30 May 2030
Thursday
Process
200 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ellyes Skhiri

68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Market

Niklas Tauer hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Christian Günter has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Boardroom

Christian Günter has agreed to leave Köln for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Luis Yanes wants to go home

“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 Köln know it.

The dugout

Ellyes Skhiri knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ellyes Skhiri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
199 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ellyes Skhiri

75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Michael Gregoritsch is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Köln is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Köln to lose Michael Gregoritsch for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Michael Gregoritsch has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Attila Osváth stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Attila Osváth and Köln agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

198 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Ellyes Skhiri out for 82 days

82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Köln lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Harlen Castillo knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harlen Castillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Alexis Vega story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Vega signs something — a contract at Köln or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

197 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Ellyes Skhiri out for 89 days

89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Köln lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Harlen Castillo says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Market

Rav van den Berg puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Home is on Harlen Castillo's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Köln are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

196 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Ellyes Skhiri out for 96 days

96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Köln lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Todd Cantwell puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 dugout

No hiding place for Ellyes Skhiri

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ellyes Skhiri, and the manager let it.

Market

The Guillaume Restes talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Köln know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Köln put Cyriaque Irié up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Cyriaque Irié may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

The dugout

Veit Stange asks for a word with the manager

“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.

In brief

195 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Köln

Position 18 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Cyriaque Irié hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Niklas Tauer

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niklas Tauer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Linton Maina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 dugout

Alexander Schlager gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Sebastian Sebulonsen knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Köln, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

194 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

18 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.

Match

Köln finish in position 18

10 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Union Berlin take the points off Köln

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Köln

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.

In brief

193 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

17 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Köln spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Market

Harlen Castillo puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Jan Thielmann: 12 seasons and counting

289 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Köln know exactly what they have.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié was unplayable

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.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Jan Thielmann

Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

In brief

  • Player ratings Nobody on the pitch touched Guéla Doué
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Tom Krauß
  • The dugout Alexis Vega without the man who signed him
192 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

8 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Jan Thielmann has been here 12 seasons

288 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.

Market

Rav van den Berg asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Jérémie Lioka will join Köln for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jérémie Lioka has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Köln have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against Borussia Dortmund

0‑2 to Borussia Dortmund, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

191 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Boardroom

Köln give the job to Interim Coach

The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Niklas Tauer has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

190 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Alexander Schlager: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

No hiding place for Thomas Möller

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Möller, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Ellyes Skhiri

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 Ellyes Skhiri.

Player ratings

Ísak Jóhannesson was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

189 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Saad Agouzoul puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Boardroom

Köln still without a manager

38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Market

Linton Maina wants more than Köln are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

Köln come up short against SC Freiburg

SC Freiburg left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

Köln are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

188 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

12 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Match

Köln cannot find the net

7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

Todd Cantwell asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Chuki wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Niklas Lomb signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Niklas Lomb commits to Köln for another 2 years.

The dugout

Guillaume Restes gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Köln come up short against Hamburger SV

Hamburger SV left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

  • Squad Saad Agouzoul wants to go home
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Ragnar Ache knocks on the manager’s door
187 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

6 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

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.

Match

Köln cannot find the net

6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

Niklas Tauer is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Köln is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

186 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Guillaume Restes keeps Köln in it on his own

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Samuele Inácio will not be coming to Köln

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Borussia Dortmund is saying, and nobody at Köln is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Köln may not be able to give Linton Maina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Linton Maina wants continental football; whether Köln can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

185 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

9 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Market

Daniel Elfadli asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Mahmut Küçükşahin rejects the move

Köln had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Augsburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Köln dugout

10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against TSG Hoffenheim

0‑1 to TSG Hoffenheim, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

184 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Köln run out of patience with Interim Coach

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

There were 10 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.

Boardroom

A stranger takes charge at Köln

The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

8 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.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Köln

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Market

Martin James agrees terms with Vitesse

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Köln people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Not going: Malek El Mala stays at Köln

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” FC Augsburg had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at Köln

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Market

Óscar Valentín puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

In brief

183 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Derby day misery for Köln

Losing 0‑2 is one thing; losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Köln boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Match

7 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Market

Niklas Tauer has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Petar Vitanov signs for FC Augsburg while still at Köln

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Petar Vitanov has agreed terms with FC Augsburg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

In brief

182 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Köln

0‑5 against Bayern Munich, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Malek El Mala agrees terms with Union Berlin

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Köln people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

The dugout

Óscar Zambrano: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Mario Jurčevič arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mario Jurčevič has, at Köln, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Samuele Inácio will not be coming to Köln

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Borussia Dortmund is saying, and nobody at Köln is enjoying the guessing.

In brief

181 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Sebastian Sebulonsen: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Niklas Tauer has said yes to VfL Wolfsburg

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Köln have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Player ratings

A brace, and Alexis Vega takes the afternoon — 8.28

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexis Vega provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Todd Cantwell puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

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.

Squad

A move Alexandre Tunkadi would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alexandre Tunkadi is living that version at Köln, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

180 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Both of them Alexis Vega's — 8.25

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Léo Gomes puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

St. Pauli take the points off Köln

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Sebastian Sebulonsen gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

179 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Köln boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Match

Köln are in real trouble now

Position 18, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Match

Köln taken apart

0‑3 to Werder Bremen, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Köln

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.

In brief

178 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

15 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Óscar Valentín says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against VfL Wolfsburg

0‑1 to VfL Wolfsburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Tom Krauß

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

177 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Todd Cantwell asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Linton Maina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Niklas Lomb

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Halfway: Köln sit in position 18

6 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

Chuki knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chuki trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market The Alexis Vega talk will not go away
  • The dugout Ellyes Skhiri does not fit this one
176 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The drought breaks for Köln

17 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Heidenheim were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Linton Maina raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ellyes Skhiri

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Ragnar Ache the difference as Köln beat Heidenheim

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ragnar Ache. 2‑0 against Heidenheim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Alexis Vega runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Cyriaque Irié

A mark of 7.79, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Ísak Jóhannesson'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.

In brief

175 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Match

Köln are in real trouble now

Position 18, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Match

Köln taken apart

0‑4 to Borussia Dortmund, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Köln can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Market

Cyriaque Irié asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Chuki wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Ellyes Skhiri signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ellyes Skhiri commits to Köln for another 2 years.

In brief

  • Squad A falling-out at Köln
  • Squad Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards
  • Match The goals have deserted Köln
174 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

16 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Match

The cup run ends for Köln

0‑5 against VfB Stuttgart, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

The terraces

A cup hiding at VfB Stuttgart leaves Köln explaining themselves

0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

500 appearances for Michael Gregoritsch

500 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Óscar Valentín

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Óscar Valentín, and the manager let it.

Match

Köln come up short against Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

173 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. 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 dugout

Rav van den Berg says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Market

Martin James puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Köln come up short against Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Alexis Vega asks for a word with the manager

“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.

In brief

172 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Köln

A 0‑3 beating by SC Freiburg was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ellyes Skhiri

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Köln

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

Market

Michael Gregoritsch is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Köln has been clear about where Michael Gregoritsch stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

171 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

12 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.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Köln are in real trouble now

Position 18, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Cyriaque Irié puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Daniel Elfadli wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Óscar Valentín signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Óscar Valentín and Köln agree another 2 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

170 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

11 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Guillaume Restes keeps Köln in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cyriaque Irié

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Óscar Valentín

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Linton Maina at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Köln.

In brief

169 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Todd Cantwell puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

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.

Market

Cyriaque Irié has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against FC Augsburg

0‑2 to FC Augsburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Niklas Lomb

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

168 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Martin James hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Köln come up short against TSG Hoffenheim

TSG Hoffenheim left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Veit Stange

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Veit Stange, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

5 new faces, and Köln are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

In brief

167 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

8 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Market

Carlos Paternina puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Alexis Vega signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Vega and Köln agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Ragnar Ache’s goal not enough for Köln

Ragnar Ache scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to RB Leipzig, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match

Köln are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

In brief

166 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The longest week starts now for Köln

Beaten 0‑2 by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.

Match

7 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

The dugout

Todd Cantwell: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

The dugout

Guéla Doué gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

165 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Guillaume Restes keeps Köln in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Niklas Tauer: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ellyes Skhiri

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Köln come up short against Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Looking ahead

All roads lead to Borussia Mönchengladbach

The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Köln will be judged on one thing only.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Squad Chuki wants out of the spotlight
  • The dugout Óscar Valentín knocks on the manager’s door
164 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

7 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

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.

Market

Saad Agouzoul hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Match

5 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Óscar Valentín gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Köln come up short against Mainz 05

Mainz 05 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Köln are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

163 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Michael Gregoritsch hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Cyriaque Irié runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Cyriaque Irié raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Chuki stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Chuki and Köln agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Boardroom

Köln agree a free transfer for Gabriel Dbouk

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.

In brief

162 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jan Thielmann

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

Köln close the window on a squad of their own making

18 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Chuki raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A move Jili Buyabu would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jili Buyabu is living that version at Köln, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Boardroom

Köln agree a free transfer for Vadim Karpov

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against Werder Bremen

0‑1 to Werder Bremen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

161 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Fin Stevens asks to leave Köln

“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.

Player ratings

Linton Maina runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Business is business: Juan Brunetta goes

Zamalek paid $2.8M and Köln took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Niklas Lomb comes home

The shirt still fits. Niklas Lomb is back at Köln, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

The step up is real for Sven Weiß

At 17 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.

Market

Cyriaque Irié wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Köln

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

In brief

160 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Juan Brunetta has said yes to Zamalek

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Köln have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Carlos Paternina puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Malek El Mala

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

The Guillaume Restes question follows Köln around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Guillaume Restes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager makes Veit Stange a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Köln. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Alexander Schlager asks for a word with the manager

“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.

In brief

159 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Juan Brunetta says no to Crvena Zvezda

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Juan Brunetta had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Chuki has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Saad Agouzoul hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Market

Guéla Doué linked with a move away

The name of Guéla Doué keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Köln say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Alexis Vega is doing the arithmetic

The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Köln says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.

In brief

158 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Köln boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Boardroom

Köln put Interim Coach on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Market

Juan Brunetta hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Juan Brunetta has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Daniel Elfadli raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Guéla Doué

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

The formation has left Daniel Elfadli behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Köln will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

157 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

30 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Guillaume Restes says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Market

Cyriaque Irié asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Sven Weiß

At 17 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Köln beat the market to Daniel Batz from Hamburger SV

Hamburger SV will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniel Batz has pre-agreed a move to Köln, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Market

Sven Brandt steps up from the Köln academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sven Brandt 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.

Market

One of our own: Patrick Peters joins the Köln first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrick Peters is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Oliver Franke steps up from the Köln academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oliver Franke 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.

In brief

156 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed

A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.

Market

Köln turn down Maccabi Tel Aviv for Juan Brunetta

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey has said yes to Eintracht Frankfurt

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Köln have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The dugout

Chuki: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Carlos Paternina asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Étienne Borié is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Óscar Zambrano

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

In brief

155 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

Köln are in real trouble now

Position 18, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Christian Günter hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Alexis Vega wants to go home

“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 Köln know it.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Real improvement from Youssoupha Niang at Köln

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Youssoupha Niang is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen linked with a move away

The name of Sebastian Sebulonsen keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Köln say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Layton Stewart knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Layton Stewart trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

154 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Juan Brunetta puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Chuki has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

Óscar Zambrano says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Boardroom

Köln still without a manager

38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Cyriaque Irié has improved at 24, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Market

Todd Cantwell wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

In brief

153 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Juan Brunetta

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Brunetta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Cyriaque Irié asks to leave Köln

“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.

The dugout

Alexander Schlager keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Köln may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Linton Maina wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Panagiotis Santis is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A late step up for Veit Stange

At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Boardroom

Köln sign 8 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

In brief

152 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Marvin Schwäbe asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Fabian Bredlow is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Köln is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Boardroom

Köln to lose Fabian Bredlow for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabian Bredlow has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Real improvement from David Fürst at Köln

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. David Fürst is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Óscar Zambrano

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

The Alexis Vega question follows Köln around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexis Vega’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

151 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Juan Brunetta agrees terms with Heidenheim

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Köln people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Köln

Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Carlos Paternina hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Cyriaque Irié has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Köln

Something was said to Óscar Valentín and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Market

Saad Agouzoul told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Saad Agouzoul has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Köln.

In brief

150 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Juan Brunetta hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Köln say no — this time

The offer from Borussia Dortmund for Juan Brunetta 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.

Market

Terms done: Paul Okon-Engstler is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VfL Wolfsburg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Köln is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Chuki raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Cyriaque Irié stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Cyriaque Irié and Köln agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Köln dugout

10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ragnar Ache

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ragnar Ache, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Squad Köln are still strangers to each other
  • The dugout Guéla Doué knocks on the manager’s door
  • The dugout The manager makes Veit Stange a promise
149 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Köln part company with Dominik Kuhn

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

The dugout

Juan Brunetta says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Boardroom

An empty coaching office at Köln

There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Köln

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Market

Michael Gregoritsch puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Chuki is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Köln is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Interim Coach takes charge at Köln

“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Tom Krauß raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

In brief

148 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Köln may not be able to give Fin Stevens what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fin Stevens wants continental football; whether Köln can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

A loan that did nothing for Emin Kujović

3 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Köln no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.

Market

Guéla Doué linked with a move away

The name of Guéla Doué keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Köln say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Veit Stange has been promised minutes

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 Veit Stange has written the date down.

The dugout

Layton Stewart knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Köln, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Boardroom

The Köln production line keeps running

32 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

147 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Köln

Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Carlos Paternina asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Loan watch

Cyriaque Irié has seen enough of VfB Stuttgart

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Köln, and 7 appearances in 40 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

Fin Stevens gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

The Alexis Vega question follows Köln around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexis Vega’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Veit Stange has been promised minutes

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 Veit Stange has written the date down.

In brief

146 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Juan Brunetta asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega wants to go home

“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 Köln know it.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jahmai Simpson-Pusey

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Alexis Vega is doing the arithmetic

The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Köln says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.

Market

The Sebastian Sebulonsen question follows Köln around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastian Sebulonsen’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager makes Veit Stange a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Köln. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

145 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Only the photograph left for Chuki

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chuki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Óscar Valentín wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Ellyes Skhiri signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ellyes Skhiri and Köln agree another 2 years.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Market

Todd Cantwell wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Alexis Vega named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alexis Vega is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

Market

Guillaume Restes linked with a move away

The name of Guillaume Restes keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Köln say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Todd Cantwell asks for a word with the manager

“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.

In brief

144 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Market

Saad Agouzoul puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Köln may not be able to give Linton Maina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Linton Maina wants continental football; whether Köln can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Niklas Tauer gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Guéla Doué linked with a move away

The name of Guéla Doué keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Köln say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Veit Stange asks for a word with the manager

“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.

The dugout

A door opens for Léo Gomes

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.

In brief

143 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Carlos Paternina puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Saad Agouzoul wants to go home

“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 Köln know it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Tom Krauß

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Étienne Borié signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Étienne Borié commits to Köln for another 4 years.

In brief

142 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ragnar Ache

20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Juan Brunetta puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Union Berlin punish Köln for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alexis Vega will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Köln escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Match

Köln finish in position 18

15 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Both of them Alexis Vega's — 8.38

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Veit Stange

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

The formation has left Óscar Valentín behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Köln will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

141 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Köln end the wait against Heidenheim

It had gone 22 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ragnar Ache

27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Marvin Schwäbe asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Chuki has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Léo Gomes signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Léo Gomes commits to Köln for another 2 years.

Match

Chuki sends Köln past Heidenheim

It finished 2‑1, and it was Chuki’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Köln.

Player ratings

Linton Maina was unplayable

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.

In brief

140 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

22 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.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ragnar Ache

34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Match

Köln taken apart

0‑4 to Borussia Dortmund, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Boardroom

Köln put Dominik Kuhn on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Match

Köln cannot find the net

9 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Market

Saad Agouzoul puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

139 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

21 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ragnar Ache

44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Market

Carlos Paternina puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jan Thielmann

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

138 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

The caretaker keeps it: Dominik Kuhn confirmed

A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

There were 9 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.

Market

Juan Brunetta puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Adán Gurdiel is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Köln is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Köln come up short against Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

137 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

19 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.

Market

Marvin Schwäbe asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Chuki has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

The goals have deserted Köln

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Köln can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Home is on Alexis Vega's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Köln are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Köln dugout

39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Chuki wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

136 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

18 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.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Jan Thielmann: 11 seasons and counting

252 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Köln know exactly what they have.

The dugout

Rav van den Berg: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

5 matches without a goal for Köln

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Tom Krauß raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Linton Maina stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Linton Maina and Köln agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

135 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

Köln are in real trouble now

Position 18, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

The dugout

Jan-Christoph Bartels says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Köln

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

134 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Juan Brunetta asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Adán Gurdiel

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adán Gurdiel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Linton Maina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

Köln cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

The dugout

Marvin Schwäbe gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

133 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

12 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Marvin Schwäbe asks to leave Köln

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Chuki

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chuki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Köln to André-Franck Zambo Anguissa

The clock did what Bayern Munich would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

The dugout

Layton Stewart says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

132 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Köln run out of patience with the manager

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and the manager clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

13 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for André-Franck Zambo Anguissa

Köln and Bayern Munich have settled on $9.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

The dugout

Marvin Schwäbe says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Boardroom

The Köln board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Boardroom

Dominik Kuhn steps up at Köln for now

“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Köln to Marco Grüll

The clock did what Werder Bremen would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

In brief

131 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Köln has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

13 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Marco Grüll

Köln and Werder Bremen have settled on $11.9M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

Köln sink to position 18

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

8 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Terms done: Tiago Sá is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VfB Stuttgart waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Köln is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Timo Hübers asks to leave Köln

“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.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief

130 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

22 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Chuki agrees terms with VfB Stuttgart

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Köln people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Match

A hiding for Köln

Beaten 0‑5 by Bayern Munich, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Juan Brunetta asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 dugout

Juan Brunetta gets it from the manager

“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.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Köln

Borussia Mönchengladbach next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

In brief

  • Squad Giannis Gianniotas signs a new deal
  • Boardroom Doors closed at Köln
  • The dugout the manager faces the questions
129 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

15 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Marvin Schwäbe puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Tom Krauß: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Ragnar Ache runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Köln say no — this time

The offer from Willem II for Malek El Mala 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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Köln to lose Adán Gurdiel for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Adán Gurdiel has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Market

Only the photograph left for Adán Gurdiel

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adán Gurdiel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

128 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

8 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

10 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Köln put the manager on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Market

Saad Agouzoul puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Óscar Zambrano says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Home is on Alexis Vega's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Köln are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Market

Köln turn down Heidenheim for Emin Kujović

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Léo Gomes 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.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Köln

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.

In brief

127 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

1 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Köln sink to position 17

9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

The dugout

Jan-Christoph Bartels: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Emin Kujović hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Loan watch

Martin James has seen enough of Seattle Sounders

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Köln, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

126 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

25 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Juan Brunetta puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Juan Brunetta wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Köln can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Köln may not be able to give Linton Maina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Linton Maina wants continental football; whether Köln can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jan Thielmann

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Köln come up short against VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

125 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Marvin Schwäbe puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Fin Stevens: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Linton Maina was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Market

Köln may not be able to give Sebastian Sebulonsen what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastian Sebulonsen wants continental football; whether Köln can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Juan Brunetta gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Ísak Jóhannesson makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

In brief

124 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

8 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

Match

6 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

The dugout

Alexander Schlager: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

5 matches without a goal for Köln

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Tom Krauß raises the bar for Köln

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

In brief

123 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

4 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Köln board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

A hiding for Köln

Beaten 0‑6 by Borussia Dortmund, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Köln

Position 18 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Köln

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Juan Brunetta wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Boardroom

Köln to lose Emin Kujović for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Emin Kujović has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

In brief

122 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

27 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Étienne Borié runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 41. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

The cup run ends for Köln

0‑1 against VfL Wolfsburg, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

The dugout

Christian Günter keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Köln may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Cenny Neumann asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Köln

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Köln cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against Eintracht Frankfurt

0‑1 to Eintracht Frankfurt, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Tom Krauß
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Marvin Schwäbe knocks on the manager's door
121 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

20 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Marvin Schwäbe asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

The dugout

Saad Agouzoul keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Köln may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Juan Brunetta wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann was unplayable

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Guéla Doué and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

Bayer Leverkusen take the points off Köln

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Loan watch

Paul Okon-Engstler wants to come home

“I did not go to Hamburger SV to sit and watch. I want to come back to Köln and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.

In brief

120 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

13 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

There were 7 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.

Market

Saad Agouzoul puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 terraces

Köln supporters have found a favourite in Guillaume Restes

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Guillaume Restes 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.

Player ratings

Chuki was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.02. 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Rav van den Berg

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Loan watch

Cyriaque Irié counts the days

“I watch every Köln game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at VfB Stuttgart runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

119 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

6 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Köln spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Köln sink to position 16

6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

The dugout

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega wants to go home

“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 Köln know it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Match

Köln end the wait against Hamburger SV

It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

Alexis Vega sends Köln past Hamburger SV

It finished 2‑1, and it was Alexis Vega’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Köln.

Loan watch

Martin James has seen enough of Seattle Sounders

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Köln, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

118 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

30 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Marvin Schwäbe: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jan Thielmann

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Linton Maina has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Match

Köln come up short against VfB Stuttgart

VfB Stuttgart left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Chuki

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chuki, and the manager let it.

In brief

117 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

23 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Rav van den Berg says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

There were 7 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 ratings

Jan Thielmann runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Sebastian Sebulonsen wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Alexis Vega’s goal not enough for Köln

Alexis Vega scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to FC Augsburg, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Player ratings

Alexis Vega was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Marvin Schwäbe dropped after a run of poor form
  • The dugout No hiding place for Todd Cantwell
116 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

16 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Guillaume Restes: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Saad Agouzoul asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Marvin Schwäbe keeps Köln in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

The wait goes on for Köln

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Köln against TSG Hoffenheim

0‑1 to TSG Hoffenheim, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Saad Agouzoul wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Köln can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

115 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

the manager takes the Köln job

“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — the manager made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Ellyes Skhiri signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ellyes Skhiri commits to Köln for another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Match

No end in sight to Köln's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Köln has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 terraces

Köln supporters have found a favourite in Guillaume Restes

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Guillaume Restes 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.

Match

RB Leipzig take the points off Köln

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Tom Krauß

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Krauß, and the manager let it.

In brief

114 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

2 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A derby to forget for Köln

Beaten 1‑3 by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the one fixture where losing is not allowed. The football was bad enough; the week ahead will be worse.

The dugout

Linton Maina keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Köln may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Ellyes Skhiri stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ellyes Skhiri and Köln agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Köln dugout

40 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Tom Krauß in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Marvin Schwäbe gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Köln are still strangers to each other

7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

113 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Köln

A 0‑6 beating by Bayern Munich was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Guillaume Restes

There were 7 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.

The dugout

Abdoulaye Faye says Köln went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 goals as Köln and Bayern Munich go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Köln and Bayern Munich, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Sebastian Sebulonsen

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Looking ahead

All roads lead to Borussia Mönchengladbach

The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Köln will be judged on one thing only.

Boardroom

Inquest at Köln

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

In brief

112 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

18 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Köln

A 0‑3 beating by Mainz 05 was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

7 saves: Guillaume Restes was the team

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.

Market

Juan Brunetta wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Köln lose Gabriel Lang

27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

No hiding place for Guillaume Restes

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guillaume Restes, and the manager let it.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Marc-Aurèle Caillard deal

Köln ran out of time with St. Pauli. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Köln

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

111 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Linton Maina runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Léo Gomes gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Léo Gomes has just signed for Köln, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Guillaume Restes stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Marvin Schwäbe wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Köln to Abdoulaye Dabo

The clock did what Hamburger SV would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Jeferson has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Köln baulk at the price for Kévin Rodrigues

Werder Bremen wanted more than $180.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

110 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

4 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Köln rebuffed over Mikkel Kaufmann

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heidenheim have kept their man, and Köln go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Köln make their move for Abdoulaye Dabo

$3.7M on the table at Hamburger SV. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Player ratings

Jan Thielmann beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Marc-Aurèle Caillard

Köln and St. Pauli have settled on $300.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 13 signed and 15 gone

That is the business done at Köln 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.

Market

Juan Brunetta wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Köln hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Home is on Alexis Vega's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Köln are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Köln walk away from Omar Traoré

$760.0K was the most the club would pay and Heidenheim 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.

In brief

  • Squad Christian Günter signs a new deal
  • Squad Words at Köln training over how hard people work
  • Boardroom Köln still without a manager
109 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Köln part company with Ralph Jung

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

Transfer targets

No deal for Mikkel Kaufmann at that price

Köln offered $11.5M; Heidenheim 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.

Boardroom

Andreas Werner takes charge at Köln

“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jan Thielmann

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Basel join the queue for Chuki

Add another name to the list: Basel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Chuki. The answer from Köln has not changed — yet.

Squad

A row about effort at Köln

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrell Malacia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at Köln

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Squad

Óscar Zambrano has improved at 24, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

In brief

108 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Saad Agouzoul hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Fabio Chiarodia is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Köln walk away from Felipe Chávez

$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Bayern Munich 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.

Transfer targets

Alexander Røssing-Lelesiit turns down Köln

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hamburger SV keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Late improvement for Layton Stewart

At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 5 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Boardroom

Köln beat the market to Sargis Adamyan from Werder Bremen

Werder Bremen will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Sargis Adamyan has pre-agreed a move to Köln, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Loan watch

Paul Okon-Engstler counts the days

“I watch every Köln game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hamburger SV runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

107 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Transfer targets

Köln bid $760.0K for Felipe Chávez

The offer went to Bayern Munich 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.

Transfer targets

Fabio Chiarodia due for a Köln medical

Everything agreed with Eintracht Frankfurt, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Only the photograph left for Jeferson

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeferson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Köln the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Étienne Borié is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Ísak Jóhannesson has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Tom Krauß in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Marvin Schwäbe has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Köln will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

106 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Köln spell it out for Ralph Jung

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ralph Jung has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Köln

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Market

Terms done: Panagiotis Santis is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Isloch waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Köln is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Cenny Neumann hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Köln can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Real improvement from Abdoulaye Faye at Köln

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdoulaye Faye is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Squad

Jan Thielmann has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Market

VfB Stuttgart are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Köln will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

105 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Marius Bülter: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Köln have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Fabian Bredlow puts it in writing

“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 Köln, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Panagiotis Santis

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Tyrell Malacia has improved at 28, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Ísak Jóhannesson stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ísak Jóhannesson and Köln agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Isloch join the queue for Panagiotis Santis

Add another name to the list: Isloch have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Panagiotis Santis. The answer from Köln has not changed — yet.

Loan watch

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey has seen enough of Bayer Leverkusen

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Köln, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

Ellyes Skhiri gets picked when it counts

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 Ellyes Skhiri is on it.

In brief

104 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Tiago Sá asks to leave Köln

“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.

Squad

Alexis Vega in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Köln this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Malek El Mala at Köln

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Malek El Mala is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A late step up for Guéla Doué

At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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.

Loan watch

Paul Okon-Engstler wants to come home

“I did not go to Hamburger SV to sit and watch. I want to come back to Köln and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

The dugout

No hiding place for Marius Bülter

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Bülter, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Juan Brunetta gets picked when it counts

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 Juan Brunetta is on it.

The dugout

Guéla Doué knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guéla Doué trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

103 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

Köln bid $17.9M for Malik Mothersille

The offer went to Notts County 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.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Köln

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Köln is running low.

Market

Köln plan ahead with Guillaume Restes from Toulouse FC

The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Guillaume Restes comes from Toulouse FC for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.

Market

Juan Brunetta has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Squad

Cyriaque Irié is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Jeferson has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Köln they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words at Köln training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrell Malacia 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 terraces

The town asked, and Köln paid $26.8M

Guillaume Restes was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $26.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

In brief

102 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

10 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tyrell Malacia comes home a champion

A Köln player has won an international tournament, and there is no version of that sentence a club page can print without a certain amount of borrowed glory. He goes back into training in a fortnight with 0 caps and a medal nobody here had anything to do with.

Squad

Marvin Schwäbe pulls a muscle — 17 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Squad

Guéla Doué signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guéla Doué and Köln agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Köln

Alexis Vega 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.

Market

Todd Cantwell wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

The dugout

Guéla Doué is still paying for one afternoon at Köln

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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Abdoulaye Faye is in the works

Köln have made the call to Bayer Leverkusen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Alexis Vega has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Köln 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.

Market

Fabian Bredlow told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Fabian Bredlow has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Köln.

In brief

101 Edition

The Köln Sentinel

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

No thanks: Kilian Nikiéma rejects the move

Köln had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ADO Den Haag, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Köln make their move for Guillaume Restes

$23.5M on the table at Toulouse FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Boardroom

Köln spell it out for Ralph Jung

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ralph Jung has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

The Köln board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Market

Köln sign Óscar Zambrano with one eye on the future

Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Óscar Zambrano has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.

Squad

Óscar Zambrano gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Óscar Zambrano has just signed for Köln, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Alexis Vega wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Köln can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

A falling-out at Köln

Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for David Meier

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Köln will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

In brief