“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hapoel Kiryat Shmona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ido Shahar 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.
In brief
SquadGil Cohen has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 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 Kiryat Shmona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 against Hapoel Beer Sheva, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
1 for Nemanja Ljubisavljević, marked 7.55, 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.
“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 Hapoel Kiryat Shmona know it.
Chico 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.
1 for Nemanja Ljubisavljević, marked 7.52, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Loay Halaf has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Mohamed Awad 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.
Ariel Sheratzky 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.
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.
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 7.49 for the rest of it.
The chase for Nitai Greis ended with $550.0K changing hands and Hapoel Raanana out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Amit Glazer 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 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nitai Greis was one of the reasons people came, and $550.0K does not replace that by itself.
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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
SquadWords at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
“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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Haruya Ide has just signed for Hapoel Raanana, and for once the answer mattered.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 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 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Gil Shechter has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yair Mordechai is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Paz Blander 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.
Erfan Najjari 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 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
SquadJubayer Bushnak falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
“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.
In brief
SquadSilva Kani falls out with a teammate over standards
42 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.
Silva Kani 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Amit Abada clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
56 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.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Silva Kani 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.
In brief
SquadDiego Arismendi falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadA fresh start for Silva Kani under the new man
78 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silva Kani 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.
Aviv Lin 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 words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Silva Kani 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saidu Fofanah 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. 127 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 terraces1 Mar 2027
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.
“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.
Saidu Fofanah 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silva Kani 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.
Silva Kani 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 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yoni Ferber. 2‑0 against Hapoel Haifa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.61. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hapoel Raanana.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Miko Maman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Abo Fani 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Matan Solomon has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Hapoel Raanana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silva Kani 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.
3 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.
Aviv Lin 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 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.
Silva Kani 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nitai Greis, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Saidu Fofanah
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saidu Fofanah has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hapoel Raanana have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
Boardroom$100.9K taken back off the Hapoel Raanana table
Saidu Fofanah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
Aviv Lin 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Miko Maman had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Bnei Sakhnin were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Miko Maman takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miko Maman provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hapoel Raanana has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Silva Kani 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.
Erfan Najjari 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.