Marked for Amara Condé
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2030
Sint-Truiden are out and KV Mechelen go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market2 Sep 2030
The offer from Beerschot for Tein Troost 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.
Market2 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KV Mechelen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $3.6M of what KV Mechelen paid for Richard Koné is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Michal Sáček, 33, rolls back the years — 8.33
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.33 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Sep 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Mechelen can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at KV Mechelen until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market2 Sep 2030
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Martin Delavallée reports back to KV Mechelen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Alouis Diriken 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 May 2030
Jamie Donley hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Mechelen can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 May 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martin Delavallée will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KV Mechelen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 May 2030
Alouis Diriken 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michée Ndembi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Kyan Himpe
“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.
Squad13 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lars Bucumi commits to KV Mechelen for another 4 years.
The dugout13 May 2030
Aaron Leya Iseka 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.
The dugout13 May 2030
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.
Market13 May 2030
The Richard Koné story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Koné signs something — a contract at KV Mechelen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Mechelen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Alouis Diriken
“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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Utku Kurtal 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
When it matters, Gora Diouf 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
Michée Ndembi 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.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Bill Antonio 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Utku Kurtal has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market29 Apr 2030
The clock does Samuel Asoma’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KV Mechelen could ask drops and the wages Samuel Asoma can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Nicolai Fischer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at FC Fredericia can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market4 Jun 2029
Amara Condé hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Fredericia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Andreas Gülstorff
FC Nordsjaelland have accepted the money. What FC Fredericia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Gustav Marcussen has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at FC Fredericia is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rasmus Lauritsen and FC Fredericia agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Markus Solbakken 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.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
FC Fredericia have gone to Hobro 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Rasmus Lauritsen 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.