Marked for Demba Samassa
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Feb 2036
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market4 Feb 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Apolonia Fier waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match4 Feb 2036
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Feb 2036
Cristian Aprea has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Iliria Fushë-Krujë they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Iliria Fushë-Krujë have done the hard part with Skënderbeu Korçë, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match2 Feb 2036
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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Emilio Amadori 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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jan 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Theo Williams Jr.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Jan 2036
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Kukësi had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Iliria Fushë-Krujë did not stop to explain themselves.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 Iliria Fushë-Krujë, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jan 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Heinrich Schröder will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Iliria Fushë-Krujë the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
René Frank has a hand in both — 7.17
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.17, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Emilio Amadori 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Everybody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
Iliria Fushë-Krujë asked and Egnatia Rrogozhinë said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jan 2036
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Jan 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Partizani Tirana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jan 2036
“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 Iliria Fushë-Krujë, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Emilio Amadori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
Iliria Fushë-Krujë asked and Burreli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
This is not rotation. Kiril Bodurov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending otherwise.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Nov 2035
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Aleksandr Ballabio: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad26 Nov 2035
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Kajetan Trzyński out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iliria Fushë-Krujë will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Nov 2035
Frenkie Depay hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iliria Fushë-Krujë can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Nov 2035
Position 3, 23 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Matteo Giorgetti 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.
Match24 Nov 2035
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Nov 2035
Hüseyn Əliyev damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Squad12 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Kajetan Trzyński out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iliria Fushë-Krujë will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Nov 2035
“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 Iliria Fushë-Krujë, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Erkan Semovski 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.
Boardroom12 Nov 2035
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.
Market12 Nov 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Frenkie Depay has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Iliria Fushë-Krujë.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Iliria Fushë-Krujë support went home talking about one name.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“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.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
Erkan Semovski knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erkan Semovski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Nov 2035
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Erkan Semovski 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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom5 Nov 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Oct 2035
Hüseyn Əliyev damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
98 days out for Kajetan Trzyński after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Iliria Fushë-Krujë will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
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 7.80 for the rest of it.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Emilio Amadori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Oct 2035
Bylis made Iliria Fushë-Krujë work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
This is not rotation. Kiril Bodurov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending otherwise.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Luca Scanlon
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2035
Hüseyn Əliyev damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Iliria Fushë-Krujë this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Oct 2035
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Oct 2035
10 new faces, and Iliria Fushë-Krujë 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.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Viktor Bese
“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.
Market22 Oct 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Iliria Fushë-Krujë, another week without a signature from Demba Samassa.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Oct 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hüseyn Əliyev
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Oct 2035
A fracture rules Kajetan Trzyński out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iliria Fushë-Krujë will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 Oct 2035
Dinamo City will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Iliria Fushë-Krujë were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
A brace, and Tiago Vermeulen takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tiago Vermeulen provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Oct 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Iliria Fushë-Krujë they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match6 Oct 2035
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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Matteo Giorgetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Oct 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hüseyn Əliyev
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Oct 2035
A fracture rules Matteo Giorgetti out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iliria Fushë-Krujë will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2035
A 3‑1 win over AF Elbasani, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
A brace, and Khvicha Kakabadze takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Khvicha Kakabadze provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Matteo Giorgetti 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.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
The terraces1 Oct 2035
He is 23 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 dugout1 Oct 2035
This is not rotation. Kiril Bodurov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hüseyn Əliyev
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Matteo Giorgetti out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iliria Fushë-Krujë will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Erkan Semovski 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.
Match15 Sep 2035
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Iliria Fushë-Krujë did not have in the autumn.
Match15 Sep 2035
3 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.
Match15 Sep 2035
After 5 games, Iliria Fushë-Krujë finally taste it again
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 Skënderbeu Korçë; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frenkie Depay, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market17 Sep 2035
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Aug 2035
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market27 Aug 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Iliria Fushë-Krujë they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market27 Aug 2035
Jan Peters hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iliria Fushë-Krujë can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Danylo Basovskyi, 33, rolls back the years — 7.83
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match25 Aug 2035
4 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.
The dugout27 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Iliria Fushë-Krujë may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2035
Everything agreed with Tirana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
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.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Heinrich Schröder
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Aug 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Iliria Fushë-Krujë they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market20 Aug 2035
“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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Iliria Fushë-Krujë people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market20 Aug 2035
The bid was some way short and Iliria Fushë-Krujë did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kastrioti Krujë have kept their man, and Iliria Fushë-Krujë go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Aug 2035
João Couto 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 Aug 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viktor Bese was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Pogradeci 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jun 2035
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is running low.
Market18 Jun 2035
Frenkie Depay hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iliria Fushë-Krujë can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jun 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Iliria Fushë-Krujë have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jun 2035
The offer from Vllaznia Shkodër for Gabriele Semeraro 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Erkan Semovski 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Market18 Jun 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Iliria Fushë-Krujë, another week without a signature from Demba Samassa.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
Iliria Fushë-Krujë have made the call to Tirana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kajetan Trzyński
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iliria Fushë-Krujë lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 May 2035
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.
Market7 May 2035
“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.
Market7 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom7 May 2035
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.
Squad7 May 2035
João Couto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 May 2035
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.
Market7 May 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 May 2035
The manager's exit leaves Demba Samassa exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Demba Samassa is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
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.
Market5 Mar 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iliria Fushë-Krujë can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Erkan Semovski 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kajetan Trzyński, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
Demba Samassa without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Demba Samassa was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words at Iliria Fushë-Krujë training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charalabos Panos 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.
Market5 Mar 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Iliria Fushë-Krujë, another week without a signature from Kajetan Trzyński.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Iliria Fushë-Krujë is running low.
Market26 Feb 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iliria Fushë-Krujë can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Feb 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Heinrich Schröder will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Iliria Fushë-Krujë the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Denis Hanzelka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Fede San Emeterio
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Iliria Fushë-Krujë will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Fede San Emeterio 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 dugout26 Feb 2035
Milán Horváth knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Milán Horváth trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Feb 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Iliria Fushë-Krujë know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Feb 2035
Denis Hanzelka 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Fede San Emeterio 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2035
94% of the income goes out in wages at Iliria Fushë-Krujë
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 dugout19 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Goga Daraselia, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
René Frank gets picked when it counts
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 René Frank is on it.
The dugout19 Feb 2035
Nurkhan Gasymov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Feb 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Iliria Fushë-Krujë know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match19 Feb 2035
Continental football is in reach for Iliria Fushë-Krujë
32 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market19 Feb 2035
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Iliria Fushë-Krujë could get for him.