The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 The request is on a desk at Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Fortuna Mfou for Jason Moulle 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Stade Renard de Melong wanted more than $150.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Victoria United asked and Stade Renard de Melong said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Nazim Babaï 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.
Victoria United have made the call to Cotonsport Garoua. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest 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 The request is on a desk at Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fortuna Mfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Victoria United have gone to Stade Renard de Melong 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Pierre Akono is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Cotonsport Garoua is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Victoria United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pierre Akono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Canon Yaounde have kept their man, and Victoria United go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazim Babaï 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 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 Dérrick Anye Fru is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Victoria United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphaël Anaba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Victoria United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Stade Renard de Melong, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Serge Daura 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.
Victoria United offered $52.0K; Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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.
Victoria United asked and Stade Renard de Melong said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pierre Akono 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panthere du Nde waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Victoria United have gone to Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Pierre Akono falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cotonsport Garoua have kept their man, and Victoria United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Samuel Handy is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Cotonsport Garoua 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.
Victoria United asked and Canon Yaounde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nazim Babaï was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Victoria United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Jason Moulle again, and this time the name on the line is Panthere du Nde. Victoria United are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Handy and Victoria United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aigle Royal de la Menoua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Aigle Royal de la Menoua wanted more than $52.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pierre Akono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Didier Nkomo Ossomba and Victoria United agree another 3 years.
Nobody at Victoria United 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. 33 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.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$52.0K on the table at Aigle Royal de la Menoua. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Faustin Ambassa and Victoria United agree another 3 years.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Victoria United have done the hard part with Cotonsport Garoua, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Dérrick Anye Fru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Jason Moulle again, and this time the name on the line is PWD Bamenda. Victoria United are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cotonsport Garoua 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 words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Collins Fai 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad29 May 2028
Pierre Akono 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.
Nobody at Victoria United 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.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Victoria United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphaël Anaba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pierre Akono 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 words a physio says slowly. 42 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 easiest signature of my career.” Marius Obekop and Victoria United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Collins Fai 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Pierre Akono 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Victoria United, another week without a signature from Aminou Bouba.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serge Daura signs something — a contract at Victoria United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Victoria United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Handy asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Collins Fai 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 had been thinking. Nazim Babaï 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 at Victoria United 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.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Victoria United, 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.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nazim Babaï is on it.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Collins Fai 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 words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 at Victoria United 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.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United 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. 39 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 Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Victoria United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United 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 Victoria United 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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphaël Anaba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Stade Renard de Melong. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 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.
Mamoudou Hassana 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jason Moulle and Victoria United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andre Oyongo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Collins Fai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nko Ghangle Rattensi, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andre Oyongo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Victoria United dressing room was either.
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.
“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 Victoria United, 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.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Victoria United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Victoria United saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Victoria United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
Minute 94, against Canon Yaounde, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mamoudou Hassana 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Collins Fai 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.
Victoria United ran out of time with Stade Renard de Melong. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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 Aminou Bouba.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Victoria United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A brace, and Pierre Akono takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pierre Akono provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Unisport Bafang moved on, Serge Daura reports back to Victoria United, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The bid was some way short and Victoria United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Victoria United close the window on a squad of their own making
0 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Collins Fai and Victoria United agree another 2 years.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Collins Fai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Stade Renard de Melong 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
Marked 8.85 — 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsSamuel Handy beats them one at a time
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aigle Royal de Moungo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Victoria United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Serge Daura has come up in conversations Victoria United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Collins Fai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
7.90, 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.
Mamoudou Hassana 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Canon Yaounde have kept their man, and Victoria United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑1 win over Dynamo Douala, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United 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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Fauve Azur Elite have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raphaël Anaba. The answer from Victoria United has not changed — yet.
Mamoudou Hassana 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Victoria United is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Collins Fai 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7.77, 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.
Collins Fai 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 Raphaël Anaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Fortuna Mfou scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mamoudou Hassana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Collins Fai 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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: 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 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 Andre Oyongo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Victoria United is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Handy has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fabrice Olinga provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Serge Daura, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Collins Fai was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Collins Fai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andre Oyongo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Victoria United dressing room was either.
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 PWD Bamenda.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Didier Nkomo Ossomba is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 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 Victoria United 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 Nazim Babaï was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Victoria United told Dérrick Anye Fru something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Victoria United 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 Victoria United would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
Mamoudou Hassana 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Collins Fai 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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Serge Daura is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Victoria United will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mamoudou Hassana 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 Collins Fai 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.” Andre Oyongo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Serge Daura did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazim Babaï is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Faustin Ambassa was at the centre of it, Gazelle Garoua were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Faustin Ambassa did not need any: 10.00, 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 Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Collins Fai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Collins Fai 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
Pierre Akono falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Victoria United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Serge Daura did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aminou Bouba and Victoria United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Collins Fai 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andre Oyongo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadNazim Babaï falls out with a teammate over standards
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Victoria United can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Victoria United can tell you which week it ends in.
Collins Fai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Pierre Akono 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Victoria United is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Collins Fai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andre Oyongo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutCollins Fai knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutCollins Fai asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Victoria United close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 2 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.
Collins Fai 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 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.
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Pierre Akono 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eric Ekambi 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. Georges Fai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Victoria United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pierre Akono 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 Gilfranck Peto
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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.
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 Dérrick Anye Fru has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United 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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Collins Fai 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 Pierre Akono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Victoria United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dérrick Anye Fru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Collins Fai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Nwabufo and Victoria United agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serge Daura signs something — a contract at Victoria United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United 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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Collins Fai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 151 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 Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pierre Akono 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 Collins Fai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 at Victoria United 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Collins Fai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Fortuna Mfou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jason Moulle. The answer from Victoria United has not changed — yet.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Faustin Ambassa and Victoria United agree another 3 years.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serge Daura signs something — a contract at Victoria United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Victoria United is running low.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Collins Fai and Victoria United agree another 2 years.
Victoria United asked and Gazelle Garoua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Pierre Akono 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.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Aminou Bouba keeps the shirt for now, at Victoria United's convenience rather than his own.
The clubs have shaken hands with Fortuna Mfou; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Moulle will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Victoria United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Didier Nkomo Ossomba is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Collins Fai 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 easiest signature of my career.” Didier Nkomo Ossomba and Victoria United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Victoria United 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Victoria United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Victoria United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Victoria United have gone to Fortuna Mfou 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.
Collins Fai 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 Pierre Akono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serge Daura signs something — a contract at Victoria United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Victoria United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Victoria United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 name of Jason Moulle has come up in conversations Victoria United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Victoria United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Nazim Babaï 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.
Collins Fai 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 had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Serge Daura signs something — a contract at Victoria United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Collins Fai 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
Pierre Akono falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United 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 Raphaël Anaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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.
Issam Eddine Tahouri is 20, and Victoria United 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Victoria United will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Collins Fai was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Pierre Akono 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 in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United 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 Victoria United know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Victoria United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dérrick Anye Fru and Victoria United agree another 2 years.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoria United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Collins Fai 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 Thomas Bawak Etta, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Nazim Babaï 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.
Collins Fai 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rudolf Lyonga is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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: 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 dugout22 Mar 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 Andre Oyongo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 Collins Fai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Dérrick Anye Fru will call it something else in private.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andre Oyongo on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Victoria United can tell you which week it ends in.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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 had been thinking. Collins Fai 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 could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Collins Fai watches a signing take the shirt he was promised
At 35 the pathway was supposed to be open. Instead Victoria United went to the market, and a local readership is asking the question the academy staff are too diplomatic to ask out loud.
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 Victoria United can tell you which week it ends in.
Collins Fai 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 had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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.
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 Fabrice Olinga.
“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.
He is 35, he has been here since he was a boy, and the shirt he grew up expecting has been given to somebody flown in for it. That grievance belongs to the town as much as to the player.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Victoria United can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Fai 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. Victoria United told Collins Fai something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Victoria United pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pierre Akono 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.
A mark of 7.36, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Victoria United 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Feb 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.” Andre Oyongo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Collins Fai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Raphaël Anaba 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.
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 Dérrick Anye Fru.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nazim Babaï has just signed for Victoria United, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have shaken hands with Fortuna Mfou; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Victoria United close the window on a squad of their own making
4 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.
Everything agreed with Fauve Azur Elite, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nazim Babaï and Victoria United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Victoria United asked and Canon Yaounde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Serge Daura, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Victoria United, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.45, 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.
Collins Fai 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.
Victoria United asked and Panthere du Nde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Andela Mendje. 2‑0 against Gazelle Garoua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7.91, 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
Victoria United asked and Vllaznia Shkodër said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Jan 2027
Serge Daura wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Serge Daura found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Dynamo Douala went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Serge Daura did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Prince Tchatat is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Frédérick Ntsama has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Victoria United have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Aigle Royal de la Menoua. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alex Diboto decided nobody was going anywhere. Aigle Royal de la Menoua had no time left to answer.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Victoria United can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Alex Diboto
Transfer targetsA loan move for Frédérick Ntsama is in the works
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 13 and 12 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.
5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Victoria United can tell you which week it ends in.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andre Oyongo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
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.
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.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andre Oyongo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Victoria United dressing room was either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoria United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rudolf Lyonga and Victoria United agree another 3 years.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Victoria United will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout7 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.” Andre Oyongo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Collins Fai is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoria United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Pierre Akono was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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. 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.
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.
It needed Fabrice Olinga to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Canon Yaounde, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 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.
Dérrick Anye Fru and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He 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 Victoria United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Andre Oyongo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“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 Victoria United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Victoria United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
7 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 Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andre Oyongo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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: 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.
14 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody at Victoria United 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.
Stade Renard de Melong go through and Victoria United go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.61 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Victoria United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Pierre Akono 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 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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Victoria United has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoria United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Mathias and Victoria United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Victoria United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mamoudou Hassana has come out of that comparison in the side, and Victoria United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
13 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Andela Mendje’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Victoria United needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fabrice Olinga had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Aigle Royal de la Menoua were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Dérrick Anye Fru 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.