The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amir Fayzullaev did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Husain Norchayev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Amir Fayzullaev 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
In brief
The dugoutMatija Ljujić: that is not what I was promised
64 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
24 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alisher Odilov provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pakhtakor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pakhtakor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
21 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pakhtakor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Lokomotiv will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pakhtakor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pakhtakor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bukhara waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Husain Norchayev 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.
15 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mashal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor 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 Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
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 7.81 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bojan Roganović has just signed for Pakhtakor, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Pakhtakor know it.
14 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
365 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Diyor Ermanov has agreed terms with Mashal for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Husain Norchayev 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 Koffi Kouao was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pakhtakor 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
57 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
11 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pakhtakor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koffi Kouao was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pakhtakor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sherzod Nasrullayev 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“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 Pakhtakor, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pakhtakor will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Sherzod Nasrullayev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sherzod Nasrullayev 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. Linas Megelaitis has just signed for Pakhtakor, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdurauf Bo'riev 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 Pakhtakor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Pakhtakor will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pakhtakor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Metallurg moved on, Shukron Yo'ldoshev reports back to Pakhtakor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Words at Pakhtakor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdurauf Bo'riev 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pakhtakor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Hojiakbar Alijonov is on it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Shortan had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Anri Chichinadze is living that version at Pakhtakor, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with AGMK 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kokand 1912 is saying, and nobody at Pakhtakor is enjoying the guessing.
The chase for Anri Chichinadze ended with $170.0K changing hands and Navbahor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Pakhtakor asked and Nasaf 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. 35 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 3, 71 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
Pakhtakor and Navbahor have settled on $99.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer from Shortan for Ratinho 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pakhtakor had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pakhtakor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
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.
Nobody at Pakhtakor will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
13 seasons and 250 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pakhtakor 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Damjan Pavlović has, at Pakhtakor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 Akmal Mozgovoy 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 Pakhtakor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pakhtakor, another week without a signature from Damjan Pavlović.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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 3 on 71 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
Vladimir Nazarov 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Shahzod Azmiddinov.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pakhtakor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
16 goals and a season average of 7.58 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Pakhtakor close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pakhtakor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Qizilqum waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The phone has started ringing about Mahmudjon Mahamadjonov again, and this time the name on the line is Obod. Pakhtakor are listening politely and promising nothing.
Pakhtakor asked and Lokomotiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mahmudjon Mahamadjonov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Bukhara for Ratinho 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.
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Abdulla Mirzaev could afford to be generous.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Qizilqum for Jasur Yaxshiboyev 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.
Vladimir Nazarov 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Kokand 1912; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
8.06. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bukhara waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Flamarion provided it, and the 9.06 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Flamarion. 2‑1 against AGMK, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
42 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Pakhtakor and Obod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
40 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pakhtakor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
1 for Abdurauf Bo'riev, marked 7.96, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kingsley Sokari is living that version at Pakhtakor, and it tends to show in the first month.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The chase for Javohir Husanov ended with $130.0K changing hands and Kokand 1912 out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shahzod Azmiddinov and Pakhtakor agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
38 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“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 Pakhtakor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maximiliano Rueda wants continental football; whether Pakhtakor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Alisher Odilov 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.
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 Vladimir Nazarov is on it.
The dugout14 May 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Abdulla Mirzaev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maximiliano Rueda wants continental football; whether Pakhtakor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Bashar Resan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Shortan will make the call about Behruzbek Asqarov this week. Pakhtakor have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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 Vladimir Nazarov is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pakhtakor had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Flamarion has his answer from Pakhtakor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Pakhtakor 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ratinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pakhtakor 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hojiakbar Alijonov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Akmal Mozgovoy is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Behruzbek Asqarov has his answer from Pakhtakor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jasur Yaxshiboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pakhtakor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Pakhtakor have had the benefit of it.
Dostonbek Hamdamov 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 Pakhtakor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahzod Azmiddinov 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 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 Sherzod Nasrullayev is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Flamarion signs something — a contract at Pakhtakor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pakhtakor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alisher Odilov 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 Shahzod Azmiddinov 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 Hojiakbar Alijonov is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and G'olib G'aybullayev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.