11 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The clubs have shaken hands with Maccabi Petach Tikva; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom1 Sep 2036
Hapoel Raanana close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Leonardo Forti 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.
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
10 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.
0‑8 against Hapoel Beer Sheva, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hapoel Beer Sheva, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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 Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutOfir Hemed asks for a word with the manager
The mood at Hapoel Raanana has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Hapoel Raanana is enjoying the guessing.
$4.0K was the most the club would pay and Maccabi Netanya 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.
Hapoel Raanana asked and Maccabi Petach Tikva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Aug 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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.
Hapoel Raanana have made the call to Maccabi Haifa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Raanana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 14 and 9 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.
“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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Maccabi Netanya 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.
Wang Gengrui 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.
Squad4 Aug 2036
Shon Dabbur 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.
Hapoel Raanana have made the call to Maccabi Tel Aviv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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 Hapoel Raanana 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 Hapoel Raanana can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Wang Gengrui 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 loan enquiry to Hapoel Kiryat Shmona: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Hapoel Raanana, 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 Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hapoel Raanana have gone to Maccabi Netanya with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Haifa have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2036
Ofir Hemed 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Monday Ubong signs something — a contract at Hapoel Raanana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutManor David knocks on the manager’s door
The mood at Hapoel Raanana has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Raanana have done the hard part with Maccabi Haifa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Yoyo Aviv 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.
Hapoel Raanana offered $4.0K; Maccabi Netanya said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Hapoel Raanana have gone to Maccabi Netanya with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wang Gengrui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Raanana can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jun 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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.
Itay Refaelov 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.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Beer Sheva: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Hapoel Raanana have made the call to Maccabi Petach Tikva. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
$4.0K on the table at Maccabi Netanya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Beer Sheva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shanazar Muhammetnazarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ofir Hemed trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Hapoel Raanana has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Raanana can pretend not to have heard.
Hapoel Raanana offered $4.0K; Maccabi Netanya said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hapoel Raanana have done the hard part with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$4.0K on the table at Maccabi Netanya. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wang Gengrui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Raanana 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Raanana can tell you which week it ends in.
Shanazar Muhammetnazarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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.
Yoyo Aviv 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Position 14 and 8 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 Hapoel Raanana 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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Hapoel Raanana asked and Maccabi Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutAviv Lin is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Raanana 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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Shanazar Muhammetnazarov 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. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aviv Lin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Hapoel Kfar Saba were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 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.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Shon Dabbur, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Maccabi Haifa 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.
Leonardo Forti 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Raanana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Raanana is running low.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Guy David did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Yoyo Aviv and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Wang Gengrui 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Guy David did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aviv Lin 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Minute 88, against Hapoel Acre, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
31 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 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 Hapoel Raanana can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.57 for the rest of it.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Raanana and Hapoel Beer Sheva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Guy David did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
9 goals in one match, Ofir Hemed on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hapoel Raanana and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wang Gengrui 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑3 to Maccabi Netanya, 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Raanana is running low.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
28 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Raanana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑6 against Maccabi Tel Aviv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Nov 2035
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hapoel Raanana and Maccabi Tel Aviv in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana 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 Wang Gengrui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eitan Glazer and Hapoel Raanana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Maccabi Tel Aviv next, and one man in the Hapoel Raanana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Monday Ubong signs something — a contract at Hapoel Raanana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Wang Gengrui 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 Aviv Lin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wang Gengrui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nir Cohen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Almog Glazer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Almog Dabbur 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. Tal Benayoun 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hapoel Raanana 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 Aviv Lin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shon Dabbur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Monday Ubong signs something — a contract at Hapoel Raanana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑5 to Maccabi Haifa, 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. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Wang Gengrui 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
365 appearances across 11 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Minute 90, against Maccabi Petach Tikva, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It needed Uri Hemed to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maccabi Petach Tikva, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
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.
Wang Gengrui 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hapoel Raanana, another week without a signature from Oz Bilu.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bnei Yehuda in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hapoel Raanana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Hapoel Raanana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv 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.
Wang Gengrui 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.
12 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aviv Lin 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Manor David and Hapoel Raanana agree another 3 years.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Position 14 and 9 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.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Everything agreed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yoyo Aviv 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Hapoel Raanana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hapoel Raanana can pretend not to have heard.
Wang Gengrui 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 Aviv Lin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hapoel Tel Aviv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Hapoel Beer Sheva have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guy Weissman and Hapoel Raanana agree another 3 years.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hapoel Raanana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Hapoel Raanana is running low.
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.
The deal with Maccabi Haifa 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 Hapoel Raanana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Paz Blander is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Kaick 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.
Squad14 May 2035
Wang Gengrui 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amit Peretz 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ofir Shechter is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uri Hemed 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. Ofir Revivo 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.
11 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Raanana can tell you which week it ends in.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑4 against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aviv Lin 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Paz Blander
11 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Raanana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Hapoel Raanana have gone to Hapoel Acre with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kaick and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aviv Lin 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hapoel Raanana pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Ofir Melikson
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hapoel Raanana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hapoel Raanana can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hapoel Raanana can tell you which week it ends in.
Hapoel Acre have accepted the money. What Hapoel Raanana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with Hapoel Beer Sheva 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paz Blander and Hapoel Raanana agree another 2 years.