It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.26 — 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Minsk have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Konstantin Kuchinskiy 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Konstantin Kuchinskiy signs something — a contract at Minsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Minsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The offer from Slonim for Emir Ernisov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Patrick Posch is 18, and Minsk have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marco Spina 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.
Edoardo Mannino is 20, and Gubbio have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lumezzane have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lumezzane this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Lumezzane will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lumezzane know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Mattia Iori talk too
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Catania is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Catania this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Catania this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.