Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saleh Youssouf signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Next up on the road: Foullah Edifice, position 8. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
At 19 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Algoy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A mark of 7.58, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ezechiel Doungous is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 6.25, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Algoy can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Djibrine Abba 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 Saleh Youssouf signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Djibrine Allamine 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 Narcisse Mbaiguedem signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AS Algoy would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
0‑3 to Renaissance, 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.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Narcisse Mbaiguedem and AS Algoy agree another 4 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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AS Algoy
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Still no offer on the table, and Djibrine Allamine’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AS Algoy than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Algoy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at AS Algoy has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saleh Youssouf signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marius Hissein reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
AS Algoy ran out of time with Stars Jeunes Talents. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Narcisse Mbaiguedem signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Djibrine Allamine reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Mbaiguedem has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oumar Allamine is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
AS Algoy ran out of time with Aiglons. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“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 AS Algoy know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $16.0K of what AS Algoy paid for Oumar Allamine is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
AS Algoy and Aiglons have settled on $40.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at AS Algoy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aiglons have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AS Algoy will try again when the window opens; Elect Sport may not be selling by then.
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.
In brief
The dugoutDjibrine Abba asks for a word with the manager
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Djibrine Allamine had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Elect Sport 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikson Moreira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at AS Algoy 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
AS Algoy have gone to Aiglons 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.
$8.0K on the table at Elect Sport. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 12 and 16 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with AS Etat Major, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
AS Algoy have gone to Elect Sport 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.
Oumar Allamine 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. AS DGSSIE have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Mahamat Haroun has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Djibrine Allamine had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from AS PSI for Marius Hissein 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with Stars Jeunes Talents, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
AS Algoy have gone to Aiglons 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.
Oumar Allamine 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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
AS Algoy and Elect Sport have settled on $52.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with CotonTchad 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.
AS Algoy have gone to Aiglons 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.
AS Algoy asked and Renaissance 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 words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 12 and 16 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.
Renaissance have accepted the money. What AS Algoy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with Elect Sport 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.
“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 AS Algoy know it.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from AS DGSSIE for Djibrine Allamine 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Elect Sport 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.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aiglons have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AS DGSSIE had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$37.0K on the table at Aiglons. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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 targets25 Jun 2029
$4.0K settles it between the clubs for Ezechiel Abba
Stars Jeunes Talents have accepted the money. What AS Algoy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Galactik for Youssouf Haroun 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with Gazelle, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$37.0K on the table at Aiglons. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Narcisse Mbaiguedem 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 name of Youssouf Haroun has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
SquadWords at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with CotonTchad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Oumar Allamine 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 phone has started ringing about Marius Hissein again, and this time the name on the line is AS PSI. AS Algoy are listening politely and promising nothing.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Foullah Edifice 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces28 May 2029
The mood at AS Algoy 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.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ali Allamine 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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 Collins Masika is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 12 and 16 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.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikson Moreira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Algoy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
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.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at AS Algoy says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Narcisse Mbaiguedem 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.
“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; AS Algoy are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Algoy, another week without a signature from Nikson Moreira.
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.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oumar Allamine 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 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.
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 Collins Masika is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikson Moreira signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS Algoy could ask drops and the wages Nikson Moreira can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AS Algoy pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
142 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. AS Algoy know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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 1‑2 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
Ali Allamine 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 words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdoulaye Abba has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmat Mahamat 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Allamine has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
18 matches without a win, and then this, against Stars Jeunes Talents. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Position 12 and 15 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
A 2‑1 win over Stars Jeunes Talents, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahamat Haroun after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Saleh Youssouf 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.
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around AS Algoy are no longer polite ones.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
The mood at AS Algoy 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.
Nikson Moreira scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Elect Sport, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Oumar Allamine was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Algoy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Hissein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Algoy can tell you which week it ends in.
14 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.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
This is not rotation. Issa Moustapha has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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 0‑1 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
Ali Touba 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.
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 Djibrine Allamine is on it.
13 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marius Moustapha 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Idriss Moustapha has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Elect Sport; AS Algoy go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Djibrine Allamine reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 19 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything agreed with Elect Sport, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy 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 Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
It finished 0-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Allamine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Galactik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Olivier Fai. The answer from AS Algoy has not changed — yet.
9 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS DGSSIE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Foullah Edifice, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Oumar Allamine 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.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Galactik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Elect Sport 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.
$54.0K on the table at Elect Sport. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Issa Moustapha has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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 0‑2 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oumar Doungous did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
This is not rotation. Narcisse Allamine has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 17 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Saleh Youssouf 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
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 0‑1 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Ezechiel Abba is somebody else's player now, and $2.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
This is not rotation. Issa Moustapha has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mahamat Haroun to a room that had heard them before.
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 Djibrine Allamine is on 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
This is not rotation. Narcisse Allamine has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
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 Olivier Fai is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Algoy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, 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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oumar Allamine 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.
“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 AS Algoy know it.
5 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A brace, and Ahmat Oumar takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmat Oumar provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.79 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Olivier Fai did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdoulaye Mahamat. 2‑1 against AS Etat Major, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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 warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Narcisse Allamine 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahamat Haroun on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ahmat Oumar
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Youssouf Haroun’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Algoy needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Olivier Fai is on 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Saleh Youssouf 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
5 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.
Nobody at AS Algoy 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.
14 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdoulaye Tokindang and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AS Algoy
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Appolinaire Djingabeye and AS Algoy agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mahamat Mahamat has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oumar Bechir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ezechiel Moustapha has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmat Mahamat has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine 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.
Position 12 and 16 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine 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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Algoy ran out of time with Galactik. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS Algoy will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Djibrine Allamine is on it.
The deal that would have taken Djibrine Allamine to AS Etat Major has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
$320.0K was the most the club would pay and AS Etat Major were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
AS Algoy asked and AS DGSSIE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AS Algoy will try again when the window opens; Elect Sport may not be selling by then.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS Algoy will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Saleh Youssouf's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $19.0K of what AS Algoy paid for Abdoulaye Mahamat is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Galactik have accepted the money. What AS Algoy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
AS Algoy close the window on a squad of their own making
4 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Aiglons moved on, Olivier Fai reports back to AS Algoy, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
AS Algoy and AS PSI have settled on $6.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Aiglons have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Olivier Fai. The answer from AS Algoy has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Ahmat Hissein has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everything agreed with AS DGSSIE, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with AS PSI, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
AS Algoy offered $320.0K; AS Etat Major 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy 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.” Djibrine Allamine and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Saleh Youssouf's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Algoy can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The mood at AS Algoy 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ahmat Mbainaissem 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Algoy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Allamine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy 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.
AS Algoy have made the call to Elect Sport. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Etat Major waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Hissein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oumar Allamine 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.
AS Algoy have made the call to Renaissance. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Djibrine Allamine is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aiglons waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from US Moursal for Arnaud Siani 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.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from US Moursal for Ahmat Hissein 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Moursal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with Renaissance, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
AS Algoy asked and Renaissance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Allamine will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with AS DGSSIE 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Arnaud Siani reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Oumar Allamine 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.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport 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 phone has started ringing about Marius Hissein again, and this time the name on the line is US Moursal. AS Algoy are listening politely and promising nothing.
AS Algoy have made the call to CotonTchad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Position 12 and 16 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Algoy have done the hard part with CotonTchad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to AS Etat Major 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.
Saleh Youssouf 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 Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Algoy people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Djibrine Allamine to US Moursal has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Algoy asked and AS Etat Major said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Abba 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.
Something was said to Oumar Allamine and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Moursal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with AS Etat Major 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 phone has started ringing about Marius Hissein again, and this time the name on the line is US Moursal. AS Algoy are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AS Algoy has been clear about where Narcisse Allamine stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Algoy, another week without a signature from Ahmat Oumar.
A loan enquiry to Stars Jeunes Talents: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Olivier Fai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmat Hissein trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Arnaud Siani
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
Something was said to Olivier Fai and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Hissein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
This is not rotation. Djibrine Mbainaissem has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Saleh Youssouf'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oumar Souleymane signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Abba 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Olivier Fai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AS Algoy than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdoulaye Mahamat signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
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 Djibrine Allamine is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmat Mbainaissem and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
16 points and a position everybody in the ground can do the arithmetic on. The songs have stopped being about the team and started being about surviving, which is a different noise entirely.
Oumar Allamine 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 6.92 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
SquadOumar Allamine falls out with a teammate over standards
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Djibrine Abba 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. AS Algoy know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Hissein will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Algoy the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It needed Djibrine Allamine to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mahamat Haroun was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the AS Algoy dressing room was either.
In brief
SquadDjibrine Bechir falls out with a teammate over standards
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Algoy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Allamine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mahamat Haroun after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Algoy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Algoy they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Abdoulaye Mahamat 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
The deal that would have taken Djibrine Allamine to US Moursal has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy 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.
“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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
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 0‑2 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Moursal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at AS Algoy 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.
Everything agreed with Elect Sport, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Oumar Allamine 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renaissance have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Algoy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport 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 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.
CotonTchad go through and AS Algoy go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Olivier Fai reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmat Mbainaissem and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Narcisse Mbaiguedem, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Mahamat Haroun to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Etat Major waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Algoy is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oumar Allamine 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.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport 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 goal that put Renaissance ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when AS Algoy equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Bechir 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahamat Haroun after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Algoy have lost him in all but 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 AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with AS Etat Major; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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 AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Allamine 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdoulaye Mahamat. 1‑0 against AS DGSSIE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Oumar Allamine 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 name of Oumar Youssouf has come up in conversations AS Algoy were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
AS Algoy asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. AS Algoy will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
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 1‑2 Mahamat Haroun left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gérard Nodjiram is in the works
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Galactik tried to reorganise, AS Algoy did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djibrine Bechir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutAhmat Hissein knocks on the manager's door