Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Malavan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
A brace, and Mehdi Abdi takes the afternoon — 9.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mehdi Abdi provided it, and the 9.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Malavan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Malavan and Saipa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ehsan Beiranvand has just signed for Malavan, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danial Eiri 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.
In brief
Player ratingsPablo Suárez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The mood at Agia Napa 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Agia Napa is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agia Napa can pretend not to have heard.
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Beiranvand will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agia Napa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdullah Al Suwaidi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
Boardroom89% of the income goes out in wages at Agia Napa
BoardroomThe Agia Napa production line keeps running
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Agia Napa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agia Napa can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Agia Napa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Agia Napa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa 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 Agia Napa 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 Agia Napa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Antonis Demetriou has agreed terms with Doxa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonis Demetriou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agia Napa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
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.
In brief
MarketDaniel Klíma returns from a loan that gave him nothing
Boardroom$13.7K taken back off the Agia Napa table
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Agia Napa 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. 101 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 12 and 24 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 words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Beiranvand will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agia Napa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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 12 and 24 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Agia Napa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karol Mondek 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.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He is 17, he is averaging 6.55, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Agia Napa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agia Napa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Agia Napa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Agia Napa and Nea Salamis in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Osman Koroma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.60. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help 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 Agia Napa can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Beiranvand will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agia Napa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Agia Napa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Bustos 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.
“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 Agia Napa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julio Cerpa 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ermis will make the call about Ehsan Beiranvand this week. Agia Napa have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I watch every Agia Napa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alanyaspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julio Cerpa signs something — a contract at Agia Napa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 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.
Position 12 and 12 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agia Napa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Martin Hauso 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Agia Napa told Klaidi Tershalla something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agia Napa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Agia Napa can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Martin Hauso 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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Dimitris Dimitriou 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.
“I watch every Agia Napa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alanyaspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julio Cerpa signs something — a contract at Agia Napa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
“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 Agia Napa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Harald Martin Hauso 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 words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 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 Agia Napa 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 Agia Napa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Bustos 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 words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tamás Kollarik is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Martin Hauso 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jonas Myhrstad is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agia Napa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadWords at Agia Napa training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agia Napa can pretend not to have heard.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Kakulia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Agia Napa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Julio Cerpa 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.
“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; Agia Napa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Agia Napa, 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 Agia Napa 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Osman Koroma signs something — a contract at Agia Napa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.