What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persebaya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Bhayangkara Presisi kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Persebaya will be asked about the last half hour all 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 The request is on a desk at Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jefferson 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 name of Syahrian Nugroho has come up in conversations Persebaya were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Jefferson 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad20 May 2030
Jefferson 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 hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Firman Pratama did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miloš Raičković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Rachmat Riyadi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.77 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya 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 Persebaya 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Firman Pratama did not need any: 7.91, 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
Nobody left the Persebaya dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rachmat Riyadi after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Boris Kopitović is on it.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
Sergio Pinto, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Firman Pratama did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
Jefferson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miloš Raičković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Boris Kopitović has his answer from Persebaya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Jefferson 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $22.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persebaya has been clear about where Shai Belhassen stands, which is more than many ever get.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Persebaya 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Persija 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 Jefferson signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jefferson 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 fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pratama Abimanyu has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kurniawan Pratama has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mihailo Perović. 1‑0 against Semen Padang, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 105% of the Persebaya income
Njabulo Blom and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Jefferson 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.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Jefferson 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Persebaya this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rachmat Riyadi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Persebaya asked and Persib said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.76, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Persebaya had all but put away. Bali United will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Persebaya, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Nugroho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Persebaya can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bhayangkara Presisi have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Persebaya until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Persebaya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ajax, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bali United have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Njabulo Blom 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Persebaya have made the call to Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Persebaya have made the call to De Graafschap. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Persebaya have made the call to Ajax. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Tavares is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jefferson signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The deal that would have taken Husna Al Malik to Dewa United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Persebaya with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diky Indrayana is living that version at Persebaya, and it tends to show in the first month.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dewa United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gil Atzili has pre-agreed a move to Persebaya, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Njabulo Blom and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Jefferson 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.
Persebaya asked and Bali United 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 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody arrives at Persebaya until somebody leaves
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persebaya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persebaya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The offer from Madura United for Hanif Sjahbandi 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.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jefferson 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zaragoza have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Jefferson 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.
33 appearances and 1 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jefferson signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Fernandes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Jefferson 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.
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 Boris Kopitović is on 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 Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jefferson 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 Miloš Raičković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomThe Persebaya production line keeps running
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Irfan Jauhari
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya 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 Jefferson 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.
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 Jefferson is on it.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Persebaya this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persebaya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutIrfan Jauhari asks for a word with the manager
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Jefferson 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jefferson signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya 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 Miloš Raičković 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 Njabulo Blom trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hanif Sjahbandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Njabulo Blom and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
Nobody at Persebaya 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Persebaya 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 Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persebaya know it.
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 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Njabulo Blom 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 Miloš Raičković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Husna Al Malik’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Husna Al Malik is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Husna Al Malik will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hanif Sjahbandi has his answer from Persebaya; 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 Mihailo Perović signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hanif Sjahbandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Njabulo Blom and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
Nobody at Persebaya 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Njabulo Blom signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jefferson 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricky Sulaeman is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agung Riyadi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bagas Kurniawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aditya Septian has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Jauhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persebaya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Njabulo Blom 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 Oct 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rizky Abimanyu has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Agung Septian 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefano Sucipto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Irfan Jauhari is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ori Levi has moved up it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hanif Sjahbandi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jefferson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irfan Jauhari 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
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 0‑2 Rachmat Riyadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Persebaya is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Jefferson 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.
Persebaya asked and Persik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutJefferson has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hanif Sjahbandi has agreed terms with Bali United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Jefferson 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Persita will replay every second of the added time for a week.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cukaricki have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Persik left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Jefferson 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.
Persebaya asked and Zalgiris 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persebaya have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mihailo Perović provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beitar Jerusalem have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irfan Jauhari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dedi Santoso has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. PSBS Biak had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The offer from Arema for Hanif Sjahbandi 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Persebaya will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya 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. Persebaya have done the hard part with Dewa United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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 Persebaya 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persebaya asked and Universitatea Craiova 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 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persebaya pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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. Bali United have kept their man, and Persebaya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persebaya asked and PSM said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Jefferson 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.
Persebaya asked and AEK 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 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.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
Persebaya asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Syahrian Nugroho, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Rachmat Riyadi to a room that had heard them before.
Hapoel Tel Aviv 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persebaya can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Jefferson 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 accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Mitrevski 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Irfan Jauhari has his answer from Persebaya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Persebaya is running low.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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.
Half the programme played, position 15, 11 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Persebaya
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Boris Kopitović provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Agung Septian has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Jefferson 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 Risto Mitrevski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persebaya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 Rachmat Riyadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
Njabulo Blom 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persebaya now.
Squad7 May 2029
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Persebaya know it.
The dugout7 May 2029
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 Rachmat Riyadi to a room that had heard them before.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Jefferson 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.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Jefferson 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Mitrevski 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Rachmat Riyadi to a room that had heard them before.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persebaya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Mario Jardel
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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 17 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Rachmat Riyadi could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persija left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 0‑2 Rachmat Riyadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Persebaya is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Risto Mitrevski’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persebaya needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persebaya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout19 Mar 2029
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 Rachmat Riyadi to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Persebaya know 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.
Persija top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad19 Mar 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Persebaya man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Bruno Paraíba was the best thing in any of them.
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Semen Padang were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Bruno Paraíba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persebaya.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Mitrevski 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Njabulo Blom was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
“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 Persebaya know it.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Persebaya interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Rachmat Riyadi keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
7 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.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Jefferson 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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persebaya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Jefferson 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 0‑3 Witan Putra left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persebaya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risto Mitrevski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Witan Putra after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persebaya told Hanif Sjahbandi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mario Jardel
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Njabulo Blom and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Jefferson 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.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Simao Neves has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persebaya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Witan Putra recited it perfectly.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Njabulo Blom 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persebaya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Persija for Rachmat Irianto was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Jefferson 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 Idan Dadya and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya 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. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Njabulo Blom 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 Risto Mitrevski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya 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 Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francisco Rivera 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
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.
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francisco Rivera 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persebaya know it.
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.
146 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muhammad Natsir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francisco Rivera was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Novri Setiawan is a Persebaya player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Jefferson 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Nugroho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Jefferson 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Persebaya are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Persebaya have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Francisco Rivera 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hamra Hehanusa has just signed for Persebaya, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Jefferson is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Persebaya are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mihailo Perović signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muhammad Natsir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Njabulo Blom 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risto Mitrevski 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jefferson signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persebaya, 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 Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Rivera and Persebaya agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Jefferson 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Persebaya are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Rivera and Persebaya agree another 2 years.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Jefferson 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 words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 11 on 37 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Sulaeman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francisco Rivera 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.
Minute 94, against Maluku Utara United, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charisma Fathoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18, and nobody at Persebaya signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Persebaya is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Novri Setiawan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Francisco Rivera 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
Add another name to the list: Semen Padang have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ernando Ari. The answer from Persebaya has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francisco Rivera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 16 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.
In brief
Player ratingsMihailo Perović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNjabulo Blom was on a different afternoon to everybody else
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persebaya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSIM waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frets Butuan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Njabulo Blom was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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 Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Nugroho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Syahrian Nugroho, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Jefferson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 18 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.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya 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. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Njabulo Blom 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 Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persebaya asked and Chaves 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Porto 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.
The phone has started ringing about Sani Rizki again, and this time the name on the line is Semen Padang. Persebaya are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Persebaya scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persebaya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Nugroho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Jefferson 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.