Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
1‑4 against Paris Saint-Germain, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emrick Bombo Zengo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
1‑2 to RC Strasbourg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Danny Namaso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout30 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Toby Vertonghen to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emrick Bombo Zengo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Toby Vertonghen left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
AJ Auxerre ran out of time with FC Lorient. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Lamine Sy's mistake
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with FC Lorient, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
7.37, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
AJ Auxerre asked and Chamois Niortais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
6 goals in one match, Danny Namaso on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AJ Auxerre and FC Lorient.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Everything agreed with LOSC Lille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
7 academy players handed senior numbers at AJ Auxerre
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
AJ Auxerre have gone to Olympique de Marseille with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everything agreed with Heidenheim, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mathis-Tony Loue has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“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. Paris Saint-Germain 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 Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chamois Niortais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Chihab El Mehdi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Ouaneh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Paris Saint-Germain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympique Lyonnais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bobby Yahouedeou is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Genoa; AJ Auxerre go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
AJ Auxerre asked and Coventry City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christos Papadopoulos has written the date down.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Coventry City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $900.0K. Elisha Owusu left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Olivier Caron is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Paris Saint-Germain have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Bryan Okoh is somebody else's player now, and $1.0M has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AJ Auxerre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Frédéric Martinez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Christophe Martin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Frédéric Simon has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Henri Aubert is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Tours have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$3.7M was the most the club would pay and Chamois Niortais were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mamadou Sawané has, at AJ Auxerre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Lyonnais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer went to Chamois Niortais this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The 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.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
$1.8M settles it between the clubs for Ilann Garin
Sochaux have accepted the money. What AJ Auxerre do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chamois Niortais have kept their man, and AJ Auxerre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bobby Yahouedeou has, at AJ Auxerre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Valenciennes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
“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.
“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 no worse way to lose a footballer. Victor Moinet has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The 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.
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 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.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Vombergar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Christos Papadopoulos has written the date down.
“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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Lamine Sy has written the date down.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Peter Ouaneh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Andrés Vombergar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Telli Siwe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 25 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Andrés Vombergar scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Monaco, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A place in the month's best eleven for Danny Namaso
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Danny Namaso has come out of that comparison in the side, and AJ Auxerre have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AJ Auxerre has been clear about where Lucio Garberi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Danny Namaso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Peter Ouaneh has agreed terms with Toulouse FC for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AJ Auxerre dressing room was either.
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.
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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
In brief
MarketAxel Tuanzebe wants to know where this is going
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.
“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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Telli Siwe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guillaume Lefebvre and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AJ Auxerre can tell you which week it ends in.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AJ Auxerre, and it is not being withdrawn.
AJ Auxerre ran out of time with Chamois Niortais. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
“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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with Chamois Niortais, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at AJ Auxerre until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
0‑3 to Paris Saint-Germain, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have shaken hands with Olympique de Marseille; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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. Frosinone 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 Sinaly Diomandé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
AJ Auxerre and Chamois Niortais have settled on $2.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Donovan Léon now has 25 of them across 410 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mouhamed Coulibaly and AJ Auxerre agree another 2 years.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luc Lambert after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
2‑5 against RC Strasbourg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lamine Sy scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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.
AJ Auxerre asked and Chamois Niortais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AJ Auxerre have done the hard part with LOSC Lille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
MatchLamine Sy among the goals in a wild afternoon
SquadAxel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
0‑3 against Angers SCO, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 deal with Valenciennes is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Toulouse FC left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Dec 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 Luc Lambert left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sinaly Diomandé wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Luc Lambert has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Akpa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sinaly Diomandé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
FC Nantes left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Nov 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 Luc Lambert left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nimes were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
“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.
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 Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Danny Namaso something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutLamine Sy has become a man the manager trusts
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AJ Auxerre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Erawan Garnier
0‑4 to Olympique Lyonnais, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Senaya 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.
“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 Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
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 Lamine Sy is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Akpa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“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
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luc Lambert after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A brace, and Eros Maddy takes the afternoon — 9.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eros Maddy provided it, and the 9.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Angers SCO had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A 4‑4 draw with Angers SCO leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Luc Lambert chose the glass-half-full version of 4‑4; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Akpa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.26, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luc Lambert after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tony Mendy. 2‑0 against Toulouse FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Tony Mendy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chihab El Mehdi and AJ Auxerre agree another 3 years.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
$2.9M on the table at FC Lorient. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Arsène Dezailles is living that version at AJ Auxerre, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and RC Lens waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lamine Sy and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Telli Siwe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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 Jamal Gonzaga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
“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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kiliane Assougrou and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Christos Papadopoulos has his answer from AJ Auxerre; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Théo De Percin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and RC Lens waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Elisha Owusu is somebody else's player now, and $900.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
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 Lamine Sy is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Clément Akpa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $1.0M. Bryan Okoh left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pierre Réale
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nicolas Saint-Ruf has written the date down.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Clément Akpa has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Add another name to the list: Olympique Lyonnais have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Clément Akpa. The answer from AJ Auxerre has not changed — yet.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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 Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AJ Auxerre will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AJ Auxerre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid AJ Auxerre $1.4M. Theo Bair left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. AJ Auxerre would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
26 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.
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.
“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.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Moïse Adilehou 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.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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.
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.
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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market28 May 2029
Arthur Girault returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“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.
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 dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Clément Akpa
“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. Nikolay Obolskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AJ Auxerre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomThe AJ Auxerre production line keeps running
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
“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 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danny Namaso signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Peter Ouaneh has written the date down.
27 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.
“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.
“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 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AJ Auxerre told Eros Maddy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and AJ Auxerre now know that too.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jamal Gonzaga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Peter Ouaneh a promise
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tom Cabarrou has just signed for AJ Auxerre, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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 Lamine Sy is on it.
In brief
The dugoutEros Maddy asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager makes Peter Ouaneh a promise
A muscle injury sidelines Donovan Léon for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AJ Auxerre will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danny Namaso signs something — a contract at AJ Auxerre or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The 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.
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.
3 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luc Lambert after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Obolskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AJ Auxerre will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luc Lambert after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
15 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Senaya 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.
Minute 93, against OGC Nice, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“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.
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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marvin Senaya and AJ Auxerre agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikolay Obolskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AJ Auxerre the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Marvin Senaya falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every AJ Auxerre game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Red Star runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑5 to Paris Saint-Germain, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Le Havre AC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AJ Auxerre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from RC Strasbourg for Nikolay Obolskiy 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AJ Auxerre and Paris Saint-Germain in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A brace, and Danny Namaso takes the afternoon — 9.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Danny Namaso provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
AJ Auxerre close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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.
A season average of 7.25 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Danny Namaso. 2‑0 against RC Lens, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Emrick Bombo Zengo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Senaya 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 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.
The dugout29 Jan 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Luc Lambert to a room that had heard them before.
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.
AJ Auxerre asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some 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.
The offer from RC Strasbourg for Nikolay Obolskiy 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.
Paris Saint-Germain pay $1.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter Miami CF is saying, and nobody at AJ Auxerre is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Tuanzebe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
LOSC Lille paid $9.6M 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.
Lasso Coulibaly has gone, the accounts have $9.6M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“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 chase for Keba Sylla ended with $620.0K changing hands and Nimes out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AJ Auxerre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Keba Sylla has just signed for AJ Auxerre, and for once the answer mattered.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrés Vombergar provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luc Lambert after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Josué Casimir wants continental football; whether AJ Auxerre can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Minute 88, against Tours, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lasso Coulibaly provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Senaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Peter Ouaneh 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luc Lambert on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Danny Namaso wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Danny Namaso found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Monaco went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AJ Auxerre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A performance of 9.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Axel Tuanzebe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
0‑4 to FC Nantes, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Andrés Vombergar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Axel Tuanzebe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Nobody left the AJ Auxerre dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The terracesThe spotlight tightens on Donovan Léon
The dugoutAssane Dioussé has become a man the manager trusts
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Le Havre AC were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Andrés Vombergar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrés Vombergar. 1‑0 against Le Havre AC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at AJ Auxerre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Senaya 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.