91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Viitorul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Bucharest waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Viitorul is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sergiu Marin has, at Viitorul, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Viitorul they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Matei 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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 Viitorul 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 Viitorul is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Universitatea Craiova, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Robin Aké has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
David Matei 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.
Viitorul asked and Astra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Viitorul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Viitorul people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Viitorul, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Matei 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Viitorul know it.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Robin Aké 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 Viitorul 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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Viitorul could ask drops and the wages Samuele Righetti can ask rise.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Viitorul they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Matei 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.
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at Viitorul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robin Aké 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Viitorul. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Viitorul can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Viitorul is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alexandru Maxim has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Paul Marin will call it something else in private.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Viitorul is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Something was said to Alexandru Maxim and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastiaan Soetekouw was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Alexandru Maxim is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Kiryagin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Universitatea Craiova in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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. Robin Aké will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Matei 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Viitorul and Astra, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Viitorul know it.
1‑6 to Botosani, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Viitorul is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Viitorul and Botosani, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑6, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Viitorul they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
2‑5 to Petrolul, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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 Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Viitorul they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Ludogorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Viitorul people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Dinamo Bucharest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Viitorul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
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.
“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 Viitorul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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. 8 goals between Viitorul and Astra, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrolul waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Viitorul is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrias Edmundsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Viitorul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ianis Nita is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ovidiu Mihaila has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul 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 Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Radu Negru 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Petrolul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Florin Coman 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Astra have kept their man, and Viitorul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Robin Aké again, and this time the name on the line is Petrolul. Viitorul are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Paul Hagi 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Viitorul are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Viitorul could ask drops and the wages Alexandru Maxim can ask rise.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Viitorul asked and FCSB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Adrian Nita has improved at 28, which nobody expected
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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Paul Hagi 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 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 Viitorul, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Viitorul people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Viitorul asked and CFR Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Paul Hagi 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Viitorul, another week without a signature from Andrias Edmundsson.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Moses Cobnan is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Florin Stanciu is in the works
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 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 Viitorul, 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Hagi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Viitorul 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 Viitorul 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. Kelechi Idegwu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vlad Deac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 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 Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emanuele Anastasia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrias Edmundsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Viitorul, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Célestin Nyemb to Petrolul has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Viitorul with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Viitorul they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emanuele Anastasia has agreed terms with Botosani for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Cristian Nedelcearu 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.
Viitorul asked and Astra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Viitorul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Viitorul can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattéo Ahlinvi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Viitorul asked and Astra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Viitorul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Alexandru Iamandache 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 Raffaele Russo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Viitorul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Viitorul know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Viitorul 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Hagi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Paul Hagi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Viitorul could ask drops and the wages Sun Huizer can ask rise.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Petrolul in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Viitorul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattéo Ahlinvi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Viitorul are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Viitorul has been clear about where Célestin Nyemb stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Viitorul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Viitorul interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Viitorul scored in the 117th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robin Aké provided it, and the 9.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have shaken hands with CFR Cluj; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with FCSB is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Viitorul can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattéo Ahlinvi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Day 12 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Viitorul are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutHussayn Touati asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hussayn Touati will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul 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 Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Viitorul, another week without a signature from Kelechi Idegwu.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Viitorul know it.
Squad2 May 2033
Robin Aké 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.
In brief
The dugoutCiprian Iancu loses the manager who believed in him
Position 10 and 3 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Viitorul 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 Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrei Piţian will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Viitorul, another week without a signature from Alexandru Iamandache.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Robin Aké 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Viitorul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alejandro Amaya will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viitorul 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 Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Julian Demarteau 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.
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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Viitorul know it.