Position 9 and 14 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Bakhat 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 Yverdon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Dejan Šorgić is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Yverdon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Anas Bakhat 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 Yverdon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simon Enzler trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Yverdon 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Peter Remmert did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dixon Vera 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 Timo Königsmann.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
4 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 Yverdon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Bakhat is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 Ricardo Fernandes to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
Boardroom85% of the income goes out in wages at Yverdon
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Simon Enzler 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Bakhat 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 Yverdon can tell you which week it ends in.
Simon Enzler and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dixon Vera 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. Yverdon told Simon Dia 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Yverdon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Bakhat 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.
Fabio Saiz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Lausanne-Sport go through and Yverdon go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anas Bakhat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Yverdon, another week without a signature from Anas Bakhat.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Yverdon told Miguel Terceros something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Samba Só was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 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.
18 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 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.
Something was said to Nathan Butler-Oyedeji and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Peter Remmert did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anas Bakhat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nathan Butler-Oyedeji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Peter Remmert 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.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Yverdon had all but put away. Étoile Carouge will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Simon Enzler and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Anas Bakhat 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.
Something was said to Ashvin Balaruban and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kevin Martin has his answer from Yverdon; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simon Enzler signs something — a contract at Yverdon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Miguel Terceros arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Position 5 on 10 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yverdon 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 Dixon Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Yverdon is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Position 5, 10 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Yverdon can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Simon Enzler 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 Anas Bakhat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 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.
The dugout28 Sep 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ricardo Fernandes to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dixon Vera's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Two goals and a mark of 9.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Peter Remmert, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Anas Bakhat 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.
Yverdon asked and Grêmio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yverdon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Peter Remmert 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.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Udinese is saying, and nobody at Yverdon is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Samba Só and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Ricardo Fernandes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Yverdon will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Yverdon have done the hard part with Udinese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal that would have taken William Le Pogam to Stade Lausanne-Ouchy has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Yverdon with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Anas Bakhat 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ousmane Doumbia is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Dejan Šorgić 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.
In brief
The dugoutBetim Fazliji is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutAnas Bakhat asks for a word with the manager
“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 Yverdon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yverdon asked and Servette said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and Zurich 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.
Everything agreed with Santos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Yverdon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Bakhat 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.
Add another name to the list: Stade Lausanne-Ouchy have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about William Le Pogam. The answer from Yverdon has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yverdon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
15 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Timo Königsmann
The dugoutDixon Vera is still being punished for one mistake
“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 Yverdon, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Yverdon have done the hard part with Lausanne-Sport, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nürnberg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Simon Enzler 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.
Yverdon asked and Vaduz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Varol Tasar was one of the reasons people came, and $1.3M does not replace that by itself.
Yverdon offered $2.6M; Sion 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.
The offer went to Zurich 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stripfing have kept their man, and Yverdon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Yverdon have done the hard part with St. Gallen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anas Bakhat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$3.8M on the table at Gaziantep. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benevento keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Simon Enzler 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.
Neuchâtel Xamax left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Anas Bakhat 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. SV Elversberg have kept their man, and Yverdon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fabio Saiz 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 Anthony Baron was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fortuna Düsseldorf 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.