The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dijlan Aydın is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Istanbulspor, and 5 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matheus Frizzo wants continental football; whether Istanbulspor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
2‑3 to Hatayspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Frizzo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Istanbulspor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Irfan Erkin after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
“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 Istanbulspor know it.
Tunahan Taşçı 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 Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Istanbulspor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sivasspor scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It needed Mustafa Sol to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sivasspor, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Fatih Tultak's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Emrecan Uzunhan scored, was marked 7.77, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dijlan Aydın was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Irfan Erkin after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutİsa Doğan asks for a word with the manager
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Frizzo 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.
Vefa Temel 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.
Marked 7.76. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.” Irfan Erkin, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmet Engin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mamadou Mendy's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Istanbulspor would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Tunahan Taşçı was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Istanbulspor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Irfan Erkin was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Istanbulspor dressing room was either.
Nobody at Istanbulspor is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until İsa Doğan signs something — a contract at Istanbulspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Istanbulspor can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Frizzo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Michael Ologo 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alp Tutar has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Mario Krstovski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Frizzo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Istanbulspor can pretend not to have heard.
7.82, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Istanbulspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Istanbulspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Frizzo 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 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Irfan Erkin on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.