Marked for Yang Long
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Squad15 Nov 2032
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 Shenzhen Peng City have had the benefit of it.
Market15 Nov 2032
Tao Qianglong has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shenzhen Peng City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market15 Nov 2032
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Calyl in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shenzhen Peng City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words at Shenzhen Peng City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zhang Yujie 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 dugout15 Nov 2032
Eden Kartsev gets picked when it counts
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 Eden Kartsev is on it.
Market15 Nov 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Boubacar Konté signs something — a contract at Shenzhen Peng City or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Shenzhen Peng City would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
-
The dugout
Yang Long asks for a word with the manager
-
Market
Betão leaves for nothing
-
The dugout
Hu Hetao keeps his manager's vote
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2032
“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 Shandong Taishan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Albion Ademi 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.
Market16 Aug 2032
Yang Long has left for Shenzhen Peng City in a $41.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match14 Aug 2032
Qingdao West Coast left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Baihlam 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 dugout16 Aug 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Xie Chengdong after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
When it matters, Xie Wenneng plays
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.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pedro Delgado, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shandong Taishan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market9 Aug 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shandong Taishan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shandong Taishan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match7 Aug 2032
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Abdul Aziz Yakubu 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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words at Shandong Taishan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albion Ademi 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 ratings9 Aug 2032
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shenzhen Peng City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market9 Aug 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match7 Aug 2032
9 matches without defeat, and then Shandong Taishan. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
The paperwork begins on Yang Long
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shenzhen Peng City have done the hard part with Shandong Taishan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.0K — a club that wants Huang Ming enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
$19.0K on the table at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
$56.0K was the most the club would pay and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Jovan Šljivić
13 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boubacar Konté was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 May 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shandong Taishan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Bao Jiaqi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings17 May 2032
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match15 May 2032
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.
Squad17 May 2032
Abdul Aziz Yakubu 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Madruga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 May 2032
“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 Shandong Taishan know it.
The terraces17 May 2032
The crowd has taken to Bao Jiaqi
At 20 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Haruna Hassan gets picked when it counts
-
The dugout
Yang Long gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdul Aziz Yakubu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shandong Taishan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
A brace, and Albion Ademi takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Albion Ademi provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Zeca, 35, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Shandong Taishan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guilherme Madruga 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.
Match17 Apr 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Albion Ademi. 3‑1 against Qingdao Hainiu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Xie Chengdong, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
Haruna Hassan gets picked when it counts
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 Haruna Hassan is on it.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Yang Long
“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.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
Somebody else is better right now than Wu Chengjian
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jan 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shandong Taishan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jan 2032
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Shandong Taishan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market19 Jan 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
No thanks: Yair González rejects the move
Shandong Taishan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Albion Ademi 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.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
Shandong Taishan asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
A loan enquiry to Argentinos Juniors: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Albion Ademi gets picked when it counts
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 Albion Ademi is on it.
Market19 Jan 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guilherme Madruga signs something — a contract at Shandong Taishan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdul Aziz Yakubu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shandong Taishan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Albion Ademi 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
This is not rotation. Chen Yixiang has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shandong Taishan is pretending otherwise.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
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.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Wang Xiaofeng
“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.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
Xie Long knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Xie Long trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
-
Market
The Zeca talk will not go away
-
Squad
Yang Long is fit again
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Dec 2031
Jiang Shenglong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Madruga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
98% of the income goes out in wages at Shandong Taishan
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 dugout22 Dec 2031
Albion Ademi gets picked when it counts
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 Albion Ademi is on it.
Market22 Dec 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guilherme Madruga signs something — a contract at Shandong Taishan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
Yang Long knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shandong Taishan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Dec 2031
Position 2, 67 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.
Market15 Dec 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shandong Taishan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Albion Ademi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Madruga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
Haruna Hassan gets picked when it counts
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 Haruna Hassan is on it.
Market15 Dec 2031
The Xie Wenneng talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shandong Taishan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Market10 Nov 2031
“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 Shandong Taishan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Albion Ademi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shandong Taishan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Madruga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Nov 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Shandong Taishan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad10 Nov 2031
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Xie Wenneng gets picked when it counts
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 Xie Wenneng is on it.
Loan watch10 Nov 2031
The goals keep arriving from Chen Yixiang’s exile
7 goals in 24 games at Qingdao West Coast — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Shandong Taishan updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.