“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samsunspor 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 Samsunspor 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Afonso Sousa signs something — a contract at Samsunspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kocaelispor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Samsunspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
$2.1M on the table at Vanspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Samsunspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.3M — a club that wants Yasir Boz enough to be asked twice.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rick van Drongelen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Genclerbirligi will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Anıl Yaşar has pre-agreed a move to Samsunspor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Yunus Emre Çift 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 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.
Dean Modiba 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rick van Drongelen 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Samsunspor will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 İsmail Yüksek is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chérif N'Diaye signs something — a contract at Samsunspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Samsunspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Samsunspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Chérif N'Diaye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joe Mendes 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Nobody at Samsunspor 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Erkan Erkin was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Samsunspor dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chérif N'Diaye signs something — a contract at Samsunspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samsunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Goztepe held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Samsunspor answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
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 Carlo Holse is on it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Erkan Erkin was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Samsunspor dressing room was either.
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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Basaksehir had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Samsunspor did not stop to explain themselves.
12 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.
Chérif N'Diaye 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erkan Erkin on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Afonso Sousa is on it.
“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 Samsunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Samsunspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.
Chérif N'Diaye 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rick van Drongelen 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.
Umraniyespor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alperen Selvi has pre-agreed a move to Samsunspor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Erzurumspor have kept their man, and Samsunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Rizespor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Batuhan Şen. The answer from Samsunspor has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Samsunspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Chérif N'Diaye 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 Rick van Drongelen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Samsunspor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Basaksehir runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samsunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samsunspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
3 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Samsunspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samsunspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Joe Mendes 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.
Minute 86, against Kayserispor, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
9 combined actions and 6.79. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Marked 7.99 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chérif N'Diaye commits to Samsunspor for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rick van Drongelen 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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.84, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fenerbahce have kept their man, and Samsunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Samsunspor 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Samsunspor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arbnor Muja trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Samsunspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Samsunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $83.4K — a club that wants Muharrem Cinan enough to be asked twice.
Chérif N'Diaye 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.
Samsunspor have gone to Basaksehir with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$76.0K on the table at Kocaelispor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Samsunspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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; Samsunspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Chérif N'Diaye 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rick van Drongelen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
35 games, 15 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Samsunspor now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristóbal Escobar and Samsunspor agree another 4 years.
Squad29 May 2028
6 new faces, and Samsunspor 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.
Nobody at Samsunspor 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Samsunspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Samsunspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
23 goals in 37 games at Hatayspor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Samsunspor updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samsunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joe Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 goals in 35 games at Serikspor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Samsunspor updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Carlo Holse signs something — a contract at Samsunspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMamadou Mendy knocks on the manager's door
Position 9 on 46 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.
Chérif N'Diaye 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joe Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Samsunspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chérif N'Diaye 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.
“I watch every Samsunspor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Genclerbirligi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Salih Malkoçoğlu's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carlo Holse signs something — a contract at Samsunspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Besiktas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Samsunspor has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
0‑2 against Rizespor, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A brace, and Afonso Sousa takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afonso Sousa provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Eyupspor were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Salih Malkoçoğlu 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.
12 combined actions and 6.84. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
0‑5. Rizespor play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
1‑1 against Rizespor, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
Arbnor Muja 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samsunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chérif N'Diaye 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samsunspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Erkan Erkin left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Alanyaspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Samsunspor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Samsunspor 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 Chérif N'Diaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Carlo Holse was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
“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; Samsunspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erkan Erkin on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Samsunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chérif N'Diaye 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.
Iago Santos 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erkan Erkin after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ahmet Sivri has his answer from Samsunspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Samsunspor 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.