“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fortuna Sittard may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Fortuna Sittard close the window on a squad of their own making
28 in and 17 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.
Fortuna Sittard had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dordrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristoffer Peterson 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 did not go to De Graafschap to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fortuna Sittard and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luka Tunjić
“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.
The offer went to Ajax this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The name of August Arias has come up in conversations Fortuna Sittard were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Julian Geerts 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 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spezia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Kodai Sano 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.
Groningen paid $230.0K and Fortuna Sittard took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Plymouth Argyle 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Quincy Hoeve was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 deal with Sparta Rotterdam 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.
Kodai Sano 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 Iván Márquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 Stoke City 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. Iván Márquez 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.
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 Samuel Bastien has written the date down.
1‑4 to Heerenveen, 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 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 1‑4 Jasper Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Matt Grimes
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Utrecht spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
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.
He is 18 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Strootman 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 Bergwijn 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. Marten Dost 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. Bas Simons is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The deal that would have taken Luuk Koopmans to NEC has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Fortuna Sittard with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Teunisse will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Sittard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matt Grimes 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.
Matthew Mparaganda 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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Justin Lonwijk provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
Matt Grimes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Fortuna Sittard have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Iván Márquez 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.
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 7.15 for the rest of it.
The offer from Persik for Justin Hubner 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Márquez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Sittard have done the hard part with Lazio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Sittard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iván Márquez and Fortuna Sittard agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Fortuna Sittard asked and Crystal Palace said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lequincio Zeefuik 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Justin Lonwijk. 1‑0 against Volendam, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jasper Dijks on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Gladon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ajax in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Antwerp have kept their man, and Fortuna Sittard go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Fortuna Sittard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jari Teunisse and Fortuna Sittard agree another 5 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Márquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fortuna Sittard has been clear about where Luuk Koopmans stands, which is more than many ever get.