24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Telstar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Telstar 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces3 Jan 2028
The mood at Telstar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tommaso Macchioni has, at Telstar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Tyrese Noslin 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. Vitesse have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Telstar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Half the programme played, position 15, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Anass Achahbar's mistake
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Telstar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Telstar had all but put away. Twente will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Telstar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar 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 Telstar 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 Gabin Blancquart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Daley Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The mood at Telstar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Telstar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Gaoussou Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Driess Saddiki.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Telstar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
“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 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 Feyenoord.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Anass Achahbar's mistake
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabin Blancquart was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout22 Nov 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 Daley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar 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 Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaoussou Diarra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tyrone Owusu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
NEC next, and one man in the Telstar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Telstar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tim van der Leij did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Tyrese Noslin 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 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 Telstar know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Telstar can tell you which week it ends in.
Tyrese Noslin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Daley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugoutAnass Achahbar is still being punished for one mistake
65Edition
The Telstar Herald
25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tyrone Owusu damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Tyrone Owusu damages knee ligaments — 112 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 112 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Telstar can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Tyrone Owusu damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at Telstar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabin Blancquart is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Telstar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tyrese Noslin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Telstar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Gaoussou Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gaoussou Diarra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tyrone Owusu damages knee ligaments — 136 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 136 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daley Lang after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sam de Laat did not need any: 7.90, 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 Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sam de Laat 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 Fortuna Sittard, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrone Owusu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Telstar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tim van der Leij did not need any: 9.49, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Tyrese Noslin 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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.
Telstar asked and Twente 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 will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Driess Saddiki.
In brief
The dugoutTim Haksteeg knocks on the manager's door
31 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from SC Freiburg for Tim van der Leij 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Telstar 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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.
Telstar 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.
8 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daley Lang after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Tyrese Noslin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Virgil Brobbey is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrone Owusu 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.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Telstar have done the hard part with Excelsior, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Telstar have made the call to Samsunspor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Telstar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Telstar have made the call to Real Sociedad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gabin Blancquart has, at Telstar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The fee is $300.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. NAC Breda drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Gabin Blancquart was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
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 offer went to VVV-Venlo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Telstar 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.
“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 Telstar know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tyrese Noslin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Telstar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Telstar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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 Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Telstar 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Tyrese Noslin 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lishairo Brudet has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Telstar have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Telstar have made the call to Cercle Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tyrese Noslin 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sufyan van Daalen is living that version at Telstar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Gerald Alders 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Telstar 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.
Sparta Rotterdam have accepted the money. What Telstar do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Telstar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Guus Offerhaus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Telstar has been clear about where Stijn Petiet stands, which is more than many ever get.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Telstar would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The mood at Telstar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Tyrese Noslin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Devin Remie
SquadThe training reports on Kyan Lever are not good
Tyrese Noslin 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 Tyrone Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Tyrese Noslin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Telstar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Olsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 18 on 15 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar 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 Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Telstar 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 Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Tyrese Noslin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Telstar can tell you which week it ends in.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Olsson, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tyrone Owusu 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.
26 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.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Telstar can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Damy Bernardina will call it something else in private.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noa Dundas, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daley Lang was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Telstar dressing room was either.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jelani Seedorf commits to Telstar for another 4 years.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Martin Olsson will call it something else in private.
Something was said to Sherel Floranus and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It needed Tim van der Leij to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Go Ahead Eagles, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutTyrese Noslin knocks on the manager’s door
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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 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.
23 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.
Tyrese Noslin 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 Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Telstar can tell you which week it ends in.
Everybody at Telstar saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 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.
“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.
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.
22 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Telstar know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrone Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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; Telstar 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 Patrick Brouwer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 18 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Tyrese Noslin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Brouwer 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 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.
Tim van der Leij 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: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrone Owusu 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 dugout22 Feb 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 Daley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Martin Olsson will call it something else in private.
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 Ajax.
0‑3 to Utrecht, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Telstar told Damy Bernardina something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutAnass Achahbar is still being punished for one mistake
1‑4 to Zwolle, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Waasland-Beveren keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Carlos Dávila is living that version at Telstar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Martin Olsson
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Telstar close the window on a squad of their own making
2 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.
Telstar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Parma, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Telstar will try again when the window opens; Cambuur may not be selling by then.
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Tim van der Leij 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. Zwolle have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Waasland-Beveren 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daley Lang was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Telstar dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gerald Alders is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The chase for Jarno Slootweg ended with $180.0K changing hands and ADO Den Haag out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Position 18 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Tim van der Leij, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Telstar, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Telstar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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; Telstar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Tyrese Noslin 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.
Telstar asked and Heerenveen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Tim van der Leij 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.
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gerald Alders 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.
7 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout28 Dec 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 1‑2 Daley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daley Lang after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rojendro Oudsten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tim van der Leij and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gerald Alders 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noa Dundas, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Daley Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Position 18 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Tim van der Leij 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matthias Köbbing is living that version at Telstar, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
The dugout7 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 Daley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
Tim van der Leij 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Devin Remie’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Telstar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Tyrese Noslin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gerald Alders 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.
Tim van der Leij has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tyrese Noslin signs something — a contract at Telstar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Youssef Oggadi has written the date down.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.33 for the rest of it.
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Driess Saddiki, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Daley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
Twente go through and Telstar go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at Twente leaves Telstar explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Tim van der Leij 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Telstar will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
1‑4 to Ajax, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Telstar 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 dugout26 Oct 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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Daley Lang to a room that had heard them before.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Telstar is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.22 on the card, and the Telstar support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Daley Lang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Tim van der Leij and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tyrese Noslin and Telstar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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.
Groningen next, and one man in the Telstar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Telstar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Tim van der Leij was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Damy Bernardina 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 Utrecht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders 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 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Daley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrone Owusu 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Emirhan Demircan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Telstar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fortuna Sittard left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gerald Alders 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.
Jessy Lobbes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Telstar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Telstar has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 29 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Telstar have a decision that made itself.
Tim van der Leij 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.
0‑1 to NAC Breda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerald Alders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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 Daley Lang left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Driess Saddiki.
That is the business done at Telstar 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: Dynamo Kyiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Tim van der Leij 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. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Telstar ran out of time with Heerenveen. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tyrone Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Telstar can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Heerenveen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.5M — a club that wants Latrell Aken enough to be asked twice.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Telstar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar 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 Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.0K — a club that wants Robin la Scala enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Telstar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.24 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tim van der Leij has just signed for Telstar, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer went to Utrecht this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Driess Saddiki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Rojendro Oudsten 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.
Tim van der Leij is 20, and Telstar have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antoine Lejoly has, at Telstar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with RKC Waalwijk 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: RWDM keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Telstar 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jasper 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Steven Babel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Owen Weghorst has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Weghorst 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 Gerald Alders was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Guus Offerhaus 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.
RWDM 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Telstar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rojendro Oudsten 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Telstar, another week without a signature from Rashaan Sewrutton.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jelani Seedorf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.