“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The shirt still fits. Daley Lang is back at Excelsior, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The shirt still fits. Arnaut De Roon is back at Excelsior, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He is 20, and nobody at Excelsior signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kevin Khan is 19, and Excelsior have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Simon Janssen has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Excelsior know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
Daniel Mabomba is 20, and Excelsior have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jesper Mosselaar arrives at Excelsior with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Michel Driezen may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market8 Feb 2027
The window shut and Calvin Raatsie is still in the building
Excelsior spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Josh Briggs is 20, and Excelsior have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Adam Maher
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Jerry van Wolfgang is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Ian Paauwe, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jorrit Smeets will call it something else in private.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Excelsior pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Adam Maher will call it something else in private.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Tim Stengs is 16, and Excelsior have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
He is 16, and nobody at Excelsior signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.