38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. NAC Breda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Fredrik Oldrup Jensen had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jerayno Hunte is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ángel Alarcón 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.
NAC Breda asked and Alverca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NAC Breda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at NAC Breda 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: Leeds United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Daniel Bielica was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at NAC Breda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Polster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NAC Breda asked and Barnsley 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 name of Fredrik Oldrup Jensen has come up in conversations NAC Breda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ángel Alarcón has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Twente kept coming because nothing stopped them, and NAC Breda will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The offer from AGF for Ilyas el Moussaoui 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.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NAC Breda asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 ratings23 Aug 2027
Sondre Auklend was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Kamal Sowah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
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.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Daniel Bielica 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Polster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Nikolas Polster 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mark Spenkelink has, at NAC Breda, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NAC Breda asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fredrik Oldrup Jensen and NAC Breda agree another 2 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Volendam in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have shaken hands with RKC Waalwijk; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 NAC Breda know it.
NAC Breda asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at NAC Breda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is going to Utrecht, the club has $3.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NEC wanted more than $83.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Leo Greiml falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and NAC Breda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NAC Breda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is going to Utrecht, the club has $3.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Sondre Auklend was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Leo Greiml falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Owen Van Dijk 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrick Berghuis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daley Van de Beek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutLars Mol has become a man the manager trusts
MatchContinental football is in reach for NAC Breda
“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 NAC Breda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nikolas Polster 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.
NEC paid $30.0K and NAC Breda took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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 NAC Breda know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enes Mahmutović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Barcelona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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; NAC Breda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Greiml 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. Pafos have kept their man, and NAC Breda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 NAC Breda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Barcelona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at NAC Breda is enjoying the guessing.
Daniel Bielica and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Leo Greiml 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NAC Breda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NAC Breda asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jerayno Hunte commits to NAC Breda for another 4 years.
Squad21 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and NAC Breda are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The 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.
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 Jayden Candelaria is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NAC Breda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with NEC; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Zwolle for Kostas Lamprou 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NAC Breda have done the hard part with Dordrecht, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Sondre Auklend 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jerayno Hunte is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jayden Candelaria and NAC Breda agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Leo Greiml 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.
NAC Breda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Twente, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ángel Alarcón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Leo Greiml 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.
NAC Breda asked and Pafos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: De Graafschap have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dion Versluis. The answer from NAC Breda has not changed — yet.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and André Ayew 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.
“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 NAC Breda, and it is not being withdrawn.
André Ayew was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Charles Andreas Brym trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ilyas el Moussaoui may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at NAC Breda has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Leo Greiml 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.
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 Rio Hillen is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NAC Breda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Ayew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Leo Greiml falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NAC Breda. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 NAC Breda know it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Mahmutović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Mohammed Tahiri is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at NAC Breda that is a harder question to answer.
50 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
50 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 ratings3 May 2027
Kjell Wätjen, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22
A mark of 8.22 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
André Ayew 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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; NAC Breda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Leo Greiml 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.
Sondre Auklend was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Leo Greiml 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 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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at NAC Breda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon NAC Breda had all but put away. NEC will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jasper Brobbey after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Kjell Wätjen, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.30
A mark of 8.30 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.
André Ayew 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.
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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
André Ayew 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 Apr 2027
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ángel Alarcón has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 win over Sparta Rotterdam, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kjell Wätjen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jasper Brobbey, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and André Ayew trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enes Mahmutović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at NAC Breda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sparta Rotterdam in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Kjell Wätjen 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NAC Breda told Sondre Auklend something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
André Ayew 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Leo Greiml falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 NAC Breda know it.
Something was said to Kjell Wätjen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jasper Brobbey to a room that had heard them before.
“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; NAC Breda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marked 7.70 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Boy Kemper is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jasper Brobbey after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 NAC Breda know it.
Sondre Auklend 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and NAC Breda now know that too.
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jasper Brobbey to a room that had heard them before.
André Ayew wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. André Ayew found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Fortuna Sittard went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NAC Breda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Fernandez did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
André Ayew 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.
NAC Breda asked and KV Kortrijk 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 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Noah Fernandez. 1‑0 against AZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jayden Candelaria is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jasper Brobbey could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Denis Odoi
SquadNoah Fernandez, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Successful dribbles: 44. 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.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
André Ayew 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NAC Breda asked and Basaksehir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NAC Breda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
NAC Breda close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 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.
André Ayew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml 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.
NAC Breda asked and Zwolle 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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 NAC Breda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NAC Breda asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sondre Auklend 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Sondre Auklend 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NAC Breda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
André Ayew 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. NAC Breda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Everything agreed with FC Midtjylland, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
André Ayew 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Heracles have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Roy Kortsmit. The answer from NAC Breda has not changed — yet.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Everybody at NAC Breda saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“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; NAC Breda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
NAC Breda have made the call to FC Copenhagen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Deportivo La Coruña: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Charles Andreas Brym has come out of that comparison in the side, and NAC Breda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NAC Breda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Daniel Bielica 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Leo Greiml 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jasper Brobbey could afford to be generous.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NAC Breda told Max Balard something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Charles Andreas Brym provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
André Ayew 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is 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.
André Ayew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jasper Brobbey was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the NAC Breda dressing room was either.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at NAC Breda than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Nobody at NAC Breda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Leo Greiml 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.
He is 18 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 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.
“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.
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Ajax; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
André Ayew 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Mahmutović 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
André Ayew 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ajax in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cherrion Valerius trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Daniel Bielica was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Moussa Soumano 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jayden Candelaria and NAC Breda agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Daniel Bielica and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
André Ayew and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 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.
8.04. 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 dugout19 Oct 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.” Jasper Brobbey kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
André Ayew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and NAC Breda 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Mahmutović 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.
Something was said to Noah Fernandez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kostas Lamprou and NAC Breda agree another 1 years.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jasper Brobbey was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the NAC Breda dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. AZ defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NAC Breda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
André Ayew 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 Brahim Ghalidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kamal Sowah’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NAC Breda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Fernandez 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.
Telstar made NAC Breda work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Kamal Sowah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NAC Breda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at NAC Breda 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Heidenheim is saying, and nobody at NAC Breda is enjoying the guessing.
Daniel Bielica 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 Leo Greiml was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NAC Breda can pretend not to have heard.
André Ayew was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 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.
Heidenheim have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout31 Aug 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.” Jasper Brobbey kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 NAC Breda, and it is not being withdrawn.
André Ayew 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union SG have kept their man, and NAC Breda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Twente defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Excelsior next, and one man in the NAC Breda dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Charles Andreas Brym signs something — a contract at NAC Breda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Kostas Lamprou
André Ayew and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Greiml 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 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
André Ayew was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Charles Andreas Brym and NAC Breda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and NAC Breda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wout Klaassen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jeroen Gakpo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Teun Blind has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hillen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“117 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 36 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with NAC Breda.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NAC Breda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Ayew is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NAC Breda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
NAC Breda asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.