Marked for Yusuf Yucer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jul 2031
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Terence Kongolo out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MEAP Nisou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jul 2031
Yusuf Yucer 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 MEAP Nisou can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiakos Nicosia have kept their man, and MEAP Nisou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at MEAP Nisou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Batos 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Filippos Papouis 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.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
The borrowing at MEAP Nisou reaches $13.4M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $13.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Boardroom14 Jul 2031
Wages eat 90% of everything MEAP Nisou earn
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 May 2031
Words at MEAP Nisou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Charalabous 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.
Squad26 May 2031
Kostas Batos 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.
Market26 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MEAP Nisou, another week without a signature from Ronaldo Almeida Magat.
The dugout26 May 2031
Kostas Batos 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 Kostas Batos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 May 2031
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee MEAP Nisou could ask drops and the wages Konstantinos Panteli can ask rise.
The dugout26 May 2031
The manager makes Yusuf Yucer a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at MEAP Nisou. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market26 May 2031
The shop window has George Coman in it
MEAP Nisou have let the market know George Coman can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad26 May 2031
The penny has dropped for Juraj Frigan
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at MEAP Nisou the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at MEAP Nisou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michalis Charalabous 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
George Coman 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.
Market28 Apr 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Harry Whitworth has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at MEAP Nisou.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
“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 dugout28 Apr 2031
George Asamoah 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 MEAP Nisou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Apr 2031
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs MEAP Nisou money.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
Yusuf Yucer has been promised minutes
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 Yusuf Yucer has written the date down.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Przemysław Pęksa is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Market2 Sep 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Digenis Morfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at MEAP Nisou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 25 gone
That is the business done at MEAP Nisou 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.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Everything agreed with Paralimni, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
The owner puts $294.1K into MEAP Nisou
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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Michalis Charalabous 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Leo Umeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Aug 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Charles Chibuike’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to MEAP Nisou.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Aug 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MEAP Nisou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MEAP Nisou have done the hard part with PAEEK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A row about effort at MEAP Nisou
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michalis Charalabous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
MEAP Nisou asked and Olympiakos Nicosia 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 Aug 2030
Ronaldo Almeida Magat 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 dugout19 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yusuf Yucer, and the manager let it.
Market19 Aug 2030
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. MEAP Nisou will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market19 Aug 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MEAP Nisou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match19 Aug 2030
MEAP Nisou have something to play for
Position 5 on 51 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jun 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MEAP Nisou can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jun 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MEAP Nisou have done the hard part with Anorthosis, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jun 2030
A row about effort at MEAP Nisou
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and George Asamoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
A loan move for Harvey Owen is in the works
MEAP Nisou have made the call to Omonoia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and MEAP Nisou will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market24 Jun 2030
Oskar Klat is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MEAP Nisou has been clear about where Oskar Klat stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad24 Jun 2030
No place for Yusuf Yucer in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MEAP Nisou are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MEAP Nisou
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market17 Jun 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around MEAP Nisou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market17 Jun 2030
“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 MEAP Nisou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The deal with Apollon is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A move Yusuf Yucer would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yusuf Yucer is living that version at MEAP Nisou, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Seth Okyere has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means MEAP Nisou have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Michalis Charalabous 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.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Konstantinos Panteli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.