Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Bylis for Jasper Wijnaldum 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 name of Jannik Dolberg has come up in conversations Flamurtari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2043
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Partizani Tirana for Mate Barisic 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of Mate Barisic has come up in conversations Flamurtari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Leon Misja 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Partizani Tirana will make the call about Mate Barisic this week. Flamurtari have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad22 Jun 2043
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg 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.
Leon Misja 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Flamurtari hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
In brief
SquadJannik Dolberg falls out with a teammate over standards
The offer from Tirana for Mate Barisic 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.
143 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Add another name to the list: Tirana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thomas Bailey. The answer from Flamurtari has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Charles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexandre Gricourt 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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pereowei Magbisa 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.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
MarketThomas Bailey wants to know where this is going
SquadWords at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Partizani Tirana will make the call about Mate Barisic this week. Flamurtari have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
SquadWords at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari 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.
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. Flamurtari 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.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Qendrim Ismaili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Bailey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexandre Gricourt 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.
Squad22 Dec 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gjergji Kote is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Charles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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 Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Mate Barisic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Flamurtari.
Squad17 Nov 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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 Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Partizani Tirana the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Flamurtari will enjoy reviewing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Valentino Janku, marked 7.38, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari 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. Thomas Bailey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexandre Gricourt 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Flamurtari hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad13 Oct 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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 Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gjergji Kote 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.
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.
Squad29 Sep 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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. 77 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 Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gjergji Kote 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.
Squad22 Sep 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jannik Dolberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Sep 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Bolzan and Flamurtari agree another 2 years.
It needed Alessandro Bolzan to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Vllaznia Shkodër, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 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 Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Flamurtari moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Adnard Bejdollari, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Pereowei Magbisa 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2042
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Flamurtari
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
The name of Joseph Charles has come up in conversations Flamurtari were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Dinamo City for Thomas Bailey 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 words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mate Barisic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Vllaznia Shkodër for Thomas Bailey 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Qendrim Ismaili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Tirana for Jannik Dolberg 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.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Mate Barisic again, and this time the name on the line is Tirana. Flamurtari are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Flamurtari hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Tirana for Thomas Bailey 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Flamurtari told Mate Barisic something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Bylis go through and Flamurtari go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Flamurtari have had the benefit of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandre Gricourt and Flamurtari agree another 1 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jannik Dolberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Charles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad31 Mar 2042
Alerio Kola 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mate Barisic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Feb 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg 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 offer from Bylis for Thomas Bailey 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.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Flamurtari hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Bailey and Flamurtari agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Feb 2042
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexandre Gricourt 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 offer from Bylis for Joseph Charles 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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.
Alexandre Gricourt 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.
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. Flamurtari will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 Dec 2041
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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.
Alexandre Gricourt 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flamurtari, another week without a signature from Alexandre Gricourt.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari 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.
A brace, and Thomas Bailey takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomas Bailey provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Pereowei Magbisa 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.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Thomas Bailey’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Flamurtari.
Squad11 Nov 2041
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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 no crueller way to lose a football match. Flamurtari scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jannik Dolberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 Nov 2041
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannik Dolberg 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
Pereowei Magbisa 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Charles will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gjergji Kote 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Flamurtari found something the first half had given no notice of, and Teuta Durrës could not hold what they had.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Flamurtari scored in the 97th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandre Gricourt and Flamurtari agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Gjergji Kote 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Bailey. 4‑2 against Teuta Durrës, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
SquadWords at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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. Mate Barisic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Sep 2041
Alerio Kola 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.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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 Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pereowei Magbisa 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 Sep 2041
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Gricourt 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Bailey. 1‑0 against Dinamo City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Flamurtari heard it as anything else.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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. Jannik Dolberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari 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.