Marked for Serkan Göksu
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
Noah Saviolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Noah Saviolo. 1‑0 against Kasimpasa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Alper Yazici could afford to be generous.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Burak Bozan 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serkan Göksu, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Luis Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Gaziantep asked and Juventude said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Aug 2027
Gaziantep may not be able to give Pedrinho what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedrinho wants continental football; whether Gaziantep can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deian Sorescu 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Serkan Göksu
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Serkan Göksu: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Kayserispor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Noah Saviolo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Arda Kızıldağ has improved at 28, 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Gaziantep asked and Alanyaspor 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Myenty Abena, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Burak Bozan commits to Gaziantep for another 3 years.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Gaziantep academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
Myenty Abena 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Gaziantep
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Deian Sorescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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 dugout17 May 2027
Sontje Hansen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gaziantep 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.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Deian Sorescu signs something — a contract at Gaziantep or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout17 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mehmet Kalkan has written the date down.
The dugout17 May 2027
Burak Bozan knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gaziantep, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad17 May 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Match17 May 2027
A season winding down at Gaziantep
Position 7, 61 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
22 goals and a season average of 7.43. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nobody wants to play Gaziantep right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The crowd has taken to Emre Demir
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Three points for Gaziantep, 2‑0 the final word against Kayserispor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match20 Mar 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Gaziantep. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Sontje Hansen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
21 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.
Match4 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Umraniyespor
Position 19 and 5 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Umraniyespor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
Kayserispor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Umraniyespor did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Álex Blanco in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Umraniyespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Antalyaspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bruno Veiga 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
16 matches without a win for Umraniyespor
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Umraniyespor are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Álex Blanco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Tim Prica scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Konyaspor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bruno Veiga 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Bruno Veiga gets it from the manager
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Saulo dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Umraniyespor's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Umraniyespor has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Sep 2026
5 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Sivasspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serkan Göksu 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Diego Rosa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 Mehmet Akgun left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Umraniyespor close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 0 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Hatayspor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Umraniyespor did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Umraniyespor
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Umraniyespor are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Umraniyespor
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yiğit Efe Demir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Lautaro Urtasún 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Serkan Göksu
“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.
In brief
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Squad
13 new faces, and Umraniyespor are still learning each other
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Squad
Yiğit Efe Demir wants out of the dugout
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑3 against Alanyaspor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Álex Blanco 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Umraniyespor
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Übeyd Adıyaman again, and this time the name on the line is Hatayspor. Umraniyespor are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Veiga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 Aug 2026
No place for Serkan Göksu in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Serkan Göksu has his answer from Umraniyespor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑5 to Fenerbahce, 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Antalyaspor for Engjëll Hoti 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Umraniyespor have done the hard part with Fenerbahce, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at Umraniyespor is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Álex Blanco in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Umraniyespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Veiga 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Umraniyespor dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
The formation has left Nurettin Çakır behind
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The dugout
Serkan Göksu dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Álex Blanco and Umraniyespor agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Álex Blanco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club Brugge have kept their man, and Umraniyespor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Serkan Göksu 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Umraniyespor, another week without a signature from Cihan Topaloğlu.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Tunahan Taşçı is in the works
Umraniyespor have made the call to Konyaspor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AZ 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Ajax: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Serkan Göksu's contract
24 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.