn Mikaelsson has just signed for Ajax, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Jun 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tyrick Mitchell commits to Ajax for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2032
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ajax lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 May 2032
A fracture rules Julian Brandt out for 143 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ajax will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout10 May 2032
“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.
Market10 May 2032
“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 Ajax, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 May 2032
Only the photograph left for Birger Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Birger Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2032
Tim Kleindienst 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.
Boardroom10 May 2032
Wages swallow 178% of the Ajax income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout10 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hessel de Wit, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2032
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ajax lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Armando Obispo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Apr 2032
Only the photograph left for Birger Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Birger Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words at Ajax training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrick Mitchell 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
Wages swallow 345% of the Ajax income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad12 Apr 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Owen Wijndal 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 Owen Wijndal is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ajax, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2032
Matteo Bianchetti damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Match10 Mar 2032
The cup run ends for Ajax
0‑1 against PSV, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ajax may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market15 Mar 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Tempers go at Ajax
Julian Brandt 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.
Market15 Mar 2032
Only the photograph left for Birger Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Birger Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Feb 2032
The longest week starts now for Ajax
Beaten 0‑2 by PSV in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Squad16 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matteo Bianchetti
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ajax lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Feb 2032
PSV end the Ajax run at 18
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 18 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Match16 Feb 2032
67 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market16 Feb 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Tempers go at Ajax
Julian Brandt 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.
Market16 Feb 2032
Birger Meling has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market16 Feb 2032
The bid was some way short and Ajax did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Ajax training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrick Mitchell 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.