Serhiy Sydorchuk 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
Isa Sakamoto 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.
Minute 86, against RSCA Futures, 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I watch every Westerlo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lierse runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The offer from Jaguares for Felix Tsimba 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.
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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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.
Sere Matsumura and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Memphis Gakpo on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Maréga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Cisse Sandra and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I watch every Westerlo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kayserispor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Junior Diouf 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.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Lommel; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Sere Matsumura 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: 17. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutCisse Sandra asks for a word with the manager
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Maréga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Westerlo would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Felix Tsimba signs something — a contract at Westerlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Westerlo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Next up on the road: Lommel, position 2. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Westerlo, and 3 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Westerlo told Doğucan Haspolat something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Thérence Koudou is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Serhiy Sydorchuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 36, with 367 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Felix Tsimba. 1‑0 against Club NXT, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Issa Maréga 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.
“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 Westerlo, 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Westerlo did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Westerlo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Junior Diouf 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Westerlo, and 2 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
RFC Liege next, and one man in the Westerlo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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 Westerlo will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Issa Maréga 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Memphis Gakpo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sere Matsumura 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.
Francs Borains held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Westerlo answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Westerlo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Maxim Deman
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The offer from Union SG for Isa Sakamoto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Antwerp moved on, Doğucan Haspolat reports back to Westerlo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Serhiy Sydorchuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serhiy Sydorchuk, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Issa Maréga 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.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with RWDM; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
13 seasons and 311 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Westerlo close the window on a squad of their own making
22 in and 18 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.
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.
Doğucan Haspolat 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Antwerp will make the call about Doğucan Haspolat this week. Westerlo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zsombor Riba did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The fee is $2.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Antwerp drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Felix Tsimba has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
$210.0K on the table at Waasland-Beveren. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 combined actions and 7.09. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Koen Van Langendonck knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The mood at Westerlo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Westerlo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Westerlo asked and Antwerp said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Maréga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Floriano Vanzo 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.94, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Westerlo know it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Isa Sakamoto falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dylan Ourega has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Waasland-Beveren paid $310.0K and Westerlo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leander Mertens has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon Lukaku has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. KV Mechelen drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Doğucan Haspolat 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.
“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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Maréga 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 watch every Westerlo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Beerschot runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A loan enquiry to Olympique Lyonnais: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.2M on the table at KV Mechelen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
RAAL La Louviere wanted more than $600.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Westerlo asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Reda Laalaoui again, and this time the name on the line is Sint-Truiden. Westerlo are listening politely and promising nothing.
$600.0K on the table at RAAL La Louviere. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Westerlo have done the hard part with Charleroi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Westerlo offered $580.0K; Racing Genk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serhiy Sydorchuk 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. Dender have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Racing Genk 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Westerlo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
Sere Matsumura 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.
Westerlo asked and Club Brugge said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Cercle Brugge 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
RAAL La Louviere paid $1.7M and Westerlo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Westerlo heard it as anything else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Westerlo heard it as anything else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michée Ndembi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serhiy Sydorchuk is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Westerlo asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Reda Laalaoui has his answer from Westerlo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Memphis Gakpo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
$1.3M on the table at Seraing. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Westerlo heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Thiago Paulo da Silva enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Westerlo, 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 Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Doğucan Haspolat may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Westerlo would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Westerlo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Botond Balogh 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 May 2027
Isaac Nuhu 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 Westerlo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Sere Matsumura plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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 Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Westerlo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Seiji Kimura has written the date down.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The agreement at Rizespor has 5 days left in it, with 12 appearances to weigh. Three doors: keep him, sell him, lend him again — and none of them stays open long.
In brief
SquadFloriano Vanzo is training like a man with a point to make
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Sere Matsumura was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Westerlo, and 12 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernand Gouré signs something — a contract at Westerlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Sere Matsumura has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
“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 Westerlo know it.
Sere Matsumura 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaac Nuhu 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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Serhiy Sydorchuk has taken the hint, and Westerlo are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
Fernand Gouré 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 Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Westerlo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Isaac Nuhu 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Westerlo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Shunsuke Saito is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Botond Balogh has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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 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 Westerlo know it.
The bill for the sacking has arrived. Dedryck Chadli leaves with $20.1K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
The dugoutSerhiy Sydorchuk is playing like a man with something to prove
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Abian Arslan
35Edition
The Westerlo Courier
29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at Westerlo has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Westerlo 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 Westerlo, 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.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Westerlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michée Ndembi is 19, 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Cisse Sandra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutIssa Maréga asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cisse Sandra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sere Matsumura and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Westerlo, another week without a signature from Isa Sakamoto.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Westerlo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
0‑3 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Westerlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fernand Gouré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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 stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Westerlo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Serhiy Sydorchuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
0‑2 to KV Mechelen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Isaac Nuhu 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.
Fernand Gouré 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 Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutShunsuke Saito dropped after a run of poor form
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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. Eibar have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Leonel Miguel delivers — 7.44
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Leonel Miguel scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris FC is saying, and nobody at Westerlo is enjoying the guessing.
Marked 7.18 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto 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. Racing Santander have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KV Kortrijk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Westerlo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Westerlo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Westerlo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Westerlo asked and Vissel Kobe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Isaac Nuhu 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Westerlo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Westerlo asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Floriano Vanzo 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.
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 Isa Sakamoto.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad25 Jan 2027
7 new faces, and Westerlo 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.
$390.0K on the table at Waasland-Beveren. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ebbe De Vlaeminck has just signed for Westerlo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Antwerp for Fernand Gouré 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.
Westerlo and KV Kortrijk have settled on $220.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
At 20 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.
Fernand Gouré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Isa Sakamoto 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. Anderlecht have kept their man, and Westerlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Everything agreed with Lokeren-Temse, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fernand Gouré 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.
Three points for Westerlo, 1‑0 the final word against Standard Liege in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Charris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fernand Gouré 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Dedryck Chadli to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thomas Van Den Keybus commits to Westerlo for another 4 years.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
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 Westerlo can tell you which week it ends in.
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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 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.
“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 Westerlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Westerlo can tell you which week it ends in.
Floriano Vanzo 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Dedryck Chadli to a room that had heard them before.
The dugoutPape Diong has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Seiji Kimura
18Edition
The Westerlo Courier
30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondentCrisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Westerlo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fernand Gouré 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.
Position 14, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dedryck Chadli to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Westerlo told Felix Tsimba something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsDylan Ourega beats them one at a time
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Charris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Club Brugge? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Westerlo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Doğucan Haspolat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thomas Van Den Keybus’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Westerlo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernand Gouré signs something — a contract at Westerlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Westerlo scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Isa Sakamoto 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.
Fernand Gouré and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Dedryck Chadli could afford to be generous.
Floriano Vanzo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.43, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Charris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dedryck Chadli after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo 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 Fernand Gouré, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Westerlo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dedryck Chadli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Issa Maréga 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.
Eliot Bujupi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Sint-Truiden, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Charris 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Dedryck Chadli to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Seiji Kimura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for Eliot Bujupi
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Fernand Gouré 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Shunsuke Saito is 21, 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fernand Gouré 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Dedryck Chadli to a room that had heard them before.
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.
At 20 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cisse Sandra. 1‑0 against Zulte Waregem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dedryck Chadli on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leonel Miguel is living that version at Westerlo, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The 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.
In brief
The dugoutCisse Sandra knocks on the manager’s door
Westerlo offered $840.0K; RAAL La Louviere 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.
Doğucan Haspolat and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Dender were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isa Sakamoto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Westerlo asked and Andorra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Westerlo and KV Kortrijk have settled on $290.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Westerlo until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer went to RAAL La Louviere 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.
Westerlo asked and KV Mechelen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Isa Sakamoto 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.
Serhiy Sydorchuk 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.
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Pape Diong, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The offer from Omonia 29M for Ndoh Wamfor 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abian Arslan is living that version at Westerlo, and it tends to show in the first month.
The chase for Abian Arslan ended with $940.0K changing hands and RFC Liege out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Westerlo asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Issa Maréga 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. David Amegnaglo was one of the reasons people came, and $3.6M does not replace that by itself.
The offer from FC Rouen for Afonso Patrão was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Westerlo can pretend not to have heard.
$940.0K on the table at RFC Liege. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Waasland-Beveren wanted more than $260.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
1‑4 to Charleroi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Nottingham Forest pay $7.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
He is going to Nottingham Forest, the club has $7.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Anderlecht were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Westerlo asked and KV Mechelen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Westerlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isa Sakamoto 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.
Seiji Kimura 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
Charleroi held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Westerlo answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Szentlőrinc had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer went to Anderlecht 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Nottingham Forest will make the call about Andreas Jungdal this week. Westerlo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Westerlo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Minute 92, against OH Leuven, 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.
The name of Andreas Jungdal has come up in conversations Westerlo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Doğucan Haspolat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Westerlo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Still no offer on the table, and Doğucan Haspolat’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.