“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 The request is on a desk at Vanspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vanspor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 Vanspor have had the benefit of it.
Kenneth Mamah 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Prince Ating did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Kenneth Mamah 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Prince Ating. 2‑1 against Alanyaspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 20 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Çağlar Akbaba, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Xesc Regis 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marcelinho has come out of that comparison in the side, and Vanspor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vanspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.93, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Xesc Regis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vanspor has been clear about where Joris Gouache stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ibrahim Yildirim to a room that had heard them before.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavinho wants continental football; whether Vanspor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sporting CP is saying, and nobody at Vanspor is enjoying the guessing.
Kenneth Mamah 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sariyer scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vanspor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vanspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Vanspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fenerbahce keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vanspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vanspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Position 5, 63 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Marcelinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavinho wants continental football; whether Vanspor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emir Bars, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
Mehmet Özcan 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Kenneth Mamah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Erdem Seçgin at his very best
Boardroom96% of the income goes out in wages at Vanspor
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vanspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vanspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Vanspor know now that the thought has arrived.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Vanspor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Joris Gouache
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vanspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vanspor can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Vanspor close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 Vanspor know 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 Vanspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Vanspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehmet Özcan 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.
Vanspor asked and Basaksehir 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 point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Marcelinho 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Vanspor will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ibrahim Yildirim after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Umraniyespor defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Vanspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Kenneth Mamah 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 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erdem Seçgin, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luan Andrey falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
4 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Gustavinho 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 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.
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.
Marcelinho 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Luan Andrey 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.72 on the card, and the Vanspor support went home talking about one name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ibrahim Yildirim, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Medeni Bingöl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutJoris Gouache knocks on the manager’s door
Gustavinho 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.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Kenneth Mamah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Medeni Bingöl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Aliou Traoré reports back to Vanspor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Vanspor can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Vanspor asked and Schalke 04 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luan Andrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Oğulcan Çağlayan has come out of that comparison in the side, and Vanspor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Schalke 04 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marcelinho 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. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Vanspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Güvenç Usta 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
He is going to Gaziantep, the club has $1.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Antalyaspor is saying, and nobody at Vanspor is enjoying the guessing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $161.0K — a club that wants Yasir Subaşı enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vanspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
$150.0K on the table at Konyaspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Kenneth Mamah 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marcelinho 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.
Vanspor asked and Rizespor 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 gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ibrahim Yildirim, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.