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.
“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.
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market4 Sep 2028
The window shut and Diyae Jermoumi is still in the building
Groningen 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Groningen has been clear about where Diyae Jermoumi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Groningen, and 5 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
0-5 to NEC, 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Groningen, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Groningen, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Oskar Zawada keeps the shirt for now, at Groningen's convenience rather than his own.
The terraces15 Nov 2027
The crowd stays with them
7 of the 32 senior squad came off to the sort of reception a club has to earn. Support like that is not unconditional, but this week it was not asked to be.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Thom van Bergen has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Groningen have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.