Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Abimanyu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Olufemi Kayode 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.
Marked 4.96. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Syahrian Abimanyu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Francisco Rivera 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Pedro Matos will call it something else in private.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.67 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Jefferson 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Jefferson 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.
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.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Jefferson 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Jefferson 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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Miguel Pereira 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. 65 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dedi Riyadi did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya 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. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Olufemi Kayode 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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Amit Cohen
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Francisco Rivera 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Boburbek Yorbekov has just signed for Persebaya, and for once the answer mattered.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Jefferson 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Amit Cohen is living that version at Persebaya, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Persebaya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Francisco Rivera 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.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Rivera and Persebaya agree another 2 years.
Miguel Pereira 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 unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Jefferson 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.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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 ratings25 Aug 2031
Miguel Pereira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against PSBS Biak? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persebaya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dewa United go through and Persebaya go home, 1‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Jefferson 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.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bali United will make the call about Dedi Riyadi this week. Persebaya have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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 phone has started ringing about Paulo Gali again, and this time the name on the line is Bhayangkara Presisi. Persebaya are listening politely and promising nothing.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persebaya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Olufemi Kayode 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.
The phone has started ringing about Dedi Riyadi again, and this time the name on the line is Bali United. Persebaya are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sadida Nugraha Putra and Persebaya agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Miguel Pereira 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persebaya now.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Jefferson 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Persebaya, 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 Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Léo Lelis 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.
Nobody at Persebaya 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dedi Riyadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persebaya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Miguel Pereira 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Persebaya can tell you which week it ends in.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Persebaya, 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 Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Miguel Pereira 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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persebaya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miguel Pereira 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persebaya now.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Semen Padang for Dedi Riyadi 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.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Rivera and Persebaya agree another 2 years.
Miguel Pereira 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 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya 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.
The phone has started ringing about Dedi Riyadi again, and this time the name on the line is Persija. Persebaya are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persebaya now.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Pereira 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persebaya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jefferson 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Persebaya have had the benefit of it.
Miguel Pereira 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.” Olufemi Kayode and Persebaya agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Persebaya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miloš Raičković 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 3, 62 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persebaya now.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Jefferson 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ernando Ari signs something — a contract at Persebaya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Persebaya will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persebaya 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 Persebaya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadMiloš Raičković falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persebaya can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persebaya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.