The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jassim Waazane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Matías Núñez 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.
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.
42 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Moriah-Welsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Alberto Marí and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Djylian N'Guessan, and the manager let it.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. AJ Auxerre will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Something was said to Alberto Marí and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Alberto Marí was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Scott Wharton is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cieran Slicker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AJ Auxerre has been clear about where Ben Gibson stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Scott Wharton will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Denis Zakaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
7 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.
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.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dijon spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“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.
“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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Denis Zakaria and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ben Gibson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Moriah-Welsh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Clément Akpa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Scott Wharton will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
12 combined actions and 6.82. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AJ Auxerre will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jassim Waazane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
59 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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.
Alberto Marí and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AJ Auxerre know it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moïse Sahi Dion. 2‑1 against Le Havre AC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Óscar Sanz is living that version at AJ Auxerre, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Something was said to Ibane Bowat and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
Denis Zakaria 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jassim Waazane is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every AJ Auxerre game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RC Lens runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
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 Marc Lemoine to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Denis Zakaria 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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nathan Moriah-Welsh will call it something else in private.
Squad18 Feb 2030
5 new faces, and AJ Auxerre are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lasso Coulibaly provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Scott Wharton 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.
Angers SCO next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Moriah-Welsh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AJ Auxerre may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 5 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.
Alberto Marí 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 mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pau FC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rodez AF drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Stade Rennais paid $15.8M and AJ Auxerre took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
AJ Auxerre and Rodez AF have settled on $1.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
The offer from Clermont Foot for Cieran Slicker was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The offer from FC Lorient for Kévin Danois was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. AJ Auxerre will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Djylian N'Guessan did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 deal with AS Saint-Etienne 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.95, 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.
Denis Zakaria was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Djylian N'Guessan provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lionel Mpasi 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.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at AJ Auxerre, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
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.” Marc Lemoine, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutScott Wharton is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutLucas Ribeiro asks for a word with the manager
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Djylian N'Guessan provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AJ Auxerre, and 4 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Half the programme played, position 3, 33 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AJ Auxerre, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AJ Auxerre has been clear about where Eros Maddy stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.36 for the rest of it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.69 for the rest of it.
“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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AJ Auxerre and Dijon in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibane Bowat. 4‑2 against Dijon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nathan Moriah-Welsh 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Djylian N'Guessan 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.
“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.
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.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marc Lemoine after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dijon in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AJ Auxerre, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AJ Auxerre and Grenoble Foot 38 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I watch every AJ Auxerre game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stade Rennais runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Grenoble Foot 38; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Marc Lemoine to a room that had heard them before.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A 2‑0 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Moïse Sahi Dion in the middle of it, and Le Mans FC unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Le Havre AC next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Red Star will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AJ Auxerre were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Egas Cacintura and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AJ Auxerre, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
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.
Something was said to Samir Ben Brahim and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Angers SCO had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and AJ Auxerre did not stop to explain themselves.
“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.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
A brace, and Denis Zakaria takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Denis Zakaria provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Denis Zakaria 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.
“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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou 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
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Arnaud Bodart's mistake
Squad8 new faces, and AJ Auxerre are still learning each other
“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.
“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.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Something was said to Clément Akpa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matías Núñez is living that version at AJ Auxerre, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou 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.
Rodez AF will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AJ Auxerre were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Lasso Coulibaly and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The deal that would have taken Aristide Zossou to Valenciennes has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AJ Auxerre with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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.
Lionel Mpasi 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.
11 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.
“I watch every AJ Auxerre game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at RC Lens runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 27 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
In brief
The dugoutDenis Zakaria knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Scott Wharton
“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.
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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
6 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AJ Auxerre have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Denis Zakaria 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.
AJ Auxerre asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Pau FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” LB Chateauroux had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AJ Auxerre have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Paul Joly 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 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not 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.
The name of Kévin Danois has come up in conversations AJ Auxerre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
AJ Auxerre asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
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.
Stade Rennais 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stade Lavallois had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
“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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochaux have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kévin Danois had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
AJ Auxerre and FC Annecy have settled on $5.4M. 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.
“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.
The offer from RC Strasbourg for Ryan Rodin was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Denis Zakaria 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.
AJ Auxerre asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Sochaux for Kévin Danois was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Annecy have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Aristide Zossou again, and this time the name on the line is US Boulogne. AJ Auxerre are listening politely and promising nothing.
Denis Zakaria and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 20, 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AJ Auxerre are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
AJ Auxerre have made the call to Sochaux. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
AJ Auxerre have made the call to Stade Brestois. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kévin Danois trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deal with AS Saint-Etienne is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I have 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Star have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Quevilly-Rouen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Orleans have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Stade Rennais have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tony Mendy. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
FC Versailles 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
Transfer targetsA loan move for Benjamín Borruel is in the works
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The 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.
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.
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at AJ Auxerre is enjoying the guessing.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Paris 13 Atletico will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniel da Silva has pre-agreed a move to AJ Auxerre, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
AJ Auxerre asked and Olympique Lyonnais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from USL Dunkerque for Axel Tuanzebe was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Paris 13 Atletico have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aristide Zossou. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
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.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dalisson has just signed for AJ Auxerre, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The offer went to LOSC Lille 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.
“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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Angers SCO will make the call about Kévin Danois this week. AJ Auxerre have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
29 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ryan Rodin has his answer from AJ Auxerre; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutIbane Bowat knocks on the manager's door
117 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad21 May 2029
Steve N'Goura 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.
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.
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
The dugoutRyan Rodin asks for a word with the manager
125 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.
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.
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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Naouirou Ahamada is on it.
132 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.
Position 18 on 14 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.
“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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AJ Auxerre, another week without a signature from Donovan Léon.
141 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.
“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.
Axel Tuanzebe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AJ Auxerre can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Marc Lemoine left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. AJ Auxerre know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Donovan Léon will call it something else in private.
7 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Position 17 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. AJ Auxerre know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AJ Auxerre, another week without a signature from Donovan Léon.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Radosław Majecki and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tony Mendy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 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.
Yacine Adli 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
“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.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Steve N'Goura 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.
7 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Marc Lemoine left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Ibane Bowat
“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.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Aaron Issumo has agreed terms with Le Mans FC for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Steve N'Goura 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.
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 Donovan Léon.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
Axel Tuanzebe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique de Marseille have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aristide Zossou 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.
10 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Axel Tuanzebe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique de Marseille have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 18 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The offer from Stade de Reims for Kévin Danois was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
The deal that would have taken Fredrik Oppegård to Stade Briochin has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AJ Auxerre with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 4 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
8 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.
8 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.
Yacine Adli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer from Paris 13 Atletico for Aristide Zossou was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
7 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.
FC Annecy paid $1.5M and AJ Auxerre took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The deal with Monaco 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“It 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.
“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.
6 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The 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.
“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.
“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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
35 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.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
The mood at AJ Auxerre has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve N'Goura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Axel Tuanzebe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nabil Bentaleb, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Marc Lemoine to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
“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.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Bentaleb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Eros Maddy is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 16 and 7 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.
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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Marc Lemoine left the room before anybody could ask which.
65 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.
14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Montpellier HSC were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve N'Goura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
75 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.
5 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AJ Auxerre and OGC Nice, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nabil Bentaleb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 6 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
83 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.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adriano De Simone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
92 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.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Axel Tuanzebe 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑2 to Olympique Lyonnais, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil Bentaleb 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Marc Lemoine to a room that had heard them before.
100 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.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Théo Chennahi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutAmadou Niang dropped after a run of poor form
109 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.
Nabil Bentaleb and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura 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.
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.
Something was said to Yacine Adli and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and AJ Auxerre are still learning each other
118 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.
Yacine Adli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marc Lemoine after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Axel Tuanzebe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AJ Auxerre has been clear about where Fredrik Oppegård stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Kévin Danois will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at AJ Auxerre escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve N'Goura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑4 against RC Strasbourg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
8 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
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.
“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.
Axel Tuanzebe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Valenciennes moved on, Aristide Zossou reports back to AJ Auxerre, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
6 goals in one match, Kévin Danois on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AJ Auxerre and Toulouse FC.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Steve N'Goura 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.
AJ Auxerre asked and Toulouse FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Marc Lemoine to a room that had heard them before.
The deal that would have taken Kévin Danois to Stade de Reims has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AJ Auxerre with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Telli Siwe had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Cieran Slicker is living that version at AJ Auxerre, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve N'Goura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naouirou Ahamada 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valenciennes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AJ Auxerre can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 32 signed and 32 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.
Marked 7.95 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Yacine Adli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have 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.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve N'Goura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It needed Steve N'Goura to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Stade de Reims, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Add another name to the list: Stade de Reims have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kévin Danois. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve N'Goura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
AJ Auxerre asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rémy Bertrand has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guillaume Lemoine is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from LB Chateauroux for Aristide Zossou was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Paris 13 Atletico had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Add another name to the list: Stade Lavallois have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lasso Coulibaly. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
AJ Auxerre asked and FC Lorient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AJ Auxerre will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The name of Marvin Senaya has come up in conversations AJ Auxerre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with Monaco, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Assane Dioussé has his answer from AJ Auxerre; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AJ Auxerre are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and SC Aubagne Air Bel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Axel Tuanzebe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of Bryan Okoh has come up in conversations AJ Auxerre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
LOSC Lille 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efe Sarıkaya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The 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.
Nabil Bentaleb 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.
10 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and AJ Auxerre will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
AJ Auxerre have made the call to LOSC Lille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Everyone has stopped pretending: SC Aubagne Air Bel will make the call about Telli Siwe this week. AJ Auxerre have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The offer from RC Strasbourg for Bryan Okoh was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Yacine Adli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AJ Auxerre are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efe Sarıkaya is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It 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.
Add another name to the list: RC Strasbourg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bryan Okoh. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Henri Lefebvre has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Dupuy has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Joseph Lefebvre is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aristide Zossou 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.
AJ Auxerre have made the call to Grenoble Foot 38. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutAxel Tuanzebe knocks on the manager's door
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AJ Auxerre have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Axel Tuanzebe 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aristide Zossou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ayman Aiki has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
AJ Auxerre have made the call to Avellino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
Paul Joly 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.
7 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.
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.
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 Naouirou Ahamada is on it.
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.
“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.