The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Giresunspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Alan Martínez.
36 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑6 to Basaksehir, 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giresunspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
The mood at Giresunspor 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Federico Ragnoli Galli did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giresunspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mustafa Eskihellaç 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 Tony Nwakaeme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Giresunspor can tell you which week it ends in.
34 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.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giresunspor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giresunspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kaan Ayhan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tony Nwakaeme 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Giresunspor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giresunspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giresunspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Rade Krunić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fatih Aksoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Murat Bayindir was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Giresunspor dressing room was either.
32 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giresunspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 19, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at Giresunspor 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 Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Rade Krunić 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tony Nwakaeme is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giresunspor 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 Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Mustafa Eskihellaç 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Giresunspor had all but put away. Antalyaspor will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 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 Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Giresunspor know it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Giresunspor and Fenerbahce, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kaan Ayhan
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giresunspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Burak Yazici has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
28 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giresunspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑4 to Trabzonspor, 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.
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 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 Giresunspor know it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 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 Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Mustafa Eskihellaç was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 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 Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
7.28, 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 Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Giresunspor now know that too.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tony Nwakaeme 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giresunspor 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 Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Giresunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Burak Torun is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 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 Giresunspor 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.” Giresunspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Giresunspor close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything agreed with Crvena Zvezda, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giresunspor have done the hard part with Trabzonspor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chase for Kaan Ayhan ended with $2.0M changing hands and Galatasaray out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Renan Oliveira 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 terraces25 Jan 2027
Giresunspor spend $2.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.0M for Kaan Ayhan, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadWords at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 139 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with Galatasaray; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iliass Bel Hassani 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. Kayserispor have kept their man, and Giresunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tony Nwakaeme is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
22 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 147 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1‑4 to Besiktas, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Giresunspor asked and Trabzonspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The deal with Trabzonspor 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.
21 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 154 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 19 and 1 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.
7 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.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 7 of the 28 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 163 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Position 19, 1 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Murat Bayindir after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7 goals in one match, Felipe Augusto on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Giresunspor and Fatih Karagumruk.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iliass Bel Hassani 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. Vasco da Gama have kept their man, and Giresunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
0‑9 to Galatasaray, 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.
Giresunspor have gone to Istanbulspor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Giresunspor and Galatasaray, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Menezes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iliass Bel Hassani 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑9, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Giresunspor asked and Kayserispor 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Giresunspor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
In brief
Looking aheadGiresunspor take on the side everybody is chasing