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.
141 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Sociedad B lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Sociedad B will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Sociedad B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Alejandro Cabrera 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.
132 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Petach Tikva lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Javon East 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 Adar Ratner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Liran Hazan signs something — a contract at Maccabi Petach Tikva or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutOfir Marciano has become a man the manager trusts
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Petach Tikva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Kfar Saba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Petach Tikva is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adar Ratner 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.
Nobody at Maccabi Petach Tikva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Petach Tikva know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
153 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Petach Tikva lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eli Abada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Petach Tikva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Javon East 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.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adar Ratner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eli Abada trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Petach Tikva know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Maccabi Petach Tikva 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Petach Tikva have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ben Lederman 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Javon East 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 easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Ben Shushan and Maccabi Petach Tikva agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Idan Dahan is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Petach Tikva know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.