Marked for Yusuf Saitoğlu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Slavia Kroměříž
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Slavia Kroměříž training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Araujo Wilson 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Lukáš Holík 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
87% of the income goes out in wages at Slavia Kroměříž
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 dugout29 May 2028
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.
Squad29 May 2028
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.
The dugout29 May 2028
Lukáš Holík knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slavia Kroměříž, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad29 May 2028
Jason Noslin has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Jason Noslin keeps the shirt for now, at Slavia Kroměříž's convenience rather than his own.
Market29 May 2028
Yusuf Saitoğlu signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kubilay Aktaş
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Umraniyespor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Umraniyespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$34.0K on the table at Sariyer. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Umraniyespor asked and Gaziantep said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Umraniyespor
6 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The Álex Blanco story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Álex Blanco signs something — a contract at Umraniyespor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Umraniyespor have made Philipp Simon available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Cebio Soukou out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Umraniyespor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Jun 2027
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Umraniyespor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Umraniyespor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Umraniyespor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Arthur Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Umraniyespor's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Umraniyespor has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Arthur Henrique 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vanspor have kept their man, and Umraniyespor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Keciorengucu have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mustafa Eser. The answer from Umraniyespor has not changed — yet.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serkan Göksu, and the manager let it.
Match11 Jan 2027
Position 14, 23 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
The formation has left Alieu Cham behind
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Market
No place for Übeyd Adıyaman in the plan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Umraniyespor close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vince Gino Dekker 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Umraniyespor 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Engjëll Hoti
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Engjëll Hoti has come out of that comparison in the side, and Umraniyespor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sakaryaspor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A season on the outside for Philipp Simon
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Umraniyespor has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.