The mood at Giresunspor 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.
1‑4 to Kasimpasa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 The request is on a desk at Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petar Topić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giresunspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kaan Ayhan 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
1‑5 against Antalyaspor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giresunspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Claudio Aquino 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giresunspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Giresunspor know now that the thought has arrived.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaan Ayhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giresunspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Umraniyespor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Kasimpasa 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.
Giresunspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Besiktas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Claudio Aquino 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 Kaan Ayhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Giresunspor asked and Hatayspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Enes Tulgay 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaan Ayhan 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.
14 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fatih Aksoy 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giresunspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giresunspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Nov 2031
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Giresunspor and Fenerbahce in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mouhamed Gueye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giresunspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sky Heesen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giresunspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fatih Aksoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sky Heesen, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giresunspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Giresunspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Istanbulspor 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.
Kaan Ayhan 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.
Giresunspor asked and Besiktas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
11 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Position 19 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Giresunspor
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giresunspor can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fatih Karagumruk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Egemen Aydın 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Petar Topić has, at Giresunspor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Giresunspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaan Ayhan 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitesse lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Vitesse can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
Vitesse and PSV have settled on $730.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Justin Timber has agreed terms with Heerenveen for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.