Marked for Marley Aké
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Dender
David Toševski 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Alireza Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Marley Aké had Dender level again within 2 minutes, and Anderlecht never got to play with a lead at all.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Marley Aké
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Dender had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Bruny Nsimba 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 Bruny Nsimba is on it.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Roman Květ knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dender, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout18 Oct 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.” Dries Boyata chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Dender
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Dender
Hans Hateboer 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Marley Aké
“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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mohamed Soumaré has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Dender.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
When it matters, Kobe Cools plays
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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Nathan Rôdes knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nathan Rôdes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Benito Raman’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dender needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market11 Oct 2027
Yaya Sanogo linked with a move away
The name of Yaya Sanogo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Dender say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Yaya Sanogo reports back to Dender with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dender can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Dender close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 13 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dender have done the hard part with RWDM, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympic Charleroi is saying, and nobody at Dender is enjoying the guessing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Dender
David Toševski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Dender offered $80.0K; Cercle Brugge 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Adama Camara 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veracruz have kept their man, and Dender go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Zulte Waregem have gone to Lokomotiv 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Enrique Lofolomo 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zulte Waregem have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Thomas Claes 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match14 Aug 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Jevon Simons’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zulte Waregem.
Squad16 Aug 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yohan Bilingi and Zulte Waregem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
Pressure builds in the Zulte Waregem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulte Waregem can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Charleroi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$190.0K on the table at Eupen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Zulte Waregem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Claes 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Zulte Waregem asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“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; Zulte Waregem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market28 Jun 2027
Guillaume Hubert is 33 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 May 2027
“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 Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Youssoupha Mbodji 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Zulte Waregem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Tanghe 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 dugout24 May 2027
“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.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Zulte Waregem the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Youssoupha Mbodji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marley Aké, and the manager let it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brent Gabriel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zulte Waregem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout10 May 2027
Andres Labie knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulte Waregem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 May 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Zulte Waregem says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Anisse Brrou: 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.” Zulte Waregem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Claes and Zulte Waregem agree another 4 years.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ryan Merlen 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Time is catching up with Kévin Hoggas
Everybody at Zulte Waregem saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Laurent Lemoine, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑3 against Antwerp, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad21 Dec 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jakob Kiilerich 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andres Labie and Zulte Waregem agree another 4 years.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Zulte Waregem dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 0‑3 Dries Courtois left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Marley Aké 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Youssoupha Mbodji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Zulte Waregem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Kiilerich 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Serxho Ujka knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Serxho Ujka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cercle Brugge in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brent Gabriel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes Marley Aké a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zulte Waregem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad16 Nov 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Zulte Waregem the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
10 starts and a season average of 6.64. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Youssoupha Mbodji 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Kévin Hoggas
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zulte Waregem is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Zulte Waregem are still strangers to each other
7 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Laurent Lemoine asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Louis Bostyn may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Marley Aké has been promised minutes
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 Marley Aké has written the date down.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Next up on the road: Charleroi, position 12. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.