108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Imishli 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 Imishli can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
“I watch every Imishli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Turan Tovuz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Imishli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezekiel Morgan 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.
Position 9, 10 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Imishli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Roni Lobo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Imishli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ben Woods 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Həzrət İsayev has his answer from Imishli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Imishli has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Imishli close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 20 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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Andrey Sinenko 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.
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.
0‑1 to Sumgayit, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Roni Lobo 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $29.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Umarali Rahmonaliyev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karvan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Karvan asked and São Luiz 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Karvan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Karvan, another week without a signature from Nanu.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karvan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 9 and 16 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.
The phone has started ringing about Umarali Rahmonaliyev again, and this time the name on the line is Qarabag. Karvan are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Fenix 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Karvan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Mattia Sangalli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Karvan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyal Əliyev 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kapaz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Karvan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Karvan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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; Karvan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Alassane Coulibaly 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 Umarali Rahmonaliyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Karvan asked and Bentonit Ijevan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Sabail have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Eduardo Pletsch. The answer from Karvan has not changed — yet.
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 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.
Everybody at Karvan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
Position 9 and 16 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.
Alassane Coulibaly 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 Umarali Rahmonaliyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Karvan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Umarali Rahmonaliyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Karvan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Karvan 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Karvan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nanu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shaquill Sno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karvan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alassane Coulibaly 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Xəyal Əliyev 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.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Karvan this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
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.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moise Ngwisani signs something — a contract at Karvan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Karvan can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Thiago Rodrigues and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Karvan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyal Əliyev 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“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 Karvan know it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Karvan can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karvan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sávio 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 Karvan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sávio 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 Karvan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karvan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.