Iran

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Persib
12 Jun 2030
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Iran

189 Edition

The Persib Chronicle

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Sven Xerri is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persib is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Player ratings

Mauro Zijlstra was unplayable

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Persib

Uilliam Barros 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Persib

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Ganet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Embargo at Persib

No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 119% of the Persib income

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.

Boardroom

The borrowing at Persib reaches $29.0M

Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $29.0M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Avi Refaelov

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persib told Avi Refaelov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Hilman Syah gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Market Talks stall between Persib and Ikenna Motors
  • Market No place for Iran in the plan
Back issues
182 Edition

The Persib Chronicle

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Saddil Ramdani has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persib they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $360.0K sale of Ramon Tanque

He is going to Dewa United, the club has $360.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Iran puts it in writing

“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 Persib, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Uilliam Barros in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persib this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Ramon Tanque moves on

Dewa United pay $360.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Boardroom

Persib agree a free transfer for Chris Nduwarugira

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Transfer targets

Altach tell Persib: Sun Huizer is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at Persib

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hilman Syah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Persib

6 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

104 Edition

The Madura United Post

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

At last: Madura United win one

20 matches without a win, and then this, against Arema. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Market

Júnior Brandão turns PSBS Biak down

“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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Riquelme takes the afternoon — 8.84

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Riquelme provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Aji Kusuma hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Madura United can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Iran has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Madura United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Madura United say no — this time

The offer from PSBS Biak for Diky Indrayana was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

The dugout

news_h_frozen_out_of_the_side

news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Squad

A falling-out at Madura United

Júnior Brandão and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

The numbers do not look good at Madura United

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.

In brief