The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 16 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Union SG and Charleroi have settled on $8.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 14 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Union SG had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Union SG asked and Zulte Waregem said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
13 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.
13 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout27 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.” Dedryck Castagne chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sint-Truiden defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 12 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union SG will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
11 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG 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 Union SG know it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 22 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
9 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union SG will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
Adem Zorgane was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
11 goals in 16 games at Zulte Waregem — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Union SG updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dedryck Castagne left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Adem Zorgane 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Ross Sykes 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union SG will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ross Sykes 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
9 goals in 13 games at Zulte Waregem — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Union SG updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aimé Omgba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Union SG told Benjamin Jeannot something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union SG will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
4 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.
Adem Zorgane 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
1‑0 against NK Domzale, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and NK Domzale had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Union SG did not stop to explain themselves.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Zeno Van Den Bosch.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.28 on the card, and the Union SG support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dedryck Castagne was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Union SG 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 Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pep Biel. 1‑0 against Westerlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
“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; Union SG are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edwin Cardona, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Oct 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.” Dedryck Castagne, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Adem Zorgane 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 Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Union SG has been clear about where Salah-Dine El Mezouari stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Union SG know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Union SG would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Union SG. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Aimé Omgba 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.
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.
Ross Sykes 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.
1‑0 against Astra, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Ross Sykes 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. Tomás Londoño is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Zeno Van Den Bosch.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dedryck Castagne after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Kjell Scherpen 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.
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.
Union SG ran out of time with Waasland-Beveren. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Union SG will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Union SG will try again when the window opens; Paris FC may not be selling by then.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Union SG close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 22 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.
$860.0K was the most the club would pay and KV Mechelen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Pep Biel 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.
Union SG asked and Spartak Moscow 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Union SG are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Guillaume Hubert: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
$32.4M on the table at Paris FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Union SG asked and Liverpool 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 going to Racing Genk, the club has $8.1M 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.
Union SG have gone to Waasland-Beveren with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAfonso Sousa is a better footballer than he was
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Antwerp, the club has $3.2M 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.
7.95, 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Kortrijk have kept their man, and Union SG go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dedryck Castagne on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
14 matches without a win, and then this, against RAAL La Louviere. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Union SG have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$860.0K on the table at KV Mechelen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Aimé Omgba 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.
Union SG asked and Arouca 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 Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
$260.0K on the table at Waasland-Beveren. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG 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 Union SG know it.
13 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. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Union SG have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Union SG have gone to KV Mechelen with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$260.0K was the most the club would pay and Waasland-Beveren were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Ross Sykes 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 Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
Union SG have gone to Waasland-Beveren with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Union SG
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timothy Chadli 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. Dedryck Fellaini 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. Christian Boyata 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guillaume Hubert’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Union SG needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The chase for Aimé Omgba ended with $4.6M changing hands and KAA Gent out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Aimé Omgba from KAA Gent for $4.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“I watch every Union SG game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Heerenveen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Union SG know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
Union SG have gone to Waasland-Beveren with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Union SG, another week without a signature from Ross Sykes.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Laurent Alderweireld clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Dedryck Castagne recited it perfectly.
Union SG asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Waasland-Beveren wanted more than $260.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Laurent Alderweireld leaves with $11.1K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Olympic Charleroi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Union SG is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Union SG will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Union SG had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Ahly, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Union SG have gone to Waasland-Beveren with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salah-Dine El Mezouari is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Guillaume Hubert has just signed for Union SG, and for once the answer mattered.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Union SG will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Smith was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yannick Thoelen arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
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 Ross Sykes is on it.
The number went down and he came anyway, which in this sport is either a romantic gesture or a market telling somebody something. Time will decide which, and the dressing room will have an opinion long before that.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Union SG have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Union SG have done the hard part with Antwerp, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Union SG has been clear about where Christian Burgess stands, which is more than many ever get.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Laurent Alderweireld has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Union SG people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Besfort Zeneli has come up in conversations Union SG were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
Union SG asked and Seraing 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Union SG are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guilherme Smith 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.
35 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Union SG now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Union SG 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kevin Mac Allister and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolas Sattlberger 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 Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Ivan Pavlić is on it.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, 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 Union SG. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Union SG would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Afonso Sousa has, at Union SG, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Thomas Lukaku has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas De Bruyne 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. Adnan Nainggolan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thomas Doku is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolas Sattlberger 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.
Ivan Pavlić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Mac Allister trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Ross Sykes 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, 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 Ivan Pavlić is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Union SG know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Fuseini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Union SG. 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 Union SG know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Sattlberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Adem Zorgane is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Union SG know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Kjell Scherpen 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG 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 Union SG know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Union SG game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Molde runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Union SG, another week without a signature from Besfort Zeneli.
Nobody at Union SG 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.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kevin Mac Allister 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 Union SG know it.
“I watch every Union SG game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Francs Borains runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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 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 Union SG, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Union SG 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“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 Union SG know it.
Ivan Pavlić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolas Sattlberger 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Mac Allister trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
8 goals in 26 games at Olympic Charleroi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Union SG updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Valerenga paid $20.9M and Union SG took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Promise David has gone, the accounts have $20.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ross Sykes 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.
Something was said to Mohammed Fuseini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
7 goals in 25 games at Olympic Charleroi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Union SG updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Ross Sykes is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
The name of Promise David has come up in conversations Union SG were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Kevin Mac Allister 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 Union SG know it.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Union SG know now that the thought has arrived.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Sattlberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Union SG have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Union SG can tell you which week it ends in.
Kjell Scherpen 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Burgess, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Laurent Alderweireld was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Union SG dressing room was either.
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 Adem Zorgane is on it.
9 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.
“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; Union SG are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Sattlberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Laurent Alderweireld after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Union SG people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Steve N'Goura 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Union SG have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Union SG and Antwerp have settled on $33.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Union SG close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 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.
Union SG asked and Francs Borains 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: Napredak have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Pavlić. The answer from Union SG has not changed — yet.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Antwerp have kept their man, and Union SG 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 Nikolas Sattlberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Union SG had all but put away. RAAL La Louviere will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Promise David had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Westerlo for Ivan Pavlić 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.
Kevin Mac Allister 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 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Union SG have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Anan Khalaili has gone, the accounts have $3.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Kevin Mac Allister 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: 41. 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 offer from KV Mechelen for Adem Zorgane 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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Union SG had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Adem Zorgane 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. Dender have kept their man, and Union SG go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Alianza Lima for Kevin Rodríguez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cyrus Biz and Union SG agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 0‑2 Laurent Alderweireld left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Louis Patris's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anan Khalaili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Hervé Koffi
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.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Besfort Zeneli. 1‑0 against Sint-Truiden, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Laurent Alderweireld could afford to be generous.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Anan Khalaili 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.
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.
The offer from Independiente for Kevin Mac Allister 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Ivan Pavlić 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hervé Koffi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Laurent Alderweireld on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anan Khalaili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutHervé Koffi dropped after a run of poor form
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Mac Allister wants continental football; whether Union SG can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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; Union SG are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Something was said to Pep Biel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Kevin Mac Allister 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 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.
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 Ross Sykes is on it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dender defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Union SG will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Anan Khalaili 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hervé Koffi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohammed Fuseini has his answer from Union SG; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Union SG 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Louis Patris signs something — a contract at Union SG or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Union SG that is a harder question to answer.
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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anouar Ait El Hadj and Union SG agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union SG this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Union SG training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anan Khalaili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutHervé Koffi asks for a word with the manager
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Adem Zorgane
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Hervé Koffi
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Michael Mortume has just signed for Union SG, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Union SG know it.
Ivan Pavlić 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 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Ross Sykes 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 Anan Khalaili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Laurent Alderweireld was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Union SG 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 Union SG 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 Union SG know it.
Something was said to Kjell Scherpen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
OH Leuven next, and one man in the Union SG dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union SG, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
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.
“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 Union SG know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Union SG 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Hervé Koffi
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kjell Scherpen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 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.” Laurent Alderweireld chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Berkey Koraçor is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Union SG can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Kevin Mac Allister 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union SG can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anan Khalaili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kevin Mac Allister 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 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.
“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 dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ross Sykes
7Edition
The Union SG Sentinel
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Match12 Sep 2026
Promise David wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Promise David found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and KV Mechelen went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union SG can pretend not to have heard.
$4.7M was the most the club would pay and Standard Liege were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Laurent Alderweireld on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anan Khalaili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Looking aheadUnion SG take on the side everybody is chasing
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Giugliano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Union SG is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$4.7M on the table at Standard Liege. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$1.6M was the most the club would pay and RAAL La Louviere were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.0M — a club that wants Josué Homawoo enough to be asked twice.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Union SG are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $9.9M has been paid because Pep Biel is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Raul Florucz has gone, the accounts have $4.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Hannover 96 paid $4.8M and Union SG took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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 Union SG, and it is not being withdrawn.
Union SG asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Union SG offered $16.8M; Spartak Moscow said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
$9.9M on the table at Charlotte Football Club. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OH Leuven have kept their man, and Union SG go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The name of Guilherme Smith has come up in conversations Union SG were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Guilherme Smith wants continental football; whether Union SG can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ross Sykes 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.
In brief
SquadAnan Khalaili falls out with a teammate over standards
Union SG have gone to Spartak Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.7M has been paid because Gyrano Kerk is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Fedde Leysen was one of the reasons people came, and $3.3M does not replace that by itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Seattle Sounders have kept their man, and Union SG go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.2M — a club that wants Kyan Vaesen enough to be asked twice.
Gyrano Kerk was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.3M — a club that wants Max Dean enough to be asked twice.
The phone has started ringing about Fedde Leysen again, and this time the name on the line is Lommel. Union SG are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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; Union SG are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Berkey Koraçor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
8 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Union SG go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Racing Genk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kjell Scherpen. The answer from Union SG has not changed — yet.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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 Union SG know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.