It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karvan 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karvan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
“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; Karvan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Thiago Rodrigues 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 Umarali Rahmonaliyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Karvan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Karvan now know that too.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Umarali Rahmonaliyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thiago Rodrigues was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have 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 Karvan know it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karvan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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; Karvan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Thiago Rodrigues and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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Marquinhos 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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kapaz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Karvan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Karvan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Leandro has, at Karvan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gavi Thompson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Karvan asked and Neftchi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rashad Madatov 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Qara Dadashov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruslan Abdullayev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mahir Guseynov 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Karvan will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.