“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 The request is on a desk at Korabi Peshkopi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Shane Duffy 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Korabi Peshkopi told Jonathan Mairiga something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi 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 language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Korabi Peshkopi told Dillon Hoogewerf something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi 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.
In brief
The dugoutKristian Jaku asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Endri Dema 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.
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 Ahmed Sanogo is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nani Ferreira has written the date down.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
“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; Korabi Peshkopi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Samuel Ajine 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 Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Kristjan Laščak is on it.
Samuel Ajine 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.
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.
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 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 Korabi Peshkopi 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 Endri Dema trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi 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.
Position 4, 36 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ahmed Sanogo is on 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 Korabi Peshkopi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Ajine signs something — a contract at Korabi Peshkopi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Antonio Delaj has written the date down.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
Samuel Ajine 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 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Endri Dema was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Nani Ferreira is on 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 Korabi Peshkopi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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 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 Korabi Peshkopi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutNani Ferreira knocks on the manager’s door
“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; Korabi Peshkopi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19, and nobody at Korabi Peshkopi signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kleart Grazhdani and Korabi Peshkopi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Ahmed Sanogo is on 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; Korabi Peshkopi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Samuel Ajine 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Andri Xhafa 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 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Fábio Aguiar is still being punished for one mistake
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.
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 Kristjan Laščak is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fábio Aguiar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Korabi Peshkopi can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Korabi Peshkopi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Samuel Ajine 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 Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Korabi Peshkopi asked and Plateau United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Korabi Peshkopi told Kristian Jaku something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Kristjan Laščak 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 Korabi Peshkopi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Samuel Ajine 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Korabi Peshkopi and Vllaznia Shkodër in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasarawa United have kept their man, and Korabi Peshkopi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Korabi Peshkopi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Korabi Peshkopi have done the hard part with Abia Warriors, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plateau United have kept their man, and Korabi Peshkopi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andri Xhafa 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.
8.12. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Korabi Peshkopi, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mikel Canka. 1‑0 against Iliria Fushë-Krujë, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.56. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.” Isti Boçi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Isti Boçi kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dillon Hoogewerf provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Samuel Ajine 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dillon Hoogewerf 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Dillon Hoogewerf had Korabi Peshkopi level again within 1 minutes, and Besa Kavajë never got to play with a lead at all.
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ledjo Tresa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ledjo Tresa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Korabi Peshkopi have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kristjan Laščak did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Samuel Ajine 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 had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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 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.
9 combined actions and 6.72. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 Isti Boçi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Franci Lala 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.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Endri Dema trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Samuel Ajine’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Korabi Peshkopi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Kristjan Laščak 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 had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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 mark of 7.54, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Ahmed Sanogo is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Burreli defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Isti Boçi to a room that had heard them before.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Korabi Peshkopi will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Korabi Peshkopi asked and Abia Warriors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Pogradeci next, and one man in the Korabi Peshkopi dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Korabi Peshkopi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Everything agreed with ND Gorica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Korabi Peshkopi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dillon Hoogewerf 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artilio Bekaj is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentino Nderjaku has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Diar Arifi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Korabi Peshkopi asked and ND Gorica 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Korabi Peshkopi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
23 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.
Abia Warriors 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mikel Canka’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Korabi Peshkopi needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Samuel Ajine 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 Dillon Hoogewerf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Egnatia Rrogozhinë have kept their man, and Korabi Peshkopi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Korabi Peshkopi know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Jonathan Mairiga is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
A season-long audition: Bylis still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Korabi Peshkopi's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.