The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba 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 Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeffery Nisembaum will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hapoel Kfar Saba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
Marked 8.62 — 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.
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 The request is on a desk at Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
Hapoel Tel Aviv go through and Hapoel Kfar Saba go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Phakamani Mahlambi and Hapoel Kfar Saba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Phakamani Mahlambi 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Hapoel Kfar Saba will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Hapoel Raanana? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba 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 Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Issouf Sissokho 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Guy Levy clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“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 Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Issouf Sissokho 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bello Martins and Hapoel Kfar Saba agree another 4 years.
“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 Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hapoel Kfar Saba pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Konadu Yiadom trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Guy Levy has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Kfar Saba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba can pretend not to have heard.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Issouf Sissokho 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 Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gilbert Bandama 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.
Marked 9.48 — 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.
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 Roy Harel.
Position 12 and 13 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba 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 Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Kfar Saba 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 Hapoel Kfar Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Kfar Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Phakamani Mahlambi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Konadu Yiadom trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hapoel Kfar Saba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.