Position 2, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Noah Naujoks 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Excelsior can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jerolldino Bergraaf has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Vieri Kotzebue and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Noah Naujoks was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Moussa Soumano has his answer from Excelsior; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
1 for Noah Naujoks, marked 7.79, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Excelsior and Jong Utrecht, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Wassim Bouziane has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
German Ignatov 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.
“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; Excelsior are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Excelsior has been clear about where Daan Visser stands, which is more than many ever get.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.86 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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: Soufiane Hetli. 2‑1 against Fortuna Sittard, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match10 Nov 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Excelsior. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
1 for Noah Naujoks, marked 7.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Vieri Kotzebue and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 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.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Vieri Kotzebue was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Wassim Bouziane has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
A brace, and Noah Naujoks takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Noah Naujoks provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 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.
Marked 8.22 — 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Excelsior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lugene Arnaud 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.
Everybody at Excelsior saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jerolldino Bergraaf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Excelsior know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Almere City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kevin Jensen is living that version at Excelsior, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Oct 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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from German Ignatov.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Excelsior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Amine El Farissi has just signed for Excelsior, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Soufiane Hetli. 1‑0 against Emmen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Excelsior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Eindhoven have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior 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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Vieri Kotzebue and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Excelsior know it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $510.1K of what Excelsior paid for Michael Dokunmu is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 25 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Levi Roeland has just signed for Excelsior, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Rayvian Job reports back to Excelsior with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Vieri Kotzebue 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 Nick Twisk 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 Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
1 for José De Almeida Reis, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Valentin Sulzbacher was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 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.
A 2‑0 win over Helmond Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Excelsior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Michael Dokunmu 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Excelsior asked and FC Eindhoven 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Excelsior are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior 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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Feyenoord is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Feyenoord keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Excelsior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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. PSV have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Soufiane Hetli.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Moussa Soumano 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 Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Excelsior asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Almere City will make the call about Givendro Mercera this week. Excelsior have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Ajax, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Dokunmu 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Excelsior is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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 Excelsior know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Excelsior told Dylan Dassy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugoutDon Bolsius knocks on the manager’s door
MarketThe clock does Don Bolsius’s negotiating for him
155Edition
The Excelsior Gazette
16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Excelsior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Excelsior have done the hard part with PSV, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal that would have taken Rayvian Job to FC Eindhoven has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Excelsior with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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 Excelsior know it.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Excelsior asked and FC Eindhoven said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Excelsior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Feyenoord is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Feyenoord keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Michael Dokunmu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moussa Soumano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with PSV is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael Dokunmu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Simon Janssen 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.
Excelsior asked and Utrecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Givendro Mercera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Excelsior will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Telstar have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Valentin Sulzbacher 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.
Excelsior have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MVV Maastricht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Excelsior had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at PSV, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Eindhoven have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Excelsior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from VVV-Venlo for Vieri Kotzebue 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.
$110.0K on the table at Telstar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Excelsior asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Excelsior asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rayvian Job will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Excelsior that is a harder question to answer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Excelsior has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael Dokunmu 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michael Dokunmu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Jesus Hernandez arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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; Excelsior are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Simon Janssen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Michael Dokunmu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
Noah Naujoks 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Excelsior can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Excelsior know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Excelsior is running low.
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.
0‑3 against Sparta Rotterdam, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 18 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
6 goals in one match, Jerolldino Bergraaf on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Excelsior and Ajax.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Koglin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Michael Dokunmu 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Excelsior dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Stijn van Gassel's mistake
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Excelsior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stijn Middendorp and Excelsior agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Dokunmu 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.
David Bates was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Excelsior is running low.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Excelsior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stijn Middendorp and Excelsior agree another 4 years.
David Bates and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Michael Dokunmu 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Koglin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Bates will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Excelsior has been clear about where Vieri Kotzebue stands, which is more than many ever get.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Simon Janssen.
0‑6 to PSV, 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.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rayvian Job will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Mar 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Excelsior and PSV in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Dokunmu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Moussa Soumano will call it something else in private.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Heracles scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Stijn van Gassel's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Koglin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Excelsior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
“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 Excelsior know it.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Noah Naujoks falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Excelsior asked and FC Eindhoven said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
David Bates 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Up for the corner, and Noah Naujoks delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Noah Naujoks scored, was marked 7.95, 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.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The run now stands at 29, and the questions being asked around Excelsior are no longer polite ones.
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Excelsior is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Almere City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jerolldino Bergraaf provided it, and the 7.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal with PSV is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Excelsior have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Excelsior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Noah Naujoks 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior 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.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. David Bates has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: FC Eindhoven have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rayvian Job. The answer from Excelsior has not changed — yet.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Excelsior can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
A brace, and Noah Naujoks takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Noah Naujoks provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Excelsior have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Heerenveen the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Excelsior will enjoy reviewing.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
24 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil el Basri 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.
Half the programme played, position 18, 5 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Brian Koglin 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.
21 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 18 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Valentin Sulzbacher 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Moussa Soumano 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Bates 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Excelsior know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Bates 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 Nabil el Basri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Guilliano Cairo has his answer from Excelsior; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Excelsior can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Simon Janssen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Excelsior can tell you which week it ends in.
Brian Koglin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Marked 7.50 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Excelsior had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Simon Janssen
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior 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.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José De Almeida Reis and Excelsior agree another 4 years.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Excelsior will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
Moussa Soumano 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Casper Widell and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Soufiane Hetli.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Reece Evans commits to Excelsior for another 4 years.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Excelsior are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
David Bates 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 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Excelsior know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Bates and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Excelsior has been clear about where Simon Janssen stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moussa Soumano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Utrecht? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Excelsior asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Joris van Overeem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Excelsior had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cremonese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniël Deen is living that version at Excelsior, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MVV Maastricht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Vitesse have accepted the money. What Excelsior do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
7.60, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Zach Booth 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.
Day 12 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Excelsior
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
In brief
SquadNoah Naujoks falls out with a teammate over standards
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Excelsior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jeroen Van Dijk has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Everything agreed with Ajax, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Noah Naujoks 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Excelsior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zach Booth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Bates 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.
Excelsior asked and Heerenveen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Eindhoven waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugoutZach Booth asks for a word with the manager
103Edition
The Excelsior Gazette
17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 16 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at Excelsior is enjoying the guessing.
Excelsior asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior 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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Joris van Overeem 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Zach Booth 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.
Excelsior asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Quenten Attigah has come up in conversations Excelsior were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nobody at Excelsior 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Joris van Overeem.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Excelsior can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nesto Groen had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Feyenoord keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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. Excelsior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Excelsior have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$82.0K was the most the club would pay and VVV-Venlo 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Noah Naujoks 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.
David Bates 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 mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Excelsior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The chase for Moussa Soumano ended with $9.2M changing hands and Ajax out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $91.0K — a club that wants Trevor Doornbusch enough to be asked twice.
Excelsior have gone to VVV-Venlo 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Moussa Soumano from Ajax for $9.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zach Booth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Excelsior and Zwolle have settled on $3.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The chase for Jayden Tammes ended with $330.0K changing hands and ADO Den Haag out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Joris van Overeem.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Excelsior are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jeroen Van Dijk has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Excelsior and ADO Den Haag have settled on $330.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Casper Widell and Excelsior agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
David Bates and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Taha Rençber is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 May 2028
Zach Booth 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.
Brian Koglin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior know it.
Joris van Overeem 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Valentin Sulzbacher 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.
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 Valentin Sulzbacher is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Naujoks signs something — a contract at Excelsior or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Excelsior has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jeroen Van Dijk has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 May 2028
Zach Booth 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Wesley Saïd was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody at Excelsior 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Joris van Overeem.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Excelsior has been clear about where Rayvian Job stands, which is more than many ever get.
Position 16 on 28 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Excelsior are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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.
Brian Koglin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Michael Dokunmu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Stijn van Gassel has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Yoëll van Nieff.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 16 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Gastón Ávila and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Noah Naujoks 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zach Booth 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stijn van Gassel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Excelsior can tell you which week it ends in.
Brian Koglin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Excelsior pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jeroen Van Dijk to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Excelsior 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Excelsior can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Noah Naujoks falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Excelsior know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Stijn van Gassel will call it something else in private.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have given 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 Excelsior know it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Zach Booth 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.
Valentin Sulzbacher 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.
Something was said to Wesley Saïd and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Valentin Sulzbacher is on it.
0‑3 against Go Ahead Eagles, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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; Excelsior are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Valentin Sulzbacher and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Excelsior, another week without a signature from Valentin Sulzbacher.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Dassy dropped after a run of poor form
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. NEC spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Excelsior told Gastón Ávila something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Excelsior can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Gastón Ávila 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.
Everybody at Excelsior saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Zach Booth 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 16, 23 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Noah Naujoks 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stijn van Gassel, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
12 new faces, and Excelsior are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Antonio Gomis is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Brian Koglin.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Yoëll van Nieff is a Excelsior player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Zach Booth falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yoëll van Nieff and Excelsior agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Jeroen Van Dijk left the room before anybody could ask which.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vieri Kotzebue has just signed for Excelsior, and for once the answer mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Gastón Ávila 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Naujoks 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 mood at Excelsior has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marco Rente was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RKC Waalwijk have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Jeroen Van Dijk left the room before anybody could ask which.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michael Dokunmu did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marco Rente and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joaquín Zappacosta. 1‑0 against Fortuna Sittard, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nabil el Basri 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.
Marked 6.75 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The deal with OGC Nice is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.