“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Obolon had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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.
“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 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.” Filip Frankowski, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
The phone has started ringing about Martin Minchev again, and this time the name on the line is Obolon. Cracovia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mateusz Klich 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Pau Sans’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cracovia.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Pau Sans was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cracovia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Cracovia close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 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.
Sayfallah Ltaief 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.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cracovia had all but put away. GKS Katowice will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Cracovia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torreense, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nicolas Höfler 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. Elche have kept their man, and Cracovia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A season average of 7.22 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ajdin Hasić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $470.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lechia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Widzew Łódź paid $1.2M and Cracovia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Cracovia asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Pau Sans was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
Lechia have accepted the money. What Cracovia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cracovia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Cracovia will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
“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 Cracovia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Stripfing for Dijon Kameri 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Cracovia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Otar Kakabadze 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.
A 2‑1 win over Gornik Zabrze, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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, 7.26, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A brace, and Ajdin Hasić takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ajdin Hasić provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Sayfallah Ltaief 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 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Legia tried to reorganise, Cracovia did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Cracovia will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Position 3, 33 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.
Szymon Królak 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.
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Wiktor Bogacz
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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Jean Batoum takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean Batoum provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Marked 7.82 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
He is 23 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.
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.
Nicolas Höfler 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Pau Sans 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.
A 2‑0 win over Arka Gdynia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Pau Sans was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Filip Frankowski, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Brahim Traoré is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nicolas Höfler 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.
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. 10 actions, 6.93, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I watch every Cracovia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gornik Zabrze runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout30 Nov 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 Filip Frankowski left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mateusz Klich
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sayfallah Ltaief. 1‑0 against Motor Lublin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Filip Frankowski on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cracovia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cracovia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Henrich Ravas has his answer from Cracovia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cracovia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Motor Lublin in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dijon Kameri signs something — a contract at Cracovia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Wiktor Żołądź is on it.
4 goals in 9 games at Inhulets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Cracovia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Sayfallah Ltaief 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 21 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.
A 2‑0 win over Radomiak Radom, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Filip Frankowski kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dijon Kameri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Pau Sans has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cracovia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Something was said to Mateusz Praszelik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cracovia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Perković signs something — a contract at Cracovia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
Mateusz Klich 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. Brahim Traoré is 22, 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 Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nicolas Höfler is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dominik Piła trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ajdin Hasić signs something — a contract at Cracovia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Sayfallah Ltaief 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 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.
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 dugout5 Oct 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.” Filip Frankowski chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cracovia 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 Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cracovia.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Mauro Perković was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cracovia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ajdin Hasić 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 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ander Izagirre is living that version at Cracovia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Cracovia asked and Racing Ferrol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Martin Minchev in the middle of it, and GKS Katowice unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Sayfallah Ltaief at his very best
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cracovia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
7.66, 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateusz Praszelik and Cracovia agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cracovia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cracovia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Cracovia 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.
Sayfallah Ltaief 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.
Cracovia ran out of time with Piast. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dominik Baumgartner is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
7 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.
“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 Cracovia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stripfing have kept their man, and Cracovia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Cracovia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Eibar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mateusz Klich 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 offer went to Piast 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.
Cracovia offered $51.0K; Widzew Łódź 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dominik Baumgartner, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ajdin Hasić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Pau Sans, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cracovia can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $389.4K — a club that wants Kacper Łukasiak enough to be asked twice.
The fee is $570.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Arka Gdynia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Andorra is saying, and nobody at Cracovia is enjoying the guessing.
Mateusz Klich 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.
Cracovia offered $350.0K; GKS Katowice 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Dijon Kameri takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dijon Kameri provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He is going to Hammarby, the club has $5.3M 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.1K — a club that wants Dion Gallapeni enough to be asked twice.
$320.0K on the table at GKS Katowice. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.9M on the table at Raków Częstochowa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Arka Gdynia 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.1M — a club that wants Jonatan Braut Brunes enough to be asked twice.
Mateusz Klich 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.
Cracovia have gone to Widzew Łódź 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.
Cracovia asked and AZ 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 offer from Kapfenberg for Dijon Kameri 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Cracovia know it.
Cracovia asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.05 — 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.