He is going to Zurich, the club has $1.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Bellinzona had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zurich, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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; Bellinzona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zurich can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Young Boys waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zurich is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Vujević had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The chase for Jonathan de Donno ended with $1.3M changing hands and Bellinzona out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neuchâtel Xamax have kept their man, and Zurich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Samuel Essende 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 Ibrahim Diabaté 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bohdan Liedniev 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 Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bellinzona asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Bellinzona know it.
Something was said to Ivan Cavaleiro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Cavaleiro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bellinzona is running low.
Efkan Bekiroğlu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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. Yverdon have kept their man, and Bellinzona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 10 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Bellinzona can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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.
Bellinzona asked and St. Gallen 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adam Ilic has his answer from Bellinzona; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jay Mingi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Bellinzona have made the call to Lokomotiv Plovdiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The mood at Bellinzona has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan de Donno signs something — a contract at Bellinzona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Diego Valdéz has written the date down.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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 Jay Mingi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bellinzona 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 Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan de Donno signs something — a contract at Bellinzona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Diego Valdéz has written the date down.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan de Donno signs something — a contract at Bellinzona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Bellinzona have no good answer.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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 Jay Mingi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Bellinzona know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Efkan Bekiroğlu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan de Donno signs something — a contract at Bellinzona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The deal that would have taken Jonathan de Donno to Lugano has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Bellinzona with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bellinzona asked and Zurich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Bellinzona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
9 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $106.0K of what Bellinzona paid for Tim-Tiado Öhri is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The name of Jonathan de Donno has come up in conversations Bellinzona were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Bellinzona close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 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.
Bohdan Liedniev 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 Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bohemians 1905 have kept their man, and Bellinzona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bellinzona has been clear about where Alberto Trapero stands, which is more than many ever get.
The mood at Bellinzona has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bellinzona have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Cavaleiro 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 Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan de Donno signs something — a contract at Bellinzona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 10 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The offer from Stade Lausanne-Ouchy for Jonathan de Donno 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bellinzona asked and Jablonec 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 loan enquiry to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Cavaleiro asks for a word with the manager
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bellinzona people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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. Grenoble Foot 38 have kept their man, and Bellinzona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Christian Comert leaves with $8.1K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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 Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Bellinzona would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Étoile Carouge were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Jonathan de Donno has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Bellinzona is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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 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.
Mayka Okuka 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.
12 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan de Donno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Bellinzona
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bellinzona and Yverdon, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan de Donno 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan de Donno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Bellinzona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Mayka Okuka 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nelson Eliseche and Bellinzona agree another 4 years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Bechikh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Stade Nyonnais next, and one man in the Bellinzona dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Efkan Bekiroğlu 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 Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan de Donno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Mohamed Bechikh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Bellinzona asked and Virtus Entella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lendrit Shala 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bellinzona are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad4 Sep 2028
10 new faces, and Bellinzona are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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 Bellinzona, and 5 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Teddie Lamb obliged against Neuchâtel Xamax. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bellinzona.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
Bellinzona offered $460.0K; 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Teddie Lamb 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.
Ivan Cavaleiro had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Wil were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Cavaleiro provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
“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; Bellinzona are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Bellinzona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bellinzona have gone to Young Boys 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Jaquenoud and Bellinzona agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léon Bergsma 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bellinzona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Bellinzona have gone to St. Gallen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jesús Montesano is living that version at Bellinzona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léon Bergsma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Luzern have kept their man, and Bellinzona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bellinzona, another week without a signature from Jonathan de Donno.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bellinzona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Austria Lustenau for Noha Tiehi 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Bellinzona asked and Stade Nyonnais 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 Léon Bergsma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bellinzona, another week without a signature from Léon Bergsma.
Lausanne-Sport 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bellinzona will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Bellinzona can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jorge Leyva is living that version at Bellinzona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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 Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 May 2028
Lendrit Shala is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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.
Dragan Mihajlovic 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bellinzona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Nelson Eliseche's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bellinzona will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bellinzona, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bellinzona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Orest Kuzyk 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 Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bellinzona can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Bellinzona game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Lausanne-Ouchy runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Noé Boum is on it.
Position 2, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan de Donno, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Orest Kuzyk 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.
Dragan Mihajlovic 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.
Nobody at Bellinzona 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Giulio Anghileri is living that version at Bellinzona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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.
Dragan Mihajlovic 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.
“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 Bellinzona, and 5 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
He is 20, and nobody at Bellinzona signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
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 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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 come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Bellinzona will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
At 18 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.
Jonathan de Donno 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 Léon Bergsma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Bellinzona had all but put away. Stade Nyonnais will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bellinzona, another week without a signature from Léon Bergsma.
Marco Burch 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 Léon Bergsma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Bellinzona will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Bellinzona had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Comert kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léon Bergsma 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.
Nordan Mukiele 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.
Something was said to Noha Tiehi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Lendrit Shala is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Bellinzona 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.
Vaduz next, and one man in the Bellinzona dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Bellinzona would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona 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.” Tjorben Uphoff and Bellinzona agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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.
At 21 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Fabian Frei.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Madyen El Jaouhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 4, 11 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Comert kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Nordan Mukiele and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The offer from Luzern for Léon Bergsma 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.
Bellinzona offered $16.0K; Wil 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léon Bergsma 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. Charleroi have kept their man, and Bellinzona go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nordan Mukiele 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 mark of 7.77, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mirco Mazzeo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Stade Lausanne-Ouchy left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Bellinzona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Madyen El Jaouhari 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bellinzona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 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 1‑3 Christian Comert left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.