The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Laçi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Laçi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Laçi have done the hard part with Apolonia Fier, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ardit Hoxhaj 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.
Laçi asked and Tirana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Laçi 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Laçi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Laçi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Lushnja is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Laçi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gëzim Krasniqi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Laçi asked and Tirana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Flavio Mecja is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Laçi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gëzim Krasniqi 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 Laçi can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Laçi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Klaus Kashari
The dugoutAntonio Delaj knocks on the manager’s door
Bruno Lulaj 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 Flavio Mecja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Laçi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Laçi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Laçi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Flavio Mecja falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Delaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Laçi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Laçi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Klinshak Longbak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavio Mecja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Nobody at Laçi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutFjoralb Deliaj asks for a word with the manager
Position 3 on 38 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Bruno Lulaj 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.
Partizani Tirana will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mohannad Mando has pre-agreed a move to Laçi, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Abia Warriors have kept their man, and Laçi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Flavio Mecja falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Laçi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 for Klinshak Longbak, marked 7.86, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Laçi is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Bedri Greca 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 are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Laçi will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Klinshak Longbak 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 phone has started ringing about Arlind Kurti again, and this time the name on the line is Tirana. Laçi are listening politely and promising nothing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Bruno Lulaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erjon Babe after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Laçi can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Laçi is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bedri Greca 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.
Kastrioti Krujë made Laçi work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Flavio Mecja was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Laçi 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 Gëzim Krasniqi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Klinshak Longbak to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Pogradeci, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Erjon Babe was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Laçi dressing room was either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Xhonatan Lajthia is on it.
Kastrioti Krujë next, and one man in the Laçi dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Laçi scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Klinshak Longbak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bedri Greca 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.
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.
Bruno Lulaj 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 Gëzim Krasniqi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuel Ajine. 1‑0 against Lushnja, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vasilis Tounis is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jacopo Sala'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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Klinshak Longbak was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gëzim Krasniqi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ardit Hoxhaj. 1‑0 against Luftëtari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Klinshak Longbak scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bedri Greca 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 Laçi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erjon Babe on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Apolonia Fier will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier can pretend not to have heard.
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Apolonia Fier will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fatmir Prengaj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Apolonia Fier have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier can pretend not to have heard.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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; Apolonia Fier are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A loan enquiry to Partizani Tirana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The mood at Apolonia Fier 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 Apolonia Fier, 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 Apolonia Fier this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Laçi have kept their man, and Apolonia Fier go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
97% of the income goes out in wages at Apolonia Fier
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.
Egnatia Rrogozhinë 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.
In brief
The dugoutFlavio Mecja knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Skënderbeu Korçë had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Apolonia Fier will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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 Apolonia Fier know it.
Egnatia Rrogozhinë 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.
Rogerinho 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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; Apolonia Fier are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Akinola Adesokan'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.
4 goals in 24 games at Fratria — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Apolonia Fier updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each 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 Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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; Apolonia Fier are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrik Bardhi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Flavio Mecja signs something — a contract at Apolonia Fier or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier can pretend not to have heard.
Fatmir Prengaj 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Eduardo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo 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 Flavio Mecja trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Apolonia Fier 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Apolonia Fier is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apolonia Fier this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Apolonia Fier, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier can pretend not to have heard.
Fatmir Prengaj 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo 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 Muritala Ibrahim trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fatmir Prengaj 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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 Apolonia Fier know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Apolonia Fier, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at Apolonia Fier 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier 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.” Apolonia Fier have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Apolonia Fier is running low.
Rogerinho 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 Ilir Allmuça was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
In brief
The dugoutRimal Haxhiu knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fatmir Prengaj 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 Apolonia Fier can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilir Allmuça 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Apolonia Fier is running low.
Rogerinho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rogerinho, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
130% of the income goes out in wages at Apolonia Fier
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Muritala Ibrahim has his answer from Apolonia Fier; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 7 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fatmir Prengaj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Eslit Dervishi 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 Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Apolonia Fier close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Rogerinho 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 Feb 2027
Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Apolonia Fier are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$890.0K settles it between the clubs for Marco Alia
Skënderbeu Korçë have accepted the money. What Apolonia Fier do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apolonia Fier can pretend not to have heard.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 40 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
17 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 to Burreli, 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.
“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 Apolonia Fier, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
“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; Apolonia Fier are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and Apolonia Fier go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oltjan Haremi 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Pogradeci left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eslit Dervishi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Serxho Prendi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
The dugoutRimal Haxhiu knocks on the manager's door
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 12 and 3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apolonia Fier this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavio Mecja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apolonia Fier this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
At 19 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.
Fatmir Prengaj 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
Oltjan Haremi 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Iliria Fushë-Krujë in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Flavio Mecja signs something — a contract at Apolonia Fier or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Oltjan Haremi has written the date down.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Apolonia Fier and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
Fatmir Prengaj 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Eslit Dervishi to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Fatmir Prengaj and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Apolonia Fier can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja 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 new man at Apolonia Fier has worked with Ersildjo Asllanaj before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apolonia Fier this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Apolonia Fier training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavio Mecja 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Apolonia Fier know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Apolonia Fier, another week without a signature from Alex Lima.
“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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.