Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Borneo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Pablo Fernández reports back to Persijap with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Yishay Brosh 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.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The name of Alexandre Nascimento has come up in conversations Persijap were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tal Atzili
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings25 Jun 2035
Tomer Refaelov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Persik moved on, Gede Aditya Juliantara reports back to Persijap, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Add another name to the list: Bhayangkara Presisi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pablo Fernández. The answer from Persijap has not changed — yet.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
Romi Cohen 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persijap have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
The deal with PSM 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persebaya have kept their man, and Persijap go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Jun 2035
A brace, and Yishay Brosh takes the afternoon — 8.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yishay Brosh provided it, and the 8.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yishay Brosh. 3‑1 against PSBS Biak, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Yishay Brosh, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pablo Fernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persijap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Raka Cahyana, marked 7.53, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yishay Brosh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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 club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gede Aditya Juliantara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persijap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yishay Brosh 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Alexis Gómez 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Yishay Brosh in the middle of it, and PSIM unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tal Atzili 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persib keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Persijap is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kento Doan has just signed for Persijap, and for once the answer mattered.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Irfan Abimanyu 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bagas Supriadi 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pablo Fernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persijap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yishay Brosh 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.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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 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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Persijap this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tal Atzili 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persijap can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Nov 2034
9 new faces, and Persijap 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.
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 Alexis Gómez 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 Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Persijap is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Raka Cahyana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2034
9 new faces, and Persijap 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.
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 Alexis Gómez is on it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Yishay Brosh 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Persijap know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persijap people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Persijap 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bhayangkara Presisi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.84 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Tenuka Ranaweera.
The mood at Persijap has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Madura United have accepted the money. What Persijap do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
7.74, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Yishay Brosh, marked 7.77, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.53, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
This is not rotation. a squad player has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
Mark Cooper 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.
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.
1 for Tri Setiawan, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deal with Persija 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.
Marked 7.68. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
A 3‑1 win over Persebaya, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Yishay Brosh 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.
This is not rotation. a squad player has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Yishay Brosh 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.
Pablo Fernández 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad29 May 2034
Yishay Brosh 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 dugout29 May 2034
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Tomer Refaelov 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 finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings22 May 2034
Up for the corner, and Yishay Brosh delivers — 7.74
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yishay Brosh scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1 for Romi Cohen, marked 7.99, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.93 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Yishay Brosh, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Apr 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yishay Brosh 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 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody arrives at Persijap until somebody leaves
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yishay Brosh 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout3 Apr 2034
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh 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 Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Persijap will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Gómez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Dwiki Mardiyanto obliged against PSBS Biak. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Persijap.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dwiki Mardiyanto provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Goncalo Pinto did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.54, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Mar 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He is 19 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.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad6 Mar 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yishay Brosh 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 gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Mar 2034
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Irham Nadzhofa 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.
7.52, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.66, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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 Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda is on it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Feb 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
Marked 6.59 on 11 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 could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout20 Feb 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Tim Guillou'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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Yishay Brosh 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexis Gómez, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Feb 2034
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Persijap 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Persijap would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Persijap could ask drops and the wages Maron Ghantous can ask rise.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Chen Haoyu is living that version at Persijap, and it tends to show in the first month.
This is not rotation. a squad player has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Jan 2034
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yishay Brosh 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.
Tomer Refaelov 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.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Dec 2033
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Nobody at Persijap 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persijap, another week without a signature from Goncalo Pinto.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Persijap would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Maron Ghantous’s negotiating for him
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alexandre Nascimento 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.
Nobody at Persijap 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Persijap
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Hendro Pato
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
This is not rotation. Tenuka Ranaweera has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Nov 2033
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yishay Brosh 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.
Squad21 Nov 2033
7 new faces, and Persijap 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 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.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Persijap this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Nov 2033
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
Tomer Refaelov 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persijap know it.
Squad31 Oct 2033
Yishay Brosh 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.
Eduardo Neves 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.
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.
Nobody at Persijap 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yishay Brosh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pablo Fernández 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.
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 Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tim Guillou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
PSBS Biak next, and one man in the Persijap dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Gómez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Wilt de Jong arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings3 Oct 2033
Up for the corner, and Yishay Brosh delivers — 7.96
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yishay Brosh scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Oct 2033
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Pablo Fernández is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad19 Sep 2033
Yishay Brosh 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda 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 Persijap can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yishay Brosh. 2‑1 against PSM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.