Marked for Idris Abdulrasheed
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Jan 2034
The mood at Persita 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.
Market9 Jan 2034
“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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Ramón Bueno in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persita this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Words at Persita training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Brown 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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad9 Jan 2034
23 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Aug 2033
Igor Rodrigues damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Match29 Aug 2033
Persita are in real trouble now
Position 16, 26 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market29 Aug 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Persita, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 Aug 2033
Persita say no — this time
The offer from Dewa United for Eric Kahata was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match27 Aug 2033
The wait goes on for Persita
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.
Squad29 Aug 2033
Igor Rodrigues 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.
Boardroom29 Aug 2033
Persita cannot sign anybody
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.
Squad29 Aug 2033
Words at Persita training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Al-Khalaf 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.
Squad29 Aug 2033
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jul 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Rodrigues
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persita lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
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.
Market4 Jul 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persita can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jul 2033
Only the photograph left for Eric Kahata
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eric Kahata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persita the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Jul 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persita this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
$355.9K of the owner's money at Persita
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.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Words at Persita training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Brown 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.
Match2 Jul 2033
Persija left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
No signings allowed at Persita
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Jun 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Igor Rodrigues
164 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persita lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Jun 2033
Persita are in real trouble now
Position 17, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom13 Jun 2033
The scrutiny sharpens at Persita
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Persita is running low.
Market13 Jun 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persita can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Jun 2033
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persita have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Igor Rodrigues 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.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Jack Brown 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.
Match11 Jun 2033
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hokky Caraka. 1‑0 against Persijap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom13 Jun 2033
Persita are $20.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 May 2033
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Igor Rodrigues: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match18 May 2033
The cup run ends for Persita
1‑1 against Persib, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market23 May 2033
“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.
Match21 May 2033
No end in sight to Persita's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Persita has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 May 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persita this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 May 2033
Words at Persita training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Brown 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.
Player ratings23 May 2033
Nobody could get near Jack Brown
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 May 2033
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Player ratings23 May 2033
Marked 7.64. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Apr 2033
No end in sight to Persita's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Persita has to find a result from somewhere.
Match18 Apr 2033
Persita sink to position 18
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad18 Apr 2033
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persita have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Apr 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persita can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Igor Rodrigues 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.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Jack Brown 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.
Squad18 Apr 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Febri Hariyadi, and the manager let it.
Match16 Apr 2033
Persita hit back inside 2 minutes
Arema held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Persita answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Boardroom18 Apr 2033
Persita are $20.4M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2032
A fracture rules Hassan Al-Harbi out for 109 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persita will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Ryuji Utomo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persita have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Nov 2032
Eric Kahata has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persita they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Igor Rodrigues 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.
Squad22 Nov 2032
A muscle injury sidelines Idris Abdulrasheed for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persita will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom22 Nov 2032
Persita cannot sign anybody
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
Crisis
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Persita
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market20 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persita this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge Barrios, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2032
A 1‑1 draw with Borneo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad20 Sep 2032
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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
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.
Market20 Sep 2032
The Rayco talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persita know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market20 Sep 2032
Persita have made Hokky Caraka available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.