The words a physio says slowly. 136 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad20 May 2030
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen 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.
The dugout20 May 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Rick Karsdorp's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 145 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Acosta 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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; Groningen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Groningen, another week without a signature from Jismerai Dillema.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gustaf Bruzelius will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mads Pedersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Abdallah 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thijmen Blokzijl signs something — a contract at Groningen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 22 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ryan Metu did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diego Acosta 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Oskar Zawada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cody Xavi Simons and Groningen agree another 3 years.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, 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 Groningen 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Abdallah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Acosta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mads Pedersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Groningen will try not to make too much of it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Groningen told Julian Rijkhoff something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Groningen interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Bas Blind keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Position 16 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Groningen heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmetcan Kaplan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fofin Turay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Espen van Ee will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diego Acosta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oskar Zawada. 1‑0 against ADO Den Haag, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad25 Mar 2030
6 new faces, and Groningen 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.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
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.” Bas Blind, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
1‑2 away to the standard of Cambuur. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Oskar Zawada 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.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bas Blind after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Groningen has been clear about where Espen van Ee stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Espen van Ee
The dugoutRick Karsdorp dropped after a run of poor form
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Quincy Bergwijn clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Position 17 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
“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; Bas Blind recited it perfectly.
1‑0 against Cambuur, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Groningen is running low.
93 minutes played. Francisco Montoro found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Cambuur went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gustavo Hamer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Oskar Zawada 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.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Heracles were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luka Robben 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.
Groningen ran out of time with De Graafschap. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Groningen will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Groningen pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Oskar Zawada
10 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Groningen and Den Bosch have settled on $5.5M. 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.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Groningen can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Groningen close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with De Graafschap 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 17 and 13 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 Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. De Graafschap have kept their man, and Groningen 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Groningen training over how hard people work
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitesse have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Diego Acosta 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Gyan de Regt 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.
Add another name to the list: FC Eindhoven have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mathis Mout. The answer from Groningen has not changed — yet.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Diego Acosta has, at Groningen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gustaf Bruzelius will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gustaf Bruzelius 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.
$240.0K on the table at De Graafschap. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Oskar Zawada 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.
Gustavo Hamer 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.
0‑3 to NEC, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Luka Robben was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Some 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Quincy Bergwijn left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3‑0 against Partizani Tirana, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1 for Thijmen Blokzijl, marked 7.82, 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Fofin Turay 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mads Pedersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Groningen will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Groningen is running low.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Quincy Bergwijn has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
0‑1 against Zalgiris, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
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.
Position 16 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Gyan de Regt, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Oskar Zawada 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cody Xavi Simons obliged against Emmen. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Groningen.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cody Xavi Simons did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Cody Xavi Simons 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.
“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 Groningen know it.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutRick Karsdorp asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Abdallah 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Jordy Steins'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.
Nobody at Groningen 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.
4‑1. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Jinairo Johnson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Some 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ahmetcan Kaplan 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Groningen told Gyan de Regt something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
2‑2 against Tammeka, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Ahmetcan Kaplan 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.
Marked 6.76 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Tammeka held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Groningen answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza Abdallah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Mads Pedersen 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 Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Quincy Bergwijn after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jordy Steins's mistake
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Rick Karsdorp
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Oskar Zawada 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.
Fofin Turay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Mads Pedersen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Groningen told Luka Robben something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Espen van Ee will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.58 beside his name.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Groningen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Quincy Bergwijn 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.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Fofin Turay 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 Groningen has been clear about where Gyan de Regt stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Oskar Zawada is on it.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza Abdallah 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 dugout17 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Quincy Bergwijn chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Oskar Zawada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Groningen 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 Groningen, another week without a signature from Luka Robben.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Groningen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Groningen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $255.7K of what Groningen paid for Luuk Wouters is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.81, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Groningen until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Groningen 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Zwolle will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Groningen people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Jinairo Johnson has come up in conversations Groningen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Groningen 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at Groningen is enjoying the guessing.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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.
Fofin Turay was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Zwolle is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Groningen 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at Groningen is enjoying the guessing.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Oskar Zawada 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.
Fofin Turay 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 phone has started ringing about Espen van Ee again, and this time the name on the line is Dordrecht. Groningen are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Zwolle this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Eindhoven have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Calvin Gakpo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The clubs have shaken hands with Utrecht; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at Groningen is enjoying the guessing.
“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; Groningen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt 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 Groningen 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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jinairo Johnson 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.
Groningen asked and RKC Waalwijk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Groningen 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 Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Groningen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Feyenoord, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$100.0K on the table at Willem II. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Oskar Zawada is on it.
In brief
The dugoutTika de Jonge knocks on the manager's door
“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 Groningen, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Gyan de Regt 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.
Groningen 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.
Groningen 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
5 new faces, and Groningen 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.
In brief
The dugoutRick Karsdorp has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Helmond Sport for David van der Werff 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.
Groningen 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Jordi Vanlerberghe 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cody Xavi Simons and Groningen agree another 3 years.
Groningen have made the call to LOSC Lille. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Groningen is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Willem II this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Helmond Sport have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David van der Werff. The answer from Groningen has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MVV Maastricht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Groningen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Groningen have gone to AZ with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alp Tutar has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Groningen have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Groningen 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Márk Csinger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Groningen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Utrecht; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Groningen offered $71.0K; Go Ahead Eagles said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Luka Robben 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutRick Karsdorp has become a man the manager trusts
Groningen have gone to Utrecht 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.
He is going to Feyenoord, the club has $29.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The phone has started ringing about Marcos Leonardo again, and this time the name on the line is Atlético Mineiro. Groningen are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Go Ahead Eagles this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joaquín Cruz has just signed for Groningen, and for once the answer mattered.
“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; Groningen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
34 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Groningen now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Nobody at Groningen 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Groningen will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Groningen are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Mads Pedersen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Oskar Zawada 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Groningen will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Groningen, another week without a signature from Roy Leicester.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Fofin Turay 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 at Groningen 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Groningen 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Groningen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 14 on 32 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Charles Vanhoutte is on it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Quincy Bergwijn left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Groningen will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutTika de Jonge knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over De Graafschap, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Marcos Leonardo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Groningen and AZ, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Sem Steijn scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to AZ, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Oskar Zawada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas van Noort and Groningen agree another 4 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Groningen know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
2‑1 against Utrecht, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
1‑3 against Utrecht. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Leonardo provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Oskar Zawada 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.
Fofin Turay 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.
1‑4 to Feyenoord, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marvin Peersman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hamza Abdallah has just signed for Groningen, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Siyabonga Mahlangu 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Oskar Zawada will call it something else in private.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It needed Marcos Leonardo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Go Ahead Eagles, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
0‑2 away to the standard of Utrecht. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Leonardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jordi Vanlerberghe 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 dugout5 Mar 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Quincy Bergwijn to a room that had heard them before.
Marked 7.83. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Marvin Peersman 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marvin Peersman will call it something else in private.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Quincy Bergwijn on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Charles Vanhoutte, marked 7.80, 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.
Mads Pedersen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 Sem Steijn is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rui Mendes
“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 Groningen, 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Go Ahead Eagles wanted more than $71.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Siyabonga Mahlangu 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.
A brace, and Sem Steijn takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sem Steijn provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Groningen close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The offer went to Go Ahead Eagles this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Willem II will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nathan Tjoe-A-On has pre-agreed a move to Groningen, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen 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 Groningen know it.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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.
Groningen asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Groningen told Marcos Leonardo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ryan Metu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NAC Breda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Groningen is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7.93, 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.
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 6.58 for the rest of it.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.90 beside his name.
$71.0K on the table at Go Ahead Eagles. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Oskar Zawada falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ajax paid $3.3M and Groningen took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Go Ahead Eagles wanted more than $71.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Go Ahead Eagles this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Siyabonga Mahlangu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mads Pedersen 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 Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Nobody at Groningen will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutRick Karsdorp asks for a word with the manager
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Oskar Zawada 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.
Marvin Peersman 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.
3‑0 against Breidablik, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Marcos Leonardo
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcos Leonardo wants continental football; whether Groningen can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. De Graafschap defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
2‑1 against Teplice, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Pharell Nash, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marvin Peersman 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 20 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.
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 Rick Karsdorp.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Groningen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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; Groningen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jordi Vanlerberghe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Nov 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 Quincy Bergwijn left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Groningen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Siyabonga Mahlangu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Groningen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Pharell Nash’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Groningen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
BoardroomThe Groningen production line keeps running
2‑0 against HNK Rijeka, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Siyabonga Mahlangu was at the centre of the description.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Feyenoord left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Sem Steijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.” Tyrique Mercera has his answer from Groningen; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Gyan de Regt.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Groningen heard it as anything else.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Peersman 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.
1‑3 away to the standard of HNK Rijeka. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen 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.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Oskar Zawada 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.
8.06. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Groningen pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Luuk Wouters and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Groningen can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Groningen are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Oskar Zawada 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kiyani Zeggen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen 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 Sem Steijn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Groningen 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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 van der Werff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sem Steijn is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Groningen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Heerenveen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Groningen can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.44, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑5 to Ajax, 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Groningen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marvin Peersman 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 Groningen 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 7.83 for the rest of it.
“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 Groningen know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gyan de Regt was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Siyabonga Mahlangu 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.
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
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Marcos Leonardo
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pharell Nash did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
5 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Groningen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jordi Vanlerberghe has just signed for Groningen, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Oskar Zawada 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.
Marvin Peersman 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. Winterthur have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Groningen 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
$32.0K settles it between the clubs for Jeroen Zoet
AZ have accepted the money. What Groningen do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David van der Werff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Groningen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Groningen until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Khadim Ngom has, at Groningen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The phone has started ringing about Luka Robben again, and this time the name on the line is Emmen. Groningen are listening politely and promising nothing.
Groningen asked and Vejle said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Groningen will try again when the window opens; Go Ahead Eagles may not be selling by then.
In brief
SquadMarvin Peersman falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pharell Nash did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Groningen 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.
$75.0K on the table at Go Ahead Eagles. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Groningen and Fortuna Sittard in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Groningen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Hannover 96 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Rui Mendes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Aug 2028
8 new faces, and Groningen 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Randers is saying, and nobody at Groningen is enjoying the guessing.
The name of David van der Werff has come up in conversations Groningen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Groningen
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kenneth Dost has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joel Stengs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Frenkie Stengs has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Groningen can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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 Tyrique Mercera is on it.
Everything agreed with Egnatia Rrogozhinë, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Groningen offered $29.0K; AZ said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Groningen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oskar Zawada was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Oskar Zawada is on it.
Everything agreed with Ajax Cape Town, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marvin Peersman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
$2.9M was the most the club would pay and De Graafschap 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.
Lovro Štubljar has left for Heerenveen in a $1.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Oskar Zawada 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
6 new faces, and Groningen 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Groningen people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$2.7M on the table at De Graafschap. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Etienne Vaessen has left for Heerenveen in a $360.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Oskar Zawada 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.
Marvin Peersman 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. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and Groningen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Groningen have lost him in all but the paperwork.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Groningen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Groningen can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Etienne Vaessen 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.
Rui Mendes 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.
FC Nordsjaelland have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Derryl Hupsel has, at Groningen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Groningen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oskar Zawada 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.
Groningen asked and Volendam said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Rui Mendes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Groningen has been clear about where Marvin Peersman stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is 20, and nobody at Groningen signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.