113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Servette lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Servette have gone to Yverdon 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.
Servette offered $24.0K; Young Boys said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Lars Villiger 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Servette this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Servette go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Servette 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.
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Villiger 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.
Mihajlo Banjac 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Servette are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Servette have no good answer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kyrylo Dihtiar signs something — a contract at Servette or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Lilian Njoh 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihajlo Banjac 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.
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 Luca Chierico is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Servette that is a harder question to answer.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Servette would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kyrylo Dihtiar signs something — a contract at Servette or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Servette will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Servette can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Stefan Posch 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Villiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Young Boys will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Edimilson Fernandes has pre-agreed a move to Servette, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Nobody at Servette 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.
In brief
The dugoutLamine Fomba knocks on the manager's door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Servette will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stefan Posch 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Villiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLilian Njoh asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Servette can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Beerschot for Sekou Diawara 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.
Servette asked and Stade Lausanne-Ouchy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Kelvin Dongopandji 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
“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 Servette, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Villiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 combined actions and 6.78. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ruben Rieder to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Servette 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.” Servette have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Houboulang Mendes 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.
6 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Lars Villiger 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.
7.29, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Servette had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ruben Rieder was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Servette dressing room was either.
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 Luca Chierico is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Servette can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Waldschmidt and Servette agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Lars Villiger 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.
Lilian Njoh 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.
Position 12, 7 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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.” Ruben Rieder chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
The dugoutLuca Chierico has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Stefan Posch 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 clock did what Étoile Carouge would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Villiger 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Servette can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Servette, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Luca Chierico is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Servette are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The deal with Cagliari 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Servette can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Žan Celar was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.3M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lars Villiger 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Como have kept their man, and Servette go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Hamburger SV 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.
The chase for Matteo Soncin ended with $470.0K changing hands and Sion out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$27.0K on the table at Young Boys. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ablie Jallow 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.
Nobody at Servette 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.
Lars Villiger 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.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miroslav Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Servette that is a harder question to answer.
Houboulang Mendes 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 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 Servette know it.
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.
Ricardo Rodríguez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miroslav Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Servette game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Nyonnais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léo Besson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Servette and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Noé Sow’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Servette this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miroslav Stevanović 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 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Servette, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Servette
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Ablie Jallow 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 Servette 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Servette would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Lars Villiger
Harry Darling 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 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.
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 Luca Chierico is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ablie Jallow trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Giacomo Koloto has written the date down.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Servette and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Lars Villiger
Servette have gone to Luzern 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jamie Atangana has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Servette asked and Rapid Wien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Servette 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Servette. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Servette, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ricardo Rodríguez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miroslav Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Nunziante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Young Boys.
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 Luca Chierico is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Servette would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 4, 24 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Servette this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Servette game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rapperswil-Jona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Servette training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giotto Morandi 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.
“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 Arezzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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. Defensor Sporting have kept their man, and Arezzo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gianmarco Greco 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giulio Vignali 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jacopo Martinelli 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 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.