AJ Auxerre U20

28 Sep 2031
Sunday
Process
269 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Donovan Léon out for 80 days

80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Nowhere to hide for AJ Auxerre

0‑5 against Angers SCO, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

The cup run ends for AJ Auxerre

2‑3 against Stade Brestois, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Keba Sylla scores twice — 8.47

Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Teddy Boulhendi stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

Boardroom

Inquest at AJ Auxerre

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

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 0‑5 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Home is on Joshua Scott's mind

“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; AJ Auxerre are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

In brief

Back issues
268 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Donovan Léon out for 87 days

87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

AJ Auxerre win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Stade Rennais will replay every second of the added time for a week.

The terraces

AJ Auxerre supporters have found a favourite in Andy Mboyo

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Andy Mboyo 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.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre find a way past Stade Rennais

Stade Rennais made AJ Auxerre work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

Squad

AJ Auxerre are still strangers to each other

9 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.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Jamal Gonzaga

7.73, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. AJ Auxerre had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Toby Vertonghen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

267 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Donovan Léon

94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Donovan Léon

17 seasons and 455 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre baulk at the price for Konstantinos Angelakis

Dijon wanted more than $1.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Olivier Caron is a better footballer than he was

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against Toulouse FC

0‑1 to Toulouse FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby Vertonghen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Donovan Léon has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at AJ Auxerre 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.

In brief

266 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Donovan Léon damages knee ligaments — 101 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.

Squad

Donovan Léon has been here 17 seasons

455 appearances across 17 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Squad

A fracture rules Théodore Aubry out for 14 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre bid $1.8M for Konstantinos Angelakis

The offer went to Dijon 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.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre close the window on a squad of their own making

20 in and 22 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.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Match

AJ Auxerre make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AJ Auxerre have 3 straight wins of it.

Match

AJ Auxerre get the job done against Valenciennes

A 1‑0 win over Valenciennes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.36. 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.

In brief

265 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Donovan Léon damages knee ligaments — 108 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at AJ Auxerre

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AJ Auxerre is running low.

Match

Danny Namaso wins it after the whistle should have gone

91 minutes played. Danny Namaso found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and FC Lorient went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso scores twice — 9.23

Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Théodore Aubry breaks a bone — 21 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

Léo Botz is a medical away from AJ Auxerre

The deal with Toulouse FC 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Raymond Lacroix at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raymond Lacroix is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Match

AJ Auxerre see off FC Lorient

Three points for AJ Auxerre, 3‑2 the final word against FC Lorient in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

A late step up for Tony Mendy

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

In brief

264 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Donovan Léon out for 115 days

115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

AJ Auxerre run riot against Stade Brestois

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

Danny Namaso takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Squad

29 days out for Théodore Aubry after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Karim Boullif due for a AJ Auxerre medical

Everything agreed with Sochaux, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Emrick Bombo Zengo is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso in the eights

A performance of 9.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at AJ Auxerre

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nahim El Bouhmidi

AJ Auxerre asked and Valenciennes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

263 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

11 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

36 days out for Théodore Aubry after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

The step up is real for Olivier Caron

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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tony Mendy 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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Nahim El Bouhmidi is in the works

AJ Auxerre have made the call to Valenciennes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

Market

Keba Sylla told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Keba Sylla has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AJ Auxerre.

Market

Danny Namaso linked with a move away

The name of Danny Namaso keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

262 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

4 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

43 days out for Théodore Aubry after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Pape Sy turns Bourg-Peronnas down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Transfer targets

$720.0K settles it between the clubs for Evan Bouttier

Stade Lavallois have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Josué Casimir raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Kenji-Van Boto

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with Clermont Foot, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ajdin Muminovic rejects the move

AJ Auxerre had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympique Lyonnais, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Kiliane Assougrou is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Squad

A move Christopher Raila would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Christopher Raila is living that version at AJ Auxerre, and it tends to show in the first month.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre agree a free transfer for Ibrahim Diabaté

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

In brief

261 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the AJ Auxerre boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Kevy Djemeuni Essam

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Metz have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

The step up is real for Kenzo Cotten

At 23 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.

Market

Patrick Petit steps up from the AJ Auxerre academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrick Petit 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.

Market

One of our own: Thomas Simon joins the AJ Auxerre first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Simon is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Jean-Baptiste Mathieu steps up from the AJ Auxerre academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jean-Baptiste Mathieu 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.

Market

Dominique Mercier steps up from the AJ Auxerre academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dominique Mercier 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Emrick Bombo Zengo 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.

In brief

260 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre bid $2.4M for Luc Laine

The offer went to US Creteil 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.

Transfer targets

Aël Belangote will not be coming to AJ Auxerre

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Toulouse FC is saying, and nobody at AJ Auxerre is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

The step up is real for Emrick Bombo Zengo

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A late step up for Tony Mendy

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre agree a free transfer for Bjorni Duka

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Youssef Dalouzi 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.

Market

A long bet from AJ Auxerre on Joshua Scott

He is 17, and nobody at AJ Auxerre signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Market

A long bet from AJ Auxerre on Emmanuel François

He is 17, and nobody at AJ Auxerre signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at AJ Auxerre

6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief

259 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

14 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

$390.0K settles it between the clubs for Enzo Hoyau

AC Ajaccio have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

AJ Auxerre sign Teddy Boulhendi for $1.3M

The paperwork is done: Teddy Boulhendi joins from OGC Nice in a deal worth $1.3M. Now comes the harder part.

Squad

Youssef Dalouzi arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Youssef Dalouzi has, at AJ Auxerre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Aël Belangote is a medical away from AJ Auxerre

The deal with Toulouse FC 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Gloire Kanza

At 23 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Youssef Dalouzi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Dalouzi and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

Boardroom

$1.0M lands at AJ Auxerre thanks to Bryan Okoh

A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $1.0M. Bryan Okoh left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.

In brief

258 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

7 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Teddy Boulhendi

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with OGC Nice, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Real improvement from Ousmane Baal at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ousmane Baal is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Djibril Achoui

AJ Auxerre asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Olivier Caron stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Olivier Caron and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Emrick Bombo Zengo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre sign 7 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

Market

The Marvin Senaya story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marvin Senaya signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Pape Sy has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Pape Sy has written the date down.

In brief

257 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

30 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the AJ Auxerre boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Sheffield United come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and AJ Auxerre did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Only the photograph left for Pape Sy

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pape Sy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Adam Mouak turns down AJ Auxerre

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Olympique de Marseille tell AJ Auxerre: Joaquín Molina is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Emrick Bombo Zengo 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.

Squad

Telli Siwe signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Telli Siwe and AJ Auxerre agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre try to borrow Djibril Achoui

Le Havre AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Squad

Louis Collet 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.

In brief

256 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

23 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre to lose Olivier Thomas for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Olivier Thomas has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Tyris Dong

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bourg-Peronnas have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Sinaly Diomandé what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Emrick Bombo Zengo 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.

Squad

Telli Siwe signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Telli Siwe commits to AJ Auxerre for another 3 years.

Market

Tony Mendy linked with a move away

The name of Tony Mendy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Emrick Bombo Zengo asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

The manager makes Christos Papadopoulos a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AJ Auxerre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

255 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

16 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Enzo Hoyau is a medical away from AJ Auxerre

The deal with AC Ajaccio 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.

Market

Josué Casimir wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gabriel Meunier

AJ Auxerre asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Emrick Bombo Zengo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre ask about Awab Qurashi Mukhtar

A loan enquiry to Angers SCO: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Market

AJ Auxerre sign Julien Guillot, one for the future

Julien Guillot is 17, and AJ Auxerre have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

Squad

Julien Guillot stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Julien Guillot and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

254 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

9 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Teddy Boulhendi is a medical away from AJ Auxerre

The deal with OGC Nice 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.

Transfer targets

FC Metz tell AJ Auxerre: Kevy Djemeuni Essam is not for sale

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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Emrick Bombo Zengo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Gloire Kanza signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gloire Kanza and AJ Auxerre agree another 3 years.

Boardroom

$1.4M lands at AJ Auxerre thanks to Theo Bair

A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $1.4M. Theo Bair left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxence Chambon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Maxence Chambon

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxence Chambon, and the manager let it.

Market

The Marvin Senaya story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marvin Senaya signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Omer Taygun wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and AJ Auxerre have no good answer.

In brief

253 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

2 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the AJ Auxerre boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Boardroom

Toby Vertonghen has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AJ Auxerre can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Pape Sy has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Pape Sy signs for Stade Rennais while still at AJ Auxerre

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Pape Sy has agreed terms with Stade Rennais for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Transfer targets

Olympique de Marseille tell AJ Auxerre: Joaquín Molina is not for sale

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.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

Squad

Jean-Luc Perrot signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jean-Luc Perrot commits to AJ Auxerre for another 4 years.

In brief

252 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

Market

A long bet from AJ Auxerre on Jean-Luc Perrot

He is 18, and nobody at AJ Auxerre signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Jean-Luc Perrot

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Jean-Luc Perrot something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Squad

Competition arrives for Danny Namaso

A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. AJ Auxerre have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.

Market

Tony Mendy linked with a move away

The name of Tony Mendy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

251 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

19 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

AJ Auxerre lose Omer Taygun

39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

When it matters, Donovan Léon plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

250 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tony Mendy signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tony Mendy commits to AJ Auxerre for another 4 years.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

AJ Auxerre count the cost of losing Keba Sylla

29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

Kenzo Cotten gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

249 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

5 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Josué Casimir raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

The dugout

Emrick Bombo Zengo knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The manager makes Pape Sy a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AJ Auxerre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

The Kiliane Assougrou talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

248 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louis Collet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Théo Dragin

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

Tony Mendy linked with a move away

The name of Tony Mendy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Orlando Mouila asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre keep producing them

39 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.

In brief

247 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

21 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Ousmane Baal puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Vombergar

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Raymond Lacroix signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raymond Lacroix and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.

The dugout

When it matters, Donovan Léon plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Danny Namaso story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danny Namaso signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christos Papadopoulos has written the date down.

In brief

246 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Josué Casimir has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Keba Sylla out for 57 days

The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Keba Sylla, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Andrés Vombergar asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Marvin Senaya story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marvin Senaya signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

245 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Full time on the season at AJ Auxerre

Position 15 on 22 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.

Squad

Donovan Léon signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Donovan Léon commits to AJ Auxerre for another 2 years.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against Monaco

0‑2 to Monaco, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No place for Andrés Vombergar on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AJ Auxerre pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Andrés Vombergar

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Andrés Vombergar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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 dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Emrick Bombo Zengo

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Emrick Bombo Zengo has come out of that comparison in the side, and AJ Auxerre have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

244 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

31 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Danny Namaso is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.22 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against FC Nantes

FC Nantes left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Guillaume Lefebvre dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

Market

Tony Mendy linked with a move away

The name of Tony Mendy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

243 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

24 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Jamal Gonzaga settles it late for AJ Auxerre

The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jamal Gonzaga decided nobody was going anywhere. Le Havre AC had no time left to answer.

Market

Ousmane Baal puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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 terraces

AJ Auxerre supporters have found a favourite in Maxence Chambon

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxence Chambon 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

AJ Auxerre get the job done against Le Havre AC

A 1‑0 win over Le Havre AC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jamal Gonzaga at his very best

Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AJ Auxerre.

Player ratings

Eros Maddy ran the middle of the pitch — 7.33

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.33, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

The dugout

When it matters, Donovan Léon plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

242 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Every point is an argument now for AJ Auxerre

Position 17 and 19 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Looking ahead

A six-pointer for AJ Auxerre

Le Havre AC next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Christos Papadopoulos

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Papadopoulos, and the manager let it.

Match

Tony Mendy rescues a point for AJ Auxerre

It needed Tony Mendy to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against LOSC Lille, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Telli Siwe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Toby Vertonghen was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the AJ Auxerre dressing room was either.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Josué Casimir

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Le Havre AC in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

241 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

10 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for AJ Auxerre

A 0‑4 beating by OGC Nice was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

The dugout

Orlando Mouila says AJ Auxerre went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

AJ Auxerre cannot find the net

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Donovan Léon

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Donovan Léon, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at AJ Auxerre

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby Vertonghen after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

240 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

3 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso ran the middle of the pitch — 6.83

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 6.83, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Danny Namaso

14 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against Olympique Lyonnais

Olympique Lyonnais left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby Vertonghen after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

AJ Auxerre keep their word to Lamine Sy

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Emrick Bombo Zengo

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Emrick Bombo Zengo has come out of that comparison in the side, and AJ Auxerre have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

239 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

24 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Ousmane Baal asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

Olympique de Marseille take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Jamal Gonzaga reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

The dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

Squad

A ban for Josué Casimir

One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. AJ Auxerre lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.

In brief

238 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

17 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

AJ Auxerre sink to position 17

18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Josué Casimir has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

AJ Auxerre end the wait against Paris FC

It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre get the job done against Paris FC

A 1‑0 win over Paris FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

Player ratings

Tony Mendy was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.00. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

237 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

10 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

7 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Jordan Longhi rejects the move

AJ Auxerre had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monza, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Match

Paris Saint-Germain take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Andy Mboyo stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Andy Mboyo and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby Vertonghen after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Andrés Vombergar knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

236 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

6 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.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 2 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.

Market

Josué Casimir wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Danny Namaso is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.24 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats AJ Auxerre to Gabin Delassus

The clock did what Clermont Foot would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Thiago Sabella

AJ Auxerre asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Danny Namaso at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AJ Auxerre.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Andrés Vombergar

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Andrés Vombergar.

In brief

235 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

$670.0K settles it between the clubs for Maël Baudot

FC Metz have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Match

5 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre bid $670.0K for Destin Banzouzi

The offer went to Bourg-Peronnas 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.

Boardroom

Elikya Legros signs for Stade Rennais while still at AJ Auxerre

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Elikya Legros has agreed terms with Stade Rennais for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Dmytro Bogdanov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Berlin have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against RC Strasbourg

RC Strasbourg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

234 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Ailton Gomes damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.

Match

Every point is an argument now for AJ Auxerre

Position 17 and 14 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.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Gabin Delassus

AJ Auxerre and Clermont Foot have settled on $860.0K. 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.

Market

Louis Collet asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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 targets

Ajdin Muminovic will not be coming to AJ Auxerre

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympique Lyonnais is saying, and nobody at AJ Auxerre is enjoying the guessing.

Match

4 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Bourg-Peronnas tell AJ Auxerre: Destin Banzouzi is not for sale

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.

Squad

Danny Namaso is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.22 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief

233 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ailton Gomes

22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar pulls a muscle — 19 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 19 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Market

Louka Vandenbossche puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Miłosz Piekutowski turns down AJ Auxerre

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Angers SCO keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Gabin Delassus

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Clermont Foot have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

6 goals as AJ Auxerre and Stade Rennais go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AJ Auxerre and Stade Rennais, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against Stade Rennais

Stade Rennais left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

232 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Ailton Gomes out for 29 days

29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Pape Sy stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Bobby Yahouedeou puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Gianluca Contini due for a AJ Auxerre medical

Everything agreed with Cremonese, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Toulouse FC take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

231 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Ailton Gomes out for 36 days

36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against Clermont Foot

2‑3 to Clermont Foot, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Danny Namaso is carrying AJ Auxerre

12 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Tony Mendy

Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Telli Siwe in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

AJ Auxerre keep their word to Lamine Sy

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

In brief

230 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ailton Gomes out for 43 days

43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

AJ Auxerre sink to position 16

14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Player ratings

A brace, and Tony Mendy takes the afternoon — 8.85

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tony Mendy provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

Tony Mendy sends AJ Auxerre past FC Lorient

It finished 2‑1, and it was Tony Mendy’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AJ Auxerre.

Looking ahead

AJ Auxerre face Clermont Foot in the game that matters most

Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Toby Vertonghen on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

229 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ailton Gomes

50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

A brace, and Danny Namaso takes the afternoon — 9.10

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danny Namaso provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

AJ Auxerre leave it late against Stade Brestois

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Stade Brestois spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eros Maddy

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Sinaly Diomandé what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Match

AJ Auxerre find a way past Stade Brestois

Stade Brestois made AJ Auxerre work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Lamine Sy

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

228 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Chastening afternoon for AJ Auxerre

A 0‑3 beating by Monaco was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Josué Casimir what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Match

4 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

AJ Auxerre are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 17, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

Boardroom

Nobody left the AJ Auxerre dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

227 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

9 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

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.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against FC Nantes

1‑2 to FC Nantes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A month that belonged to Raymond Lacroix

The young player of the month award goes to a 18-year-old at AJ Auxerre who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Emrick Bombo Zengo makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Emrick Bombo Zengo dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

226 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

AJ Auxerre are in real trouble now

Position 17, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Donovan Léon

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Josué Casimir

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Le Havre AC snatch it back from AJ Auxerre

A goal on 86 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

Match

Danny Namaso rescues a point for AJ Auxerre

It needed Danny Namaso to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Le Havre AC, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

When it matters, Donovan Léon plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

A smaller club would suit Marvin Senaya now

He has had enough of the noise. Whether AJ Auxerre can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.

In brief

225 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tony Mendy damages knee ligaments — 18 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.

Squad

Donovan Léon stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Andrés Vombergar’s goal not enough for AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to LOSC Lille, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marvin Senaya

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marvin Senaya, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Toby Vertonghen after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Market

The Danny Namaso talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

224 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tony Mendy damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre end the wait against OGC Nice

It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Match

Jamal Gonzaga sends AJ Auxerre past OGC Nice

It finished 2‑0, and it was Jamal Gonzaga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AJ Auxerre.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso in the eights

A performance of 8.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Eros Maddy reaches 200 appearances

200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jamal Gonzaga at his very best

Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AJ Auxerre.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Pape Sy
  • Squad Player of the week: Danny Namaso
223 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Tony Mendy out for 32 days

32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

12 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

A hiding for AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑3 by Olympique Lyonnais, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Josué Casimir wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Fredrik Oppegård

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Inquest at AJ Auxerre

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

In brief

222 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

AJ Auxerre sink to position 18

4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Player ratings

Eros Maddy runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

Danny Namaso’s goal not enough for AJ Auxerre

Danny Namaso scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Olympique de Marseille, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Danny Namaso

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Donovan Léon is on it.

In brief

221 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Keba Sylla says AJ Auxerre went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against Paris FC

0‑1 to Paris FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

200 appearances for Axel Tuanzebe

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

220 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for AJ Auxerre

1‑4 against Paris Saint-Germain, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

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.

Match

AJ Auxerre leaking at the back

9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

7 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Josué Casimir has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Donovan Léon gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

In brief

219 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for AJ Auxerre

1‑4 against RC Lens, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for AJ Auxerre

8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

100 appearances for Tony Mendy

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Boardroom

Inquest at AJ Auxerre

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Toby Vertonghen answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Emrick Bombo Zengo named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emrick Bombo Zengo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

218 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

7 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for AJ Auxerre

7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against RC Strasbourg

1‑2 to RC Strasbourg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.08. 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.

The dugout

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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Toby Vertonghen to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

When it matters, Donovan Léon plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

217 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

15 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

The small margins put AJ Auxerre out

Out, 0‑3 to RC Strasbourg, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

The terraces

A cup embarrassment at RC Strasbourg follows AJ Auxerre home

0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

6 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

Omer Taygun is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Tony Mendy in the eights

A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

216 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre hand the job to Toby Vertonghen

“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Real improvement from Emrick Bombo Zengo at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emrick Bombo Zengo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Donovan Léon

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for AJ Auxerre

4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against Stade Rennais

1‑2 to Stade Rennais, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

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 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

215 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Donovan Léon stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Donovan Léon and AJ Auxerre agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Andy Mboyo

At 21 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.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Salah-Dine El Mezouari deal

AJ Auxerre ran out of time with FC Lorient. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Match

Toulouse FC take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

214 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Salah-Dine El Mezouari

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with FC Lorient, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Player ratings

Axel Tuanzebe pops up at the right end — 7.37

7.37, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 16 in, 18 out at AJ Auxerre

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nordan Mukiele

AJ Auxerre asked and Chamois Niortais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

Donovan Léon signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Donovan Léon and AJ Auxerre agree another 2 years.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Kenzo Cotten at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kenzo Cotten is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

In brief

213 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A hiding for AJ Auxerre

Beaten 1‑5 by FC Lorient, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Louis Mezerette asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

Bobby Yahouedeou is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Match

Danny Namaso among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Danny Namaso on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AJ Auxerre and FC Lorient.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre still without a manager

10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at AJ Auxerre

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

212 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Interim Coach is out at AJ Auxerre

Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.

Boardroom

A stranger takes charge at AJ Auxerre

The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.

Transfer targets

Shina Ayodele due for a AJ Auxerre medical

Everything agreed with LOSC Lille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Boardroom

Interim Coach steps up at AJ Auxerre for now

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Pape Sy hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The step up is real for Emrick Bombo Zengo

At 21 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Boardroom

7 academy players handed senior numbers at AJ Auxerre

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.

In brief

211 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

An offer of $2.4M for Ange Lago

AJ Auxerre have gone to Olympique de Marseille 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.

The dugout

Keba Sylla keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AJ Auxerre may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tony Mendy is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.

Transfer targets

Enguerrand Bouard due for a AJ Auxerre medical

Everything agreed with Heidenheim, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre to lose Mathis-Tony Loue for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mathis-Tony Loue has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Alessandro Longoni

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

210 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

16 seasons of Donovan Léon

421 appearances across 16 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and AJ Auxerre know what they have.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Nordan Mukiele

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chamois Niortais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Josué Casimir wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Chihab El Mehdi at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Chihab El Mehdi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre ask about Alessandro Longoni

A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Louis Mezerette

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Danny Namaso talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

209 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Louis Mezerette out for 15 days

15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Jair Tavares puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Peter Ouaneh

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Ouaneh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Rémy Gauthier due for a AJ Auxerre medical

Everything agreed with Paris Saint-Germain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Ajdin Muminovic turns down AJ Auxerre

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympique Lyonnais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Bobby Yahouedeou at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bobby Yahouedeou is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Anis Mathurin

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

  • Market The shop window has Pape Sy in it
  • The dugout Peter Ouaneh knocks on the manager’s door
  • Boardroom The AJ Auxerre production line keeps running
208 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Louis Mezerette out for 22 days

22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Adam Žulevič’s move to AJ Auxerre collapses on the table

Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Genoa; AJ Auxerre go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Romain Jean-Baptiste

AJ Auxerre asked and Coventry City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre try to borrow Ajdin Muminovic

Olympique Lyonnais have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Market

The Tony Mendy talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christos Papadopoulos has written the date down.

In brief

207 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jérôme Moreau

19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Peter Ouaneh hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Raymond Lacroix is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre try to borrow Romain Jean-Baptiste

Coventry City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre ask about Adam Žulevič

A loan enquiry to Genoa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Boardroom

$900.0K lands at AJ Auxerre thanks to Elisha Owusu

A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $900.0K. Elisha Owusu left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kiliane Assougrou

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

206 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jérôme Moreau damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.

Transfer targets

Chamois Niortais tell AJ Auxerre: Nordan Mukiele is not for sale

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.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Olivier Caron at AJ Auxerre

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Olivier Caron is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tony Mendy stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Tony Mendy and AJ Auxerre agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre try to borrow Alessandro Longoni

Paris Saint-Germain have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Boardroom

7 new boys at the AJ Auxerre academy

Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre bank $1.0M from an old deal

The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Bryan Okoh is somebody else's player now, and $1.0M has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.

In brief

205 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Jérôme Moreau out for 33 days

33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

The step up is real for Tony Mendy

At 23 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.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Vombergar

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

Frédéric Martinez steps up from the AJ Auxerre academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Frédéric Martinez 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.

Market

One of our own: Christophe Martin joins the AJ Auxerre first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Christophe Martin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Frédéric Simon steps up from the AJ Auxerre academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Frédéric Simon 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.

Market

One of our own: Henri Aubert joins the AJ Auxerre first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Henri Aubert is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

204 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Louis Mezerette damages knee ligaments — 50 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.

Transfer targets

$460.0K settles it between the clubs for Kelvin Dongopandji

Tours have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Too dear: AJ Auxerre walk away from Nordan Mukiele

$3.7M was the most the club would pay and Chamois Niortais 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Mamadou Sawané arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mamadou Sawané has, at AJ Auxerre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Ajdin Muminovic

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

203 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre bid $3.7M for Nordan Mukiele

The offer went to Chamois Niortais this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AJ Auxerre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Chihab El Mehdi asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Josué Casimir what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Valenciennes tell AJ Auxerre: Ilyas Azizi is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Bobby Yahouedeou is a square peg at AJ Auxerre

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout

Fredrik Oppegård asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

202 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Lamine Sy says AJ Auxerre went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Transfer targets

$1.8M settles it between the clubs for Ilann Garin

Sochaux have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Peter Ouaneh asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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 targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Nordan Mukiele

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chamois Niortais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Peter Ouaneh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bobby Yahouedeou arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bobby Yahouedeou has, at AJ Auxerre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre try to borrow Ilyas Azizi

Valenciennes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

201 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Mouhamed Coulibaly puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Peter Ouaneh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre ask about Loan Merrifield

A loan enquiry to FC Nantes: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

No hiding place for Pape Sy

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pape Sy, and the manager let it.

Market

Danny Namaso linked with a move away

The name of Danny Namaso keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre can sign again

The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.

Squad

AJ Auxerre have started building around Chihab El Mehdi

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

In brief

200 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Clément Akpa is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

The dugout

Pape Sy: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AJ Auxerre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Arthur Girault puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre to lose Victor Moinet for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Victor Moinet has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Louis Mezerette asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The shop window has Peter Ouaneh in it

AJ Auxerre have let the market know Peter Ouaneh can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Market

The Tony Mendy talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

199 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Willange Pembélé asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

The dugout

Andrés Vombergar gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Marvin Senaya talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

198 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Peter Ouaneh asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Market

Peter Ouaneh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

The dugout

Andrés Vombergar asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

197 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Clément Akpa asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Market

Josué Casimir wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Nicolas Saint-Ruf signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Saint-Ruf commits to AJ Auxerre for another 1 years.

The dugout

Andrés Vombergar knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Vombergar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Pape Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

Danny Namaso linked with a move away

The name of Danny Namaso keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

Boardroom

$621.6K a year onto the AJ Auxerre books

A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.

In brief

196 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Clément Akpa is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christos Papadopoulos has written the date down.

The dugout

Peter Ouaneh knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Tony Mendy talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

195 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Sinaly Diomandé what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Market

The Marvin Senaya talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AJ Auxerre know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Lamine Sy has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Lamine Sy has written the date down.

The dugout

Peter Ouaneh asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

194 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Willange Pembélé puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Josué Casimir has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Market

Only the photograph left for Peter Ouaneh

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Ouaneh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

A promise honoured at AJ Auxerre

Something was said to Andrés Vombergar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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 dugout

No hiding place for Christos Papadopoulos

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christos Papadopoulos, and the manager let it.

Market

Clément Akpa placed on the list

AJ Auxerre have made Clément Akpa available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

The dugout

The manager makes Lamine Sy a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AJ Auxerre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

193 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

10 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

The season ends: position 15 for AJ Auxerre

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Market

Peter Ouaneh hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Match

Andrés Vombergar’s goal not enough for AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Monaco, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Danny Namaso

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Danny Namaso has come out of that comparison in the side, and AJ Auxerre have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

Market

Lucio Garberi is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AJ Auxerre has been clear about where Lucio Garberi stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

192 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre give the job to Interim Coach

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.

Market

Clément Akpa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Danny Namaso out for 16 days

The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Danny Namaso, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre find a way past FC Metz

FC Metz made AJ Auxerre work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Fredrik Oppegård

Marked 8.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Player ratings

Danny Namaso was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.30. 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eros Maddy

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

191 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Boardroom

Peter Ouaneh signs for Toulouse FC while still at AJ Auxerre

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Peter Ouaneh has agreed terms with Toulouse FC for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Eros Maddy

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Squad

Tony Mendy signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tony Mendy and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lamine Sy

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AJ Auxerre dressing room was either.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Clément Akpa

Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

In brief

190 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Both of them Andrés Vombergar's — 8.90

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Peter Ouaneh has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Match

Andrés Vombergar sends AJ Auxerre past Le Havre AC

It finished 2‑1, and it was Andrés Vombergar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AJ Auxerre.

Player ratings

Fredrik Oppegård runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Lucio Garberi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lucio Garberi commits to AJ Auxerre for another 3 years.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

Christos Papadopoulos gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

189 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

11 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

A hiding for AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑3 by LOSC Lille, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Willange Pembélé asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre still without a manager

10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Fredrik Oppegård gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Nicolas Saint-Ruf signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Saint-Ruf commits to AJ Auxerre for another 1 years.

Boardroom

Doors closed at AJ Auxerre

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout A promise honoured for Lamine Sy
  • Market Danny Namaso linked with a move away
188 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre part company with Luc Lambert

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

Match

AJ Auxerre end the wait against Nimes

It had gone 16 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Match

AJ Auxerre tear Nimes apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Nimes, and it could have been more.

Market

Clément Akpa hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre have nobody left to take training

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.

Market

Clément Akpa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

The AJ Auxerre board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Squad

Danny Namaso takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Boardroom

Interim Coach steps up at AJ Auxerre for now

“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.

In brief

187 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

16 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at AJ Auxerre

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AJ Auxerre is running low.

Market

Peter Ouaneh puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Donovan Léon

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Donovan Léon, and the manager let it.

Match

A bad afternoon for AJ Auxerre against OGC Nice

1‑2 to OGC Nice, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Telli Siwe 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.

Squad

Guillaume Lefebvre signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guillaume Lefebvre and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.

In brief

186 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

15 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.

Match

Chastening afternoon for AJ Auxerre

A 0‑3 beating by Olympique Lyonnais was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

The goals have deserted AJ Auxerre

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AJ Auxerre can tell you which week it ends in.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Josué Casimir what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Squad

Kiliane Assougrou out for 34 days

The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Kiliane Assougrou, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lamine Sy

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

185 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Willange Pembélé puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Nordan Mukiele deal

AJ Auxerre ran out of time with Chamois Niortais. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

The goals have deserted AJ Auxerre

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AJ Auxerre can tell you which week it ends in.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

In brief

184 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

13 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Market

Clément Akpa asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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.

Market

Clément Akpa is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Nordan Mukiele

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with Chamois Niortais, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone

That is the business done at AJ Auxerre 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.

Market

Josué Casimir raises the bar for AJ Auxerre

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at AJ Auxerre heard it as anything else.

Squad

Donovan Léon signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Donovan Léon commits to AJ Auxerre for another 2 years.

Player ratings

Fredrik Oppegård runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

In brief

183 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

12 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the AJ Auxerre boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Match

AJ Auxerre taken apart

0‑3 to Paris Saint-Germain, 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.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre agree $2.8M for Ange Lago

The clubs have shaken hands with Olympique de Marseille; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

AJ Auxerre rebuffed over Tommaso Ebone

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Inquest at AJ Auxerre

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

In brief

182 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. 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.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Nordan Mukiele

AJ Auxerre and Chamois Niortais have settled on $2.9M. 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.

Market

Arthur Girault hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Squad

25 clean sheets for Donovan Léon

A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Donovan Léon now has 25 of them across 410 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.

Squad

Mouhamed Coulibaly signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mouhamed Coulibaly and AJ Auxerre agree another 2 years.

The dugout

Luc Lambert on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luc Lambert after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

  • Boardroom AJ Auxerre bank $293.3K from an old deal
  • The dugout When it matters, Lamine Sy plays
  • Looking ahead The leaders are next for AJ Auxerre
181 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Clément Akpa agrees terms with Olympique de Marseille

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AJ Auxerre people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Nowhere to hide for AJ Auxerre

2‑5 against RC Strasbourg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Lamine Sy delivers — 7.65

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lamine Sy scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

The dugout

Anis Mathurin: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AJ Auxerre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nordan Mukiele

AJ Auxerre asked and Chamois Niortais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Willange Pembélé asks to leave AJ Auxerre

“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 targets

The paperwork begins on Shina Ayodele

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with LOSC Lille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

In brief

180 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Nowhere to hide for AJ Auxerre

0‑3 against Angers SCO, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 21 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Tom Cabarrou puts it in writing

“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 AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Ilyas Azizi is a medical away from AJ Auxerre

The deal with Valenciennes 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Donovan Léon

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Marvin Senaya 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.

Squad

Erawan Garnier stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Erawan Garnier and AJ Auxerre agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Boardroom

Nobody left the AJ Auxerre dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

179 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at AJ Auxerre

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 30 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Donovan Léon

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Danny Namaso at his very best

Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AJ Auxerre.

The dugout

Lamine Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

178 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Nicolas Saint-Ruf breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Clément Akpa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

7 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Eros Maddy runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against Toulouse FC

Toulouse FC left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 Luc Lambert left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

AJ Auxerre keep their word to Erawan Garnier

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

In brief

177 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

47 days out for Nicolas Saint-Ruf after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

6 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.

Squad

6 saves: Donovan Léon was the team

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Sinaly Diomandé what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Marvin Senaya 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.

Match

FC Lorient snatch it back from AJ Auxerre

A goal on 85 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

Match

Honours even between AJ Auxerre and FC Lorient

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

176 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Clément Akpa hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 55 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Donovan Léon stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

No end in sight to AJ Auxerre's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AJ Auxerre has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

AJ Auxerre may not be able to give Josué Casimir what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre cannot find the net

4 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.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Monaco take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

  • Match The half-term report on AJ Auxerre
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout When it matters, Lamine Sy plays
175 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at AJ Auxerre

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Boardroom

AJ Auxerre spell it out for Luc Lambert

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Luc Lambert has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Squad

Nicolas Saint-Ruf breaks a bone — 63 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at AJ Auxerre

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

The dugout

Keba Sylla says AJ Auxerre went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Axel Tuanzebe wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Match

4 matches without a win for AJ Auxerre

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AJ Auxerre are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

174 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

71 days out for Nicolas Saint-Ruf after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Clément Akpa

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Akpa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Donovan Léon stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé 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.

Match

AJ Auxerre come up short against FC Nantes

FC Nantes left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 Luc Lambert left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Louis Mezerette

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

173 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

79 days out for Nicolas Saint-Ruf after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AJ Auxerre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Casimir

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Squad

Telli Siwe in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Luc Lambert on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Pape Sy gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

AJ Auxerre and Le Havre AC cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Le Havre AC came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Squad

Country calls for Danny Namaso

He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. AJ Auxerre lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.

Market

Marvin Senaya linked with a move away

The name of Marvin Senaya keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AJ Auxerre say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

172 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 87 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar 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.

Market

Sinaly Diomandé wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AJ Auxerre hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Axel Tuanzebe 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.

Match

LOSC Lille take the points off AJ Auxerre

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Josué Casimir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

The dugout

Luc Lambert answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Player ratings

One moment undoes Marvin Senaya

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

The dugout

Marvin Senaya is still paying for one afternoon at AJ Auxerre

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.

In brief

171 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 96 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Andrés Vombergar's — 8.79

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.79, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

The drought breaks for AJ Auxerre

10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nimes were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Donovan Léon keeps AJ Auxerre in it on his own

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.

Market

Josué Casimir wants more than AJ Auxerre are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Andrés Vombergar in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

AJ Auxerre get the job done against Nimes

A 2‑0 win over Nimes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Danny Namaso

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Danny Namaso something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Lamine Sy has become a man the manager trusts
  • Market No place for Nicolas Saint-Ruf in the plan
170 Edition

The AJ Auxerre Sentinel

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for AJ Auxerre

10 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Nicolas Saint-Ruf out for 106 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Clément Akpa has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AJ Auxerre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

Pape Sy says AJ Auxerre went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

A falling-out at AJ Auxerre

Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at AJ Auxerre

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Danny Namaso

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Danny Namaso rescues a point for AJ Auxerre

It needed Danny Namaso to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against OGC Nice, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Luc Lambert: “We have to be better”

“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.

In brief