Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadir Yakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Paradou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mamadou Fofana. The answer from JS Kabylie has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Guendouz and JS Kabylie agree another 2 years.
Oumar Gonzalez 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 JS Kabylie heard it as anything else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: ASO Chlef will make the call about Arthur Bada this week. JS Kabylie have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
JS Kabylie have made the call to ESTAC Troyes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
Gerzino Nyamsi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Yanis Hamache 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.
JS Kabylie asked and ESTAC Troyes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moslem Anatouf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Ben Aknoun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
JS Kabylie have made the call to ESTAC Troyes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imad Eddine Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Célestin Écua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Kouan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ES Setif have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
JS Kabylie have made the call to El Masry. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
JS Kabylie have made the call to Le Havre AC. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arthur Bada trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Guendouz signs something — a contract at JS Kabylie or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadir Yakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: El Masry keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Kouan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gerzino Nyamsi has written the date down.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MC El Bayadh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: ES Mostaganem keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
JS Kabylie asked and Peterborough United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and JS Kabylie have had the benefit of it.
Christian Kouan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$28.3M was the most the club would pay and Levski were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Luton Town have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
JS Kabylie have gone to ES Mostaganem with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Jun 2028
5 new faces, and JS Kabylie are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
27 appearances at JS Saoura and the goals have stopped going in. JS Kabylie lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation JS Kabylie are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutGaya Merbah back under a manager who knows him
The dugoutImad Eddine Azzi is still being punished for one mistake
The offer went to Levski this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Hearts of Oak for Mamadou Fofana 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.
Everything agreed with ESTAC Troyes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Oumar Gonzalez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
USM Alger wanted more than $88.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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.
JS Kabylie asked and Al Ahly said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation JS Kabylie are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The fee is $750.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. USM Alger drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $100.0K — a club that wants Salah Eddine Bouziani enough to be asked twice.
Gerzino Nyamsi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$88.0K on the table at USM Alger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Saint-Etienne have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Position 3, 62 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
JS Kabylie asked and Paradou said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everything agreed with USM Alger, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$1.7M on the table at USM Alger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The name of Arthur Bada has come up in conversations JS Kabylie were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
JS Kabylie have gone to USM Alger with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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.
Célestin Écua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 shut-outs in 27 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Seif Benrabah has been having a lot of them.
The new man at JS Kabylie has worked with Gaya Merbah before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Imad Eddine Azzi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at JS Kabylie, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The name of Billal Messaoudi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. JS Kabylie say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad29 May 2028
Yanis Hamache is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
In brief
BoardroomThe JS Kabylie production line keeps running
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imad Eddine Azzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Réda Hamidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at JS Kabylie 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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Guendouz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Christian Kouan 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.
27 appearances at JS Saoura and the goals have stopped going in. JS Kabylie lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at JS Kabylie, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Safi Eddine Atmania 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 will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at JS Kabylie would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gerzino Nyamsi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Abdel Medioub will call it something else in private.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rachid Mandi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadir Yakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gerzino Nyamsi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against MC Oran; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Yanis Hamache and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Khalil Ayari has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Gerzino Nyamsi.
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.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. JS Kabylie told Lebo Mothiba something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad27 Mar 2028
10 new faces, and JS Kabylie are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
8 shut-outs in 24 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Seif Benrabah has been having a lot of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
USM Alger next, and one man in the JS Kabylie dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadir Yakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 19 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Bada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lebo Mothiba. 2‑1 against JS Saoura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aly Abeid and JS Kabylie agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Christian Kouan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Gerzino Nyamsi 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 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 dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Rachid Mandi kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Moslem Anatouf has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 win over CS Constantine, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. JS Kabylie told Célestin Écua something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rachid Mandi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Bada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Guendouz 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.
Three points for JS Kabylie, 3‑2 the final word against MC Alger in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Khalil Ayari has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Tylel Tati, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at JS Kabylie until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Christian Kouan 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order JS Kabylie prefer.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one JS Kabylie will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Oumar Gonzalez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
JS Kabylie asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Amine Madani, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jan 2028
9 new faces, and JS Kabylie are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
CR Belouizdad paid $7.2M and JS Kabylie took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Aimen Mahious has gone, the accounts have $7.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“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 JS Kabylie, 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.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadir Yakoubi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
JS Kabylie had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mamelodi Sundowns, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
JS Kabylie have gone to USM Alger with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christian Kouan scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The chase for Moslem Anatouf ended with $1.5M changing hands and MC Alger out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
The chase for Wilfred Nkaya ended with $350.0K changing hands and ES Setif out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Kabylie lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Billal Messaoudi decided nobody was going anywhere. ES Ben Aknoun had no time left to answer.
“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 JS Kabylie, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ASO Chlef waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with FC Nantes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at JS Kabylie is enjoying the guessing.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Olympique Akbou will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. JS Kabylie were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
JS Saoura go through and JS Kabylie go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 for Mohamed Abdelmoumene Kadri, marked 7.72, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The phone has started ringing about Arthur Bada again, and this time the name on the line is MC El Bayadh. JS Kabylie are listening politely and promising nothing.
Célestin Écua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Kabylie lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Alexis Guendouz 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.
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at JS Kabylie.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rachid Mandi, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.63, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Mohamed Réda Hamidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.32. 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rachid Mandi, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Kabylie has been clear about where Islam Eddine Slimane Tichtich stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Rachid Mandi to a room that had heard them before.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CR Belouizdad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Bada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Christian Kouan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. JS Kabylie know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rachid Mandi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
JS Saoura will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. JS Kabylie were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Célestin Écua 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between JS Kabylie and JS Saoura, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Marked 9.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at JS Kabylie.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Rachid Mandi could afford to be generous.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Arthur Bada has his answer from JS Kabylie; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Imad Eddine Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at JS Kabylie has worked with Gaya Merbah before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at JS Kabylie, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at JS Kabylie would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Walid Khermouche is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one JS Kabylie will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.58 for the rest of it.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Tylel Tati is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
5 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.
Alexis Guendouz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Tylel Tati has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imad Eddine Azzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rachid Mandi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The new man at JS Kabylie has worked with Gaya Merbah before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 22 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and JS Kabylie know which stage they are at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Célestin Écua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reda Benchaa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mostapha Rezkallah Bott has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and JS Kabylie have no good answer.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at JS Kabylie the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Alexis Guendouz 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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Amine Madani and JS Kabylie agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aimen Mahious is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rachid Mandi left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutTylel Tati asks for a word with the manager
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mamadou Fofana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals in one match, Tidiane Diarrassouba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of JS Kabylie and Paradou.
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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rachid Mandi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a JS Kabylie man
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Billal Messaoudi provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Bada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Célestin Écua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Billal Messaoudi. 2‑0 against ES Ben Aknoun, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mostapha Rezkallah Bott is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. JS Kabylie will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gaya Ait Hamou
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at JS Kabylie until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Alexis Guendouz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
5 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 name of Seif Benrabah has come up in conversations JS Kabylie were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Youcef Zeffane has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Slimani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 JS Kabylie, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Avellino were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ES Ben Aknoun have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
JS Kabylie asked and Gil Vicente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$930.0K on the table at Avellino. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one JS Kabylie will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
69 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Kabylie have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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.
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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. JS Kabylie will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reda Benchaa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.0M has been paid because Mamadou Fofana is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yanis Hamache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The enquiry everybody at JS Kabylie was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Kabylie has been clear about where Ahmed Mammeri stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oussama Haroun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Islam Eddine Slimane Tichtich’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Mammeri knocks on the manager's door
The offer went to Aarau this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: MC El Bayadh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arthur Bada. The answer from JS Kabylie has not changed — yet.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutAhmed Mammeri knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes Reda Benchaa a promise
69 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
JS Kabylie had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AS Saint-Etienne, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
AS Saint-Etienne have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gaya Merbah has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutNadir Yakoubi knocks on the manager’s door
JS Kabylie offered $1.7M; CR Belouizdad said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
MC Oran paid $820.0K and JS Kabylie took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Alexis Guendouz 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.
JS Kabylie asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
JS Kabylie have made the call to AS Saint-Etienne. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation JS Kabylie are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oussama Haroun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” ES Ben Aknoun had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. JS Kabylie had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The offer went to CR Belouizdad this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. JS Kabylie have done the hard part with AJ Auxerre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MC Alger paid $400.0K and JS Kabylie took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 14 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Jaredi Teixeira has left for USM Alger in a $520.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Billal Messaoudi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grenoble Foot 38 have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
JS Kabylie have made the call to AJ Auxerre. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. JS Kabylie will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gaya Merbah
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Ben Aknoun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. JS Kabylie have done the hard part with FC Nantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Yanis Hamache was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
JS Kabylie have gone to Olympique Akbou with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Réda Hamidi and JS Kabylie agree another 3 years.
Alexis Guendouz 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 went to ES Setif this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
JS Kabylie offered $56.0K; MB Rouissat said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie 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.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $60.0K — a club that wants Mohamed Tlili enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$56.0K on the table at MB Rouissat. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: CR Belouizdad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lahlou Akhrib. The answer from JS Kabylie has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billal Messaoudi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Siyanda Ndlovu is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Tylel Tati is in the works
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billal Messaoudi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch31 May 2027
Seif Benrabah’s loan is measured in nothing happening
5 clean sheets from 27 appearances at MB Rouissat. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at JS Kabylie. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ahmed Mammeri has written the date down.
Alexis Guendouz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at JS Kabylie. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aimen Mahious signs something — a contract at JS Kabylie or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis Guendouz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Loan watchSeif Benrabah’s loan is measured in nothing happening
69 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Position 1 on 69 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Olympique Akbou left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Billal Messaoudi 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.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yanis Hamache was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billal Messaoudi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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: Ryad Boudebouz. 3‑1 against CR Belouizdad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and JS Kabylie know it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at JS Kabylie pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutAlexis Guendouz is still being punished for one mistake
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.23 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Billal Messaoudi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. JS Kabylie will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
In brief
BoardroomThe JS Kabylie board find $4.7M for the manager
62 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Yanis Hamache and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against USM Alger in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Billal Messaoudi signs something — a contract at JS Kabylie or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reda Benchaa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
5 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Seif Benrabah has been having a lot of them.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ryad Boudebouz. 2‑0 against ASO Chlef, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Célestin Écua and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Three points for JS Kabylie, 3‑2 the final word against JS Saoura in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Billal Messaoudi 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at JS Kabylie can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rachid Mandi on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Yanis Hamache and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Reda Benchaa will call it something else in private.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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.
JS Kabylie asked and ESTAC Troyes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Alexis Guendouz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ryad Boudebouz. 1‑0 against CS Constantine, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Rachid Mandi could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdel Medioub's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
JS Kabylie asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.64, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at JS Kabylie until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with US Boulogne is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
JS Kabylie had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mamelodi Sundowns, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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 JS Kabylie, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Fayha keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Yanis Hamache 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.
JS Kabylie asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Célestin Écua
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $710.0K sale of Oualid Malki
He is going to USM Alger, the club has $710.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Arthur Bada had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
JS Kabylie asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Guendouz and JS Kabylie agree another 3 years.
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 finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
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. JS Kabylie will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Add another name to the list: ASO Chlef have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arthur Bada. The answer from JS Kabylie has not changed — yet.
A 2‑0 win over Olympique Akbou, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Aly Abeid and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.23 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against CR Belouizdad; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. JS Kabylie told Yanis Hamache something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rachid Mandi after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at JS Kabylie can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
8 goals in one match, Aimen Mahious on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of JS Kabylie and ASO Chlef.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Aimen Mahious was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.44. 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 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. 8.16 at 36, 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.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Yanis Hamache 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.
JS Saoura made JS Kabylie work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdennour Iheb Belhocini 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Rachid Mandi could afford to be generous.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Kabylie has been clear about where Oualid Malki stands, which is more than many ever get.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 36, 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.” JS Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.65, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rachid Mandi on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abdelmoumene Kadri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, JS Kabylie have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yanis Hamache 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.
Mohamed Réda Hamidi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at JS Kabylie. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to MB Rouissat
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Billal Messaoudi provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Aly Abeid 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.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Yanis Hamache 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. CS Constantine had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Ryad Boudebouz to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against CS Constantine, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ahmed Mammeri
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abdelmoumene Kadri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rachid Mandi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yanis Hamache trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Aimen Mahious has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
A 1‑1 win over Olympique Akbou, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Aimen Mahious takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aimen Mahious provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yanis Hamache 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Yanis Hamache and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bilal Mrezigue has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ES Setif in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one JS Kabylie will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Yanis Hamache 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aimen Mahious. 1‑0 against ES Mostaganem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mohamed Amine Madani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rachid Mandi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Mohamed Réda Hamidi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdennour Iheb Belhocini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rachid Mandi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Kabylie 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rachid Mandi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 new faces, and JS Kabylie are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Paradou next, and one man in the JS Kabylie dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mamelodi Sundowns keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hillal Tahrat 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. Houssem Tahrat has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The 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.