A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.77 for the rest of it.
Dender had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Trabzonspor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dender are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alireza Jahanbakhsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dender this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dender asked and Stade Brestois said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Dender are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 The request is on a desk at Dender, and it is not being withdrawn.
Guillaume Dietsch has gone, the accounts have $1.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
David Toševski 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dender can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Dender training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alireza Jahanbakhsh 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.
Dender asked and Fenerbahce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dender have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Roman Květ 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 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.
Nobody at Dender 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dender they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Panos Katseris 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Dender is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dender know it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Dender training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Camara 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Sittard lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to Twente, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard 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 Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dennis Man from PSV for $28.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mees Hilgers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard 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.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with FC Copenhagen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Copenhagen have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wesley Aké 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Donny De Vrij 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Denzel De Jong is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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 Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mees Hilgers 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Copenhagen have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yassin Oukili 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nick Marsman and Fortuna Sittard agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fortuna Sittard have made the call to Lech. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ilyas el Moussaoui is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jasper Dahlhaus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Zwolle for Paul Gladon was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Edouard Michut 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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and FC Nordsjaelland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassin Oukili 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.
San Jose Earthquakes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Fortuna Sittard have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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 Paul Gladon has written the date down.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Moussa Gbemou and Fortuna Sittard agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Sittard, another week without a signature from Mees Hilgers.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Yassin Oukili 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.
Waasland-Beveren have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“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 Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mees Hilgers 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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Jasper Dahlhaus is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edouard Michut signs something — a contract at Fortuna Sittard or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Justin Lonwijk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bloemfontein Celtic have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Gladon 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Sittard know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Fortuna Sittard that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The deal with AZ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattijs Branderhorst and Fortuna Sittard agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mees Hilgers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Edouard Michut 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZ have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Calvin De Ligt 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bas Blind 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mees Hilgers 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.
Edouard Michut 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Sittard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fortuna Sittard. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Sittard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Yassin Oukili 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fortuna Sittard can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Sittard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard 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 Fortuna Sittard can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Mees Hilgers 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Melle Witteveen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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 Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fortuna Sittard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Sittard 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.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
Edouard Michut 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Damian van der Haar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Two goals and a mark of 7.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tristan Schenkhuizen has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Fortuna Sittard will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortuna Sittard has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mees Hilgers 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Fortuna Sittard know it.
Yassin Oukili 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.
“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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Owen Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Arnold Vula
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
“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 Sittard, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Sittard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fortuna Sittard can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Fortuna Sittard know now that the thought has arrived.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Owen Lang after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mees Hilgers 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Fortuna Sittard pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Fortuna Sittard will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Owen Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fortuna Sittard has been clear about where Yassin Oukili stands, which is more than many ever get.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Sittard have done the hard part with Beerschot, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Luis Rioja 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edouard Michut and Fortuna Sittard agree another 5 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Fortuna Sittard close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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 Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Kevin Felida has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Fortuna Sittard have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Fortuna Sittard will try again when the window opens; Heerenveen may not be selling by then.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Sittard lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4 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.
Fortuna Sittard have gone to NAC Breda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mees Hilgers 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZ have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yassin Oukili 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Sittard will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Las Palmas is saying, and nobody at Fortuna Sittard is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bloemfontein Celtic have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mees Hilgers 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Fortuna Sittard will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Edouard Michut 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.
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Owen Lang could afford to be generous.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
7.65, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mees Hilgers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Justin Hubner 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Sparta Rotterdam leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Owen Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iván Márquez, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Yassin Oukili
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.