Marked for Halil Dervişoğlu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Feb 2034
Jersson González had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sariyer were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Cem Üstündag 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 Amedspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Feb 2034
Whatever happens, Amedspor do not lose
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.
Transfer targets13 Feb 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kasimpasa have kept their man, and Amedspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Feb 2034
Words at Amedspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Juárez 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 dugout13 Feb 2034
The manager makes an example of Lucas Juárez
“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.
Match11 Feb 2034
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market13 Feb 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Amedspor, another week without a signature from Vitinho.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jul 2033
“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.
Market11 Jul 2033
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jul 2033
Alexander Nübel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jul 2033
Words at Alanyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jul 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Samsunspor have kept their man, and Alanyaspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Jul 2033
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 dugout11 Jul 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eren Yağmur, and the manager let it.
Market11 Jul 2033
Maestro linked with a move away
The name of Maestro keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Alanyaspor say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout11 Jul 2033
Baran Moğultay 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 Alanyaspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Jun 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eren Arda Şan
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alanyaspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Jun 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alanyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout13 Jun 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alanyaspor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Jun 2033
Cengiz Demir has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alanyaspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Jun 2033
Ruan 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.
Transfer targets13 Jun 2033
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout13 Jun 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eray Korkmaz, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Jun 2033
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alanyaspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Jun 2033
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2033
“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.
The dugout24 Jan 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alanyaspor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alanyaspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings24 Jan 2033
Up for the corner, and Maestro delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Maestro scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Words at Alanyaspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruan 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.
Market24 Jan 2033
Business is business: Hakan Yeşil goes
Galatasaray paid $290.0K and Alanyaspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings24 Jan 2033
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2033
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Buluthan Bulut and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
Pressure builds in the Alanyaspor boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
The clubs have shaken hands with Istanbulspor; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market19 Jul 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alanyaspor can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2032
Only the photograph left for Emir Tonbul
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emir Tonbul will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alanyaspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Muhlis Dağaşan enough to be asked twice.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Alexander Nübel 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
The medical room confirms 66 days on the sidelines for Enes Albak, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market19 Jul 2032
The fee is $210.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Kayserispor drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.