The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Genk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Lierse know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Henrick Do Marcolino has just signed for Lierse, and for once the answer mattered.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Tebili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Lierse until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Club Brugge keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Henry Lawrence was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Waasland-Beveren have kept their man, and Lierse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent De Vos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsSamuel Ntanda beats them one at a time
Henry Lawrence and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaías Delpupo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Lierse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A loan enquiry to Waasland-Beveren: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lierse have done the hard part with Union SG, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Lierse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandre Stanić 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
David Tebili 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. RWDM had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Everything agreed with Club Brugge, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dender is saying, and nobody at Lierse is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Lierse asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Laurens Vermijl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaías Delpupo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Lierse know it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lierse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Waasland-Beveren left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaías Delpupo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Leander De Bruyne to a room that had heard them before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Lun Bončina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
25 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincent De Vos is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Tebili did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Leander De Bruyne could afford to be generous.
Henry Lawrence was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Tebili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lun Bončina is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leander De Bruyne was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Lierse dressing room was either.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Henry Lawrence and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Tebili 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent De Vos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaías Delpupo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jarno De Smet, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Leander De Bruyne left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bryan Van Den Bogaert and Lierse agree another 1 years.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lierse will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Tebili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 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.
Nobody at Lierse 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.
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 Laurens Vermijl has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lierse will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Ntanda did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lun Bončina 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.
Sam Vanderhallen 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.
2‑5 against Francs Borains, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lierse will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Alexandre Stanić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.47
A mark of 8.47 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Laurens Vermijl 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.
7 goals in one match, Alexandre Stanić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Lierse and Francs Borains.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lierse have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lierse will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
David Tebili, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.46
A mark of 8.46 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lierse will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
David Tebili, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.04
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexandre Stanić is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Lierse is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Something was said to Henry Lawrence and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Leander De Bruyne could afford to be generous.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lierse will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 22 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.
Henry Lawrence was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Lommel.
César Mena is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Lommel in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Henry Lawrence 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Tebili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Lierse is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Isaías Delpupo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sam Vanderhallen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leander De Bruyne kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Massamba Sow 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leander De Bruyne after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Lierse would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kyan Himpe did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lierse can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Laurens Vermijl 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.
RFC Liege left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaías Delpupo 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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 Leander De Bruyne to a room that had heard them before.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lierse, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Lierse until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The chase for Massamba Sow ended with $680.0K changing hands and Charleroi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Laurens Vermijl 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Massamba Sow from Charleroi for $680.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Lierse asked and Anderlecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Lierse who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lun Bončina has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Lierse 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lierse can pretend not to have heard.
Lierse asked and Le Havre AC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
David Tebili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Laurens Vermijl trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandre Stanić did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and Lierse go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuel Ntanda 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Tebili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Olympic Charleroi will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The offer from Onze Createurs for Thiebe Van Elsuwege 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.
The deal with Lokeren-Temse is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Laurens Vermijl and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Leander De Bruyne, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
SquadWords at Lierse training over how hard people work
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PSV is saying, and nobody at Lierse is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lierse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lierse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Tebili 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.
Lierse have made the call to Standard Liege. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Kyan Himpe had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Jong Gent were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Kyan Himpe takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kyan Himpe provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Alexandre Stanić, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Tebili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Lierse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.