Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
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.” René Möller chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Vaccà trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Flamurtari would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Todor Todoroski 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Flamurtari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vllaznia Shkodër have kept their man, and Flamurtari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.58 — 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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 dugoutLorenc Trashi dropped after a run of poor form
215Edition
The Flamurtari Chronicle
9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces9 Sep 2030
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Igor Aleksovski and Flamurtari agree another 2 years.
0‑1 to Partizani Tirana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Vaccà 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 could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Lucas Barnes
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Flamurtari 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.
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.
Flamurtari asked and Dinamo City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
2‑5 to Egnatia Rrogozhinë, 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Maxim Drozdov is a Flamurtari player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Flamurtari and Egnatia Rrogozhinë, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Flamurtari
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oresti Rifa 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.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Position 5 on 12 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Flamurtari will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Flamurtari asked and Dinamo City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Todor Todoroski 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 27 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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Position 5 on 12 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and Flamurtari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Vaccà 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.
Cristian Núñez 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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Flamurtari would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Todor Todoroski 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 Antonio Vaccà was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutOresti Rifa asks for a word with the manager
MatchContinental football is in reach for Flamurtari
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
13 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
$390.0K on the table at Vllaznia Shkodër. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Todor Todoroski 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 window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
Todor Todoroski 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 Antonio Vaccà was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 May 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Redon Ismaili’s negotiating for him
Todor Todoroski 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Vaccà 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.
In brief
The dugoutOresti Rifa asks for a word with the manager
Antonio Vaccà 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.
12 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Flamurtari will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Something was said to Redon Ismaili and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
12 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugoutAndrea Thanasi asks for a word with the manager
191Edition
The Flamurtari Chronicle
25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces25 Mar 2030
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Vaccà 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.
In brief
The dugoutOresti Rifa knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Flamurtari could ask drops and the wages Redon Ismaili can ask rise.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Flamurtari will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Antonio Vaccà 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Antonio Vaccà is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Vaccà was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shisaked Megjidi and Flamurtari agree another 3 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Flamurtari asked and Dinamo City 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Flamurtari will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Flamurtari has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Antonio Vaccà has, at Flamurtari, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Cristian Núñez 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 shirt still fits. Stivian Janku is back at Flamurtari, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Vaccà was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Stivian Janku
184Edition
The Flamurtari Chronicle
4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondentUneasy
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Flamurtari close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Cristian Núñez 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. Tirana have kept their man, and Flamurtari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lucas Barnes is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
12 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eric Veiga signs something — a contract at Flamurtari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
SquadQuestions about Oresti Rifa on the training pitch
183Edition
The Flamurtari Chronicle
28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces28 Jan 2030
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramiz Ndoj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tirana have kept their man, and Flamurtari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Egnatia Rrogozhinë have accepted the money. What Flamurtari do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo City have kept their man, and Flamurtari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Flamurtari people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Todor Todoroski 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ramiz Ndoj
The dugoutRedon Ismaili asks for a word with the manager
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Flamurtari asked and Tirana 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
12 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eric Veiga signs something — a contract at Flamurtari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramiz Ndoj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cristian Núñez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andi Bakiu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Todor Todoroski 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The young player of the month award goes to a 17-year-old at Flamurtari who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Erigels Mali is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Ramiz Ndoj on the training pitch
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Flamurtari can tell you which week it ends in.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Todor Todoroski 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” René Möller was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Flamurtari dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Teuta Durrës defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutRamiz Ndoj asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Todor Todoroski 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Something was said to Jordan Iwhiwhu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Teuta Durrës in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Position 5 on 11 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” René Möller after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Shisaked Megjidi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Flamurtari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
William Baeten was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Marked 7.57 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Flamurtari had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
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.” René Möller chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Albion Balla has his answer from Flamurtari; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by René Möller to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Redon Ismaili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Flamurtari that is a harder question to answer.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 4, 9 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutRedon Ismaili knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tirana go through and Flamurtari go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordan Iwhiwhu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Oresti Rifa 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 6 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.
Todor Todoroski 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Cristian Núñez is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Cristian Núñez is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“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 dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” René Möller was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Flamurtari dressing room was either.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. William Baeten provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: William Baeten. 3‑2 against Dinamo City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bjorni Duka 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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Cristian Núñez has taken the hint, and Flamurtari are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flamurtari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
William Baeten was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordan Iwhiwhu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Flamurtari close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 5 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Redi Kasa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Cristian Núñez 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luis Buzi has agreed terms with Dinamo City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Todor Todoroski 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Flamurtari know which stage they are at.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Partizani Tirana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flamurtari, another week without a signature from Luis Buzi.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Iwhiwhu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Albion Balla has written the date down.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordan Iwhiwhu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Cristian Núñez 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 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Egnatia Rrogozhinë waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Léo Melo 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fjoraldo Bejdollari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Todor Todoroski 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
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 Igor Aleksovski is on it.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flamurtari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Todor Todoroski 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 words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Buzi 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.
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 Todor Todoroski is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
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.
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at Flamurtari misheard it.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2029
Luis Buzi 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 words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Luis Buzi 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.
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.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flamurtari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fjoraldo Bejdollari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 6 and 13 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamurtari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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 Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutBjorni Duka asks for a word with the manager
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Núñez 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 words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
Position 6 and 13 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.
Todor Todoroski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Luis Buzi 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.
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 Igor Aleksovski is on it.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flamurtari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutWilliam Baeten has become a man the manager trusts
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Todor Todoroski 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 Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Todor Todoroski 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pereowei Magbisa and Flamurtari agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Igor Aleksovski is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flamurtari, another week without a signature from Oresti Rifa.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamurtari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Flamurtari, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 William Baeten is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Buzi 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.
In brief
The dugoutRedi Kasa has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fjoraldo Bejdollari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Flamurtari the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Todor Todoroski 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.
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 Todor Todoroski is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flamurtari will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Todor Todoroski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pereowei Magbisa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Flamurtari people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Teuta Durrës moved on, Pereowei Magbisa reports back to Flamurtari, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Flamurtari 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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bjorni Duka 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.
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 William Baeten is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jordan Iwhiwhu
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
Todor Todoroski 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Albion Balla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Flamurtari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 6 and 13 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamurtari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Flamurtari is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Luis Buzi 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.
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 William Baeten is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pereowei Magbisa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Albion Balla a promise
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flamurtari have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jacques Mbé 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 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fjoraldo Bejdollari 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 Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Flamurtari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ergi Kallaku trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Flamurtari can pretend not to have heard.
Jacques Mbé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Pereowei Magbisa'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.
The mood at Flamurtari has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jacques Mbé 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Flamurtari who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lorenc Trashi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Position 6 on 13 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Cristian Núñez 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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
William Baeten was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Tirana spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Rei Qaqi could afford to be generous.
“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 Flamurtari, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flamurtari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Buzi 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.
Nobody at Flamurtari 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Flamurtari know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
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 Igor Aleksovski is on it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Pereowei Magbisa'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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Flamurtari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fjoraldo Bejdollari 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.
Dinamo City will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Flamurtari were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Flamurtari they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jacques Mbé 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Oresti Rifa 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Léo Melo in the middle of it, and Dinamo City unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Flamurtari know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Hetem Lushaj
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flamurtari lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jacques Mbé 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 Luis Buzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting William Baeten'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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Flamurtari are dealing with a man who wants a different country.