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.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sivasspor can tell you which week it ends in.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
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 0‑2 Oguzhan Kokcu left the room before anybody could ask which.
Charis Charisis 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Something was said to Adolfo Gaich and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Adolfo Gaich is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad24 Sep 2029
8 new faces, and Sivasspor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
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 0‑2 Oguzhan Kokcu left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Adolfo Gaich will want back
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eldor Shomurodov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sivasspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Ankaragucu? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Kasimpasa next, and one man in the Sivasspor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sander van de Streek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sivasspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eldor Shomurodov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kubilay Kanatsızkuş 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 ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Oguzhan Kokcu could afford to be generous.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eldor Shomurodov and Sivasspor agree another 2 years.
7 goals in one match, Adolfo Gaich on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sivasspor and Alanyaspor.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sivasspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sivasspor, another week without a signature from Daniel Avramovski.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sivasspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sivasspor and Umraniyespor have settled on $960.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Sivasspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Victor Gidado 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 doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eldor Shomurodov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Sivasspor have made the call to Istanbulspor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sivasspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sivasspor offered $52.0K; Kayserispor 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sivasspor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sivasspor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 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 Sivasspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The shirt still fits. Birhan Vatansever is back at Sivasspor, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Fenerbahce wanted more than $52.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Sivasspor asked and Gaziantep said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Adana Demirspor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Agnaldo has pre-agreed a move to Sivasspor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sivasspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Sivasspor and Fatih Karagumruk have settled on $1.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Sivasspor have gone to Ankaragucu 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joaquín Escobar has just signed for Sivasspor, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sivasspor asked and Istanbulspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Malachi Sharpe again, and this time the name on the line is Adana Demirspor. Sivasspor are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cihat Çelik 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 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 Sivasspor 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 Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Ethemi 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sivasspor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 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.” Sivasspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Charis Charisis 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Erdem Güleç has, at Sivasspor, 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gökhan Akkan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sivasspor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Birhan Vatansever may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sivasspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sivasspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Charis Charisis 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Sivasspor know it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Déboli signs something — a contract at Sivasspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Dmytro Bogdanov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Victor Gidado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmet Doğan Yıldırım is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sivasspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“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 Sivasspor, 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 Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sivasspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Charis Charisis 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sivasspor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sivasspor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Charis Charisis 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sivasspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Oguzhan Kokcu was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Sivasspor dressing room was either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sivasspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.60 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. Irakli Kvekveskiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sivasspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Charis Charisis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sivasspor 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 Sivasspor 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sivasspor has been clear about where Murat Paluli stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sivasspor, another week without a signature from Daniel Avramovski.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Valon Ethemi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Irakli Kvekveskiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sivasspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Göktuğ Bakırbaş has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Charis Charisis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Marked 7.05 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sivasspor, another week without a signature from Murat Paluli.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sivasspor told Eldor Shomurodov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Charis Charisis 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sivasspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Ethemi 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sivasspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 Galatasaray.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cenk Doğan has his answer from Sivasspor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Charis Charisis 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Valon Ethemi 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Franco Déboli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sivasspor.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Gökhan Akkan
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Oguzhan Kokcu, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Irakli Kvekveskiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sivasspor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Sivasspor close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stoke City have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Sivasspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Corinthians keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Charis Charisis 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.
15 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fatih Karagumruk have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Umraniyespor will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sivasspor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Alanyaspor for Murat Paluli 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sivasspor have done the hard part with Alanyaspor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Charis Charisis 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Valon Ethemi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Umraniyespor have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sivasspor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Gil Vicente, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ahmet Kara has, at Sivasspor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mahmut Tekdemir commits to Sivasspor for another 2 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Ethemi 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Oguzhan Kokcu could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutVictor Gidado knocks on the manager's door
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eldor Shomurodov provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Minute 86, against Adana Demirspor, 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.
“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; Sivasspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Valon Ethemi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oguzhan Kokcu after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sivasspor has been clear about where Göktuğ Bakırbaş stands, which is more than many ever get.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Valon Ethemi 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.
Something was said to Aly Mallé and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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 easiest signature of my career.” Sander van de Streek and Sivasspor agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Valon Ethemi 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.
“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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Franco Déboli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Oguzhan Kokcu after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
A brace, and Franco Déboli takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franco Déboli provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sander van de Streek and Sivasspor agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ankaragucu were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivo Visona has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Charis Charisis 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sivasspor and Umraniyespor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Valon Ethemi 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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 offer from Kayserispor for Özkan Yiğiter 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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sivasspor has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Sivasspor until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Adana Demirspor paid $2.3M and Sivasspor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Sivasspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Khazar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Charis Charisis 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.
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Valon Ethemi 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 a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eldor Shomurodov provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tigre is saying, and nobody at Sivasspor is enjoying the guessing.
At 30 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.
Fatih Karagumruk wanted more than $36.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Fenerbahce left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Valon Ethemi 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.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Basaksehir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trabzonspor have kept their man, and Basaksehir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Besiktas is saying, and nobody at Basaksehir is enjoying the guessing.
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.
$78.0K was the most the club would pay and Gaziantep 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abbosbek Fayzullayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Charis Charisis 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 27 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Eldor Shomurodov arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Basaksehir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Basaksehir have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Fenerbahce for Festy Ebosele 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.
Basaksehir offered $1.6M; Besiktas 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Basaksehir heard it as anything else.
Basaksehir had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Ahly, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Christopher Opéri 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valentino Huertas is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eldor Shomurodov and Basaksehir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sivasspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with Basaksehir, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Malachi Sharpe has just signed for Sivasspor, and for once the answer mattered.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Portsmouth is saying, and nobody at Sivasspor is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sivasspor 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 Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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. Onur Bulut will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Basaksehir 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 Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Olivier Kemen 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.
Nobody at Basaksehir 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.
Something was said to Justin Bakker and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Basaksehir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Christopher Opéri 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousseynou Ba 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bertuğ Yıldırım signs something — a contract at Basaksehir or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Basaksehir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Maksym Zaderaka 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
Jerome Opoku is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Marked 6.59 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eldor Shomurodov 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Davie Selke is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Murat Calhanoglu after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Basaksehir can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Tugra Turhan’s exile
1‑1 against Estoril Praia, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Bertuğ Yıldırım was at the centre of the description.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Basaksehir 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 Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Basaksehir and Galatasaray, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Abbosbek Fayzullayev decided nobody was going anywhere. Kayserispor had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basaksehir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christopher Opéri 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 1‑0 win over Kayserispor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Emin Bayram 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Basaksehir pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Murat Calhanoglu, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
The chase for Tarık Çetin ended with $1.2M changing hands and Fenerbahce out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Basaksehir asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Emin Bayram 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.
Hatayspor will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Basaksehir were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Basaksehir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Basaksehir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jakub Kałuziński 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.
Position 6, 35 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Rey Manaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Marked 6.43 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Basaksehir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousseynou Ba 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Eldor Shomurodov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
1‑1 against Cracovia, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bertuğ Yıldırım provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Basaksehir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Christopher Opéri 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 3‑1 win over Fatih Karagumruk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.