The mood at Serikspor 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 name of Sərtan Taşkın has come up in conversations Serikspor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Serikspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Lev Skvortsov 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.
8 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Serikspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Martynov 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.
“I watch every Serikspor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esenler Erokspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 The request is on a desk at Serikspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Kayserispor 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.
The phone has started ringing about Rayan-Elie Guibero again, and this time the name on the line is Esenler Erokspor. Serikspor are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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; Serikspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Martynov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Serikspor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Serikspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chase for Abdulsamed Damlu ended with $200.0K changing hands and Amedspor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Raymond Adeola 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.
At 22 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 Erick Varão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Serikspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Serikspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Serikspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alan Mereles is living that version at Serikspor, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with Alanyaspor 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.
“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 Serikspor know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Serikspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bahtiyar Özden has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Serikspor have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
In brief
SquadWords at Serikspor training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Deniz Unal has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Serikspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Serikspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The mood at Serikspor 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.
“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 Serikspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Serikspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marian Shved 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 Erick Varão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Deniz Unal chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Serikspor close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 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.
“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 Serikspor know it.
Marian Shved 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 target is Vitaliy Babenko, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Serikspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yalçın Kayan 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.
Serikspor asked and Umraniyespor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Serikspor 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.
“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; Serikspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marian Shved 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 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 it has been tried.
0‑1 to Corum FK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Serikspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Nalepa 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Cengiz Demir
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
“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 Serikspor know it.
Marian Shved 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 Erick Varão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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. 12 actions, 6.68, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Serikspor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Serikspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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 Erick Varão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ahmet Dervisoglu could afford to be generous.
Lev Skvortsov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Serikspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Nalepa 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Serikspor, another week without a signature from Rayan-Elie Guibero.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Serikspor 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.