34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Beitar Jerusalem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Maccabi Haifa spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
5 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Martín Pino 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eli Refaelov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Beitar Jerusalem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Maccabi Petach Tikva will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Beitar Jerusalem were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.38 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Beitar Jerusalem close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 2 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hapoel Beer Sheva is saying, and nobody at Beitar Jerusalem 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 Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yarden Shua 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. Zira have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Beitar Jerusalem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4‑0, and Martín Pino took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Beitar Jerusalem tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Martín Pino takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martín Pino provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Maccabi Petach Tikva paid $1.3M and Beitar Jerusalem took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Martín Pino 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bnei Sakhnin have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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. Dor Micha provided it, and the 8.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Beitar Jerusalem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Maccabi Netanya 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.
Miguel Silva 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 18 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 Yarden Shua 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. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The first defeat in 20 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Hapoel Beer Sheva; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Beitar Jerusalem can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Beitar Jerusalem had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abo Fani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Beitar Jerusalem asked and Maccabi Petach Tikva 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Beitar Jerusalem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gil Cohen 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Edward Chilufya’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Beitar Jerusalem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gil Cohen 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 8.14 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Beitar Jerusalem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Martín Pino 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.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Abo Fani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Maccabi Netanya, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Hapoel Tel Aviv are out and Beitar Jerusalem go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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 Beitar Jerusalem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Martín Pino 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 Mohamed Abo Fani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Beitar Jerusalem and Bnei Sakhnin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gil Cohen 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Beitar Jerusalem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7 matches without defeat, and then Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Beitar Jerusalem told Martín Pino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I did not go to Hapoel Tel Aviv to sit and watch. I want to come back to Beitar Jerusalem and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
7 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.
Miguel Silva 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Beitar Jerusalem. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abo Fani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Beitar Jerusalem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Miguel Silva 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 Gil Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Beitar Jerusalem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
92 minutes played. Edward Chilufya found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Maccabi Haifa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edward Chilufya provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 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 Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Beitar Jerusalem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 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.
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Beitar Jerusalem will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Beitar Jerusalem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Martín Pino 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 Gil Cohen 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 1‑0, Avi Melikson could afford to be generous.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yarden Cohen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Beitar Jerusalem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutTomer Yosefi has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Beitar Jerusalem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Martín Pino 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. Amit Kornfine is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
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.
At 22 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Shon Revivo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matan Dabbur has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
Player ratingsTomer Yosefi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gil Cohen 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I watch every Beitar Jerusalem game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Tel Aviv runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Miguel Silva 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 Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Raanana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Abo Fani 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Omer Abuhav 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.
Miguel Silva 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 21 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.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Maccabi Netanya scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Beitar Jerusalem will not try tonight.
It needed Yarden Shua to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maccabi Netanya, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Avi Melikson chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ben Peretz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manor Shechter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Gil Cohen 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Avi Melikson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutYarden Cohen dropped after a run of poor form
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Abo Fani 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adi Yona 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Martín Pino 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.
Beitar Jerusalem asked and Olimpia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Abo Fani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Avi Melikson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutOfek Biton dropped after a run of poor form
He is going to Hapoel Beer Sheva, the club has $2.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Hapoel Beer Sheva pay $2.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The offer went to Godoy Cruz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Miguel Silva 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Carrarese have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gil Cohen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Beitar Jerusalem will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Hapoel Beer Sheva wanted more than $5.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Beitar Jerusalem have paid $2.0M for Mohamed Abo Fani, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv for Gil Cohen 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olimpia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beitar Jerusalem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mohamed Abo Fani was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lech have kept their man, and Beitar Jerusalem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Abo Fani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Beitar Jerusalem has been clear about where Gil Cohen stands, which is more than many ever get.
$5.4M on the table at Hapoel Beer Sheva. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Beitar Jerusalem have done the hard part with Crvena Zvezda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer from Maccabi Netanya for Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yarden Shua and Beitar Jerusalem agree another 4 years.
Miguel Silva 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.
Add another name to the list: Maccabi Tel Aviv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gil Cohen. The answer from Beitar Jerusalem has not changed — yet.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ben Atzili has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
$1.9M on the table at Crvena Zvezda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Omer Atzili and Beitar Jerusalem agree another 2 years.
Beitar Jerusalem asked and Leyton Orient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dor Micha 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.
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Beitar Jerusalem, and both men came out saying it was fine.