“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 The request is on a desk at Bohemians 1905, and it is not being withdrawn.
Klemen Mihelak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Hrubý 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Lischka 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Klemen Mihelak signs something — a contract at Bohemians 1905 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Artem Korneev are not good
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zbrojovka Brno kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Bohemians 1905 will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bohemians 1905 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bohemians 1905 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bohemians 1905 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bohemians 1905 can pretend not to have heard.
Bohemians 1905 asked and Sparta Prague 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 offer went to Prostějov this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bohemians 1905 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Aleš Čermák 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.
$150.0K was the most the club would pay and Jihlava were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hassan Olubode is living that version at Bohemians 1905, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Bohemians 1905 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benson Sakala 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 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.” Kun Khalifat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Joseph Ameh 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Siyabonga Ngcobo has, at Kun Khalifat, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Kun Khalifat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Lekan 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kun Khalifat, another week without a signature from Akpan Nsikak-Abong.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Lekan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4 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.
Akpan Nsikak-Abong 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Kun Khalifat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Lekan 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kun Khalifat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Barau? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Plateau United have accepted the money. What Kun Khalifat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
The deal with Rivers United 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Warri Wolves have kept their man, and Kun Khalifat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Kun Khalifat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Lekan 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.
A loan enquiry to Plateau United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“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 Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
This is not rotation. Chikamso Amaefula has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kun Khalifat is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Gabriel Lekan 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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.
“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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Kun Khalifat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Ameh 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.
Hassan Olubode 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 make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timilehin Olukotun trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 18 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.
“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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Lekan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Kun Khalifat prefer.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.