Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSM 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 PSM 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 Luka Čumić 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.
Joaquín Canadell 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sheriddin Boboev. 1‑0 against PSBS Biak, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Rizky Irawan could afford to be generous.
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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Luka Čumić was the best thing in any of them.
Madura United will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PSM were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Luka Čumić takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Čumić provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 The request is on a desk at PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.72, 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.
Joaquín Canadell 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 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 had been thinking. Luka Čumić 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PSM 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 PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
PSM close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Čumić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. PSM know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Quilmes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Quilmes can pretend not to have heard.
Aaron Spetale and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ramiro Luna 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Quilmes, another week without a signature from Ulises Vera.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Quilmes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Maipú in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aloísio Soares 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 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.
A new face in his position, and Hilman Syah suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. PSM have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The words a physio says slowly. 148 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, wages agreed, and Defensores waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Quilmes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Opatija for Agustín Bindella 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.
Ramiro Luna 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ulises Vera 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Quilmes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Quilmes can pretend not to have heard.
Aaron Spetale 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.
Add another name to the list: Nestos Chrysoupoli have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Agustín Bindella. The answer from Quilmes has not changed — yet.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Quilmes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiro Luna 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.
Axel Batista has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
In brief
The dugoutGonzalo Vega knocks on the manager's door