Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Aimé Omgba 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
526 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Aimé Omgba 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.
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz 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.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathias Delorge signs something — a contract at KAA Gent or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kjell Peersman: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.84 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.22 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Loïs Openda 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Westerlo spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Matisse Samoise 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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 offer from Waasland-Beveren for Desmond Kumih-Barimah 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.14 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Unai Eguíluz 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KAA Gent and Zulte Waregem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adnan Januzaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aaron Murenzi. 2‑1 against Waasland-Beveren, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Aug 2038
Aaron Murenzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Waasland-Beveren spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Mouscron the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that KAA Gent will enjoy reviewing.
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.
236 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aimé Omgba 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 board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2038
9 academy players handed senior numbers at KAA Gent
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.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Romelu Onana has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Charles Batshuayi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Axel Meunier is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Charles Chadli 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.
In brief
BoardroomA promise the KAA Gent board did not keep
Loïs Openda 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Wouter George will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Aimé Omgba 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 KAA Gent 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAA Gent will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Matisse Samoise 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.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Aimé Omgba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAA Gent will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Loïs Openda 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 offer from KV Mechelen for Adnan Januzaj 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.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Aimé Omgba 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matisse Samoise 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 Jun 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Unai Eguíluz 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at KAA Gent has been clear about where Paul Koller stands, which is more than many ever get.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
221 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bilal Bafdili has just signed for KAA Gent, and for once the answer mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Desmond Kumih-Barimah again, and this time the name on the line is Sint-Truiden. KAA Gent are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Aimé Omgba 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Wouter George will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Wouter George 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.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nordin Jackers arrives at 40 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Loïs Openda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2038
Aimé Omgba 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAA Gent will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Matisse Samoise was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KAA Gent could ask drops and the wages Leander Meunier can ask rise.
In brief
BoardroomThe KAA Gent production line keeps running
Michał Skóraś 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.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Aimé Omgba 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.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Michał Skóraś 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadUnai Eguíluz has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
Nobody at KAA Gent 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. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee KAA Gent could ask drops and the wages Leander Meunier can ask rise.
In brief
BoardroomThe KAA Gent production line keeps running
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś 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.
Squad22 Mar 2038
A last season at home is what Paul Koller is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba has become a man the manager trusts
4‑3 against AZ, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Aaron Murenzi was at the centre of the description.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. KAA Gent scored in the 118th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
A brace, and Aaron Murenzi takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aaron Murenzi provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.82 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Matisse Samoise 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
413 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent 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.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Michał Skóraś 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Aimé Omgba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
0‑2 against AZ. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.95 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KAA Gent and Club Brugge, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
538 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Marked 9.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Desmond Kumih-Barimah in the middle of it, and KV Kortrijk unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Aimé Omgba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KAA Gent know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.99 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 KAA Gent, 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.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Waasland-Beveren for Yannick De Ketelaere 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
Simon Lukaku, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.17
A mark of 9.17 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Aimé Omgba 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Aimé Omgba decided otherwise. Racing Genk had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.26 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. KAA Gent will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.98 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Zachary Athekame decided nobody was going anywhere. Lokeren had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Michał Skóraś 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
A brace, and Michał Skóraś takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michał Skóraś provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. KAA Gent deserved better, and so did he.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 89% of everything KAA Gent earn
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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 Matisse Samoise signs something — a contract at KAA Gent or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Aimé Omgba
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Waasland-Beveren will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.23 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑2 away to the standard of Feyenoord. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.75 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Matisse Samoise 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 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KAA Gent has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nacer Castagne has just signed for KAA Gent, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about KAA Gent and Club Brugge in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
1‑2 away to the standard of Feyenoord. 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between KAA Gent and KV Kortrijk, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Zachary Athekame at his very best
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Aimé Omgba had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and KV Mechelen were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Desmond Kumih-Barimah decided nobody was going anywhere. KV Oostende had no time left to answer.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
2‑0 against Borussia Dortmund, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Bernard Nguene was at the centre of the description.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 Oct 2037
Unai Eguíluz wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Unai Eguíluz found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Standard Liege went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.93 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2‑1 against Gornik Leczna, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Momodou Sonko was at the centre of the description.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Charleroi the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that KAA Gent will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.07 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Witsel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAA Gent the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 35 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 102th minute. Sint-Truiden will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tibe De Vlieger provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.16 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Add another name to the list: Waasland-Beveren have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Desmond Kumih-Barimah. The answer from KAA Gent has not changed — yet.
Aimé Omgba 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 bid was some way short and KAA Gent did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Michał Skóraś falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Zulte Waregem for George Hirst was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Aimé Omgba 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.10 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
6 goals in one match, Unai Eguíluz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of KAA Gent and Zulte Waregem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
503 appearances across 17 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Desmond Kumih-Barimah provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between KAA Gent and Waasland-Beveren, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Matisse Samoise 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 board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
12 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dries Mertens is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Michał Skóraś 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 KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Westerlo for Vladimir Nikolov 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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Aimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAA Gent will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz 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 words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent can pretend not to have heard.
226 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Michał Skóraś was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 KAA Gent, 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathias Delorge signs something — a contract at KAA Gent or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KAA Gent 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 KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Michał Skóraś has his answer from KAA Gent; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Unai Eguíluz 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at KAA Gent, another week without a signature from Mohamed Koné.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Michał Skóraś 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jason Witsel has agreed terms with Racing Genk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
372 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Aimé Omgba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unai Eguíluz 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadAimé Omgba has become a man the manager trusts
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Matisse Samoise 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.
Squad18 May 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Kjell Peersman's mistake
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
383 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Matisse Samoise was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 May 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Aimé Omgba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadMichał Skóraś falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Matisse Samoise was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Michał Skóraś 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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Matisse Samoise 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.
14 goals and a season average of 7.40. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about KAA Gent and KV Oostende in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
8.82. 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 words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 9.33 — 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.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KAA Gent lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Dean provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal that would have taken Vladimir Nikolov to Sint-Truiden has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to KAA Gent with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at KAA Gent hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Dean. 3‑1 against KV Mechelen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A brace, and Michał Skóraś takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michał Skóraś provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś 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 KAA Gent, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matisse Samoise 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 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.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Aimé Omgba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Maksim Paskotši has come up in conversations KAA Gent were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Anderlecht held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. KAA Gent answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Racing Genk kept coming because nothing stopped them, and KAA Gent will be asked about the last half hour all week.
12 goals and a season average of 7.94 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings5 Jan 2037
A brace, and Michał Skóraś takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michał Skóraś provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. KAA Gent will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The phone has started ringing about Desmond Kumih-Barimah again, and this time the name on the line is Sint-Truiden. KAA Gent are listening politely and promising nothing.
Matisse Samoise 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Charleroi kept coming because nothing stopped them, and KAA Gent will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.82 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Aimé Omgba 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.
45 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matisse Samoise 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba 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.
Sint-Truiden will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KAA Gent were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Skóraś 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.
9.14. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
493 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between KAA Gent and OH Leuven, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Lokeren will replay every second of the added time for a week.
492 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KAA Gent have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at KAA Gent heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KAA Gent is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Michał Skóraś 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Aimé Omgba 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Desmond Kumih-Barimah provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Matisse Samoise 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.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Desmond Kumih-Barimah. 2‑0 against Mouscron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
12 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
370 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.38 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Crysencio Summerville arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.41 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAA Gent they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matisse Samoise was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Words at KAA Gent training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aimé Omgba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KAA Gent this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 6‑4 win over KV Mechelen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Aimé Omgba 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between KAA Gent and KV Mechelen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.