At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karamba Gassama. 2‑1 against Antalyaspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
2‑5 to Fenerbahce, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gaziantep and Fenerbahce in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Istanbulspor the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gaziantep will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.67 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
378 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Bariş Kalaycı 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.
7 goals in one match, Ali Osman Kalın on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gaziantep and Trabzonspor.
Marked 8.06 — 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
BoardroomNobody left the Gaziantep dressing room in a hurry
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Zafer Görgen's mistake
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Hatayspor kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Gaziantep will be asked about the last half hour all week.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.43 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7.21, 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.
Victor Gidado 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 run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gaziantep are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Utku Kurtal 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.
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Victor Gidado 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.
11 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The phone has started ringing about Kamil Efe Üregen again, and this time the name on the line is Kayserispor. Gaziantep are listening politely and promising nothing.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Alessandro Signorini is 39 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gaziantep can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2038
Utku Kurtal 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gaziantep is running low.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karamba Gassama 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.
In brief
SquadVictor Gidado falls out with a teammate over standards
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Fatih Karagumruk for Kamil Efe Üregen 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.
Victor Gidado 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.
Alanyaspor will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Malik Sawadogo has pre-agreed a move to Gaziantep, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Utku Kurtal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gaziantep can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
65 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ibrahim Dursun is 19, and Gaziantep have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
6 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
Karamba Gassama 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 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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 offer from Antalyaspor for Karamba Gassama 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.
Victor Gidado 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yusuf Nacar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Victor Gidado 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kasper Kristensen has his answer from Gaziantep; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vladislav Grekovich has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Gaziantep have had the benefit of 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Drissa Camara signs something — a contract at Gaziantep or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
“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 Gaziantep, 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Karamba Gassama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2038
Victor Gidado 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. 125 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.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.87 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
388 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Bariş Kalaycı 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
Pierre-Emile Delaney could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.10
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.10, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kamil Efe Üregen scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lautaro Taboada provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Gaziantep and Besiktas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Victor Gidado 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 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gaziantep and Galatasaray in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.68 — 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.
2‑2 against Basaksehir, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Osman Kalın provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Şahin Yılmaz provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.96. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gaziantep.
Player ratings8 Mar 2038
Ali Osman Kalın was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
1‑6 against Basaksehir. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
40 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Victor Gidado 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Gaziantep and Basaksehir, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.29 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Karamba Gassama 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.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ali Şahin Yılmaz will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Gaziantep escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Victor Gidado 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.
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.
2‑6 against Alanyaspor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
364 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Karamba Gassama 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 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gaziantep and Alanyaspor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
363 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The phone has started ringing about Kamil Efe Üregen again, and this time the name on the line is Ankaragucu. Gaziantep are listening politely and promising nothing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.71 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doğucan Haspolat 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Gaziantep scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kamil Efe Üregen scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 5‑4 win over Istanbulspor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Victor Gidado 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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
35 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.42 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
Victor Gidado 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 phone has started ringing about Kamil Efe Üregen again, and this time the name on the line is Ankaragucu. Gaziantep are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.56 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
14 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Gaziantep and Giresunspor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
6‑2 against Ferencvaros, and a performance that will change how the rest of the competition talks about this club. Reputations in continental football are built in single evenings and this was one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2037
A brace, and Victor Gidado takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Victor Gidado provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lautaro Taboada provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals in one match, Lautaro Taboada on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gaziantep and Adana Demirspor.
8 goals in one match, Victor Gidado on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gaziantep and Ferencvaros.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.26 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Gaziantep hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
1‑1 against AZ, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gaziantep pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
AZ held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Gaziantep answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.50 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Şahin Yılmaz signs something — a contract at Gaziantep or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Victor Gidado could not do
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gaziantep and Galatasaray, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gaziantep.
Player ratings16 Nov 2037
Yılmaz Cin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
4‑3 against Rosenborg, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Gaziantep found something the first half had given no notice of, and Rosenborg could not hold what they had.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kamil Efe Üregen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
4‑4 against Rosenborg, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Şahin Yılmaz provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Bariş Kalaycı 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.
Lautaro Taboada had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Kasimpasa were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.45 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Karamba Gassama had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sivasspor were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kamil Efe Üregen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
4‑1. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
A brace, and Victor Gidado takes the afternoon — 9.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Victor Gidado provided it, and the 9.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.48 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 10.00 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Bariş Kalaycı 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1‑2 against AZ. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Victor Gidado 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 Sep 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Antalyaspor tried to reorganise, Gaziantep did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
A brace, and Victor Gidado takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Victor Gidado provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Victor Gidado scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑5 to Fenerbahce, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gaziantep and Fenerbahce in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
11 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The phone has started ringing about Kamil Efe Üregen again, and this time the name on the line is Ankaragucu. Gaziantep are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings24 Aug 2037
Bariş Kalaycı was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.22. 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Karamba Gassama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
11 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Okay Ozcan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Victor Gidado 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 left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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 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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Cenk Kokcu has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karamba Gassama 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Gaziantep will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Gaziantep are still learning each other
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kâmil El Kit will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep 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 Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gaziantep can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gaziantep can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Ankaragucu for Fatihan Kâhya 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.
Karamba Gassama 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.
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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Konyaspor will make the call about Fatihan Kâhya this week. Gaziantep have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simon Elisor signs something — a contract at Gaziantep or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gaziantep is running low.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Salih Dursun has just signed for Gaziantep, and for once the answer mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karamba Gassama 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.
In brief
SquadVictor Gidado falls out with a teammate over standards
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gaziantep can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kâmil El Kit has agreed terms with Adana Demirspor for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ankaragucu will make the call about Fatihan Kâhya this week. Gaziantep have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 92% of everything Gaziantep earn
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
287 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Victor Gidado 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Doğucan Haspolat arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karamba Gassama 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.
In brief
SquadVictor Gidado falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kamil Efe Üregen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Cenk Kokcu has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.59 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Marked 8.81 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fatihan Kâhya will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Bariş Kalaycı 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gaziantep know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Besiktas kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Gaziantep will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Victor Gidado 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.
In brief
Player ratingsBariş Kalaycı was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Boardroom104% of the income goes out in wages at Gaziantep
15 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑5 against Galatasaray, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandar Vulić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
14 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Kayserispor the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gaziantep will enjoy reviewing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bariş Kalaycı 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
Player ratingsKâmil El Kit was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Şahin Yılmaz and Gaziantep agree another 3 years.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Kasimpasa the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gaziantep will enjoy reviewing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Gaziantep, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kamil Efe Üregen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gaziantep the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Victor Gidado 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.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Şahin Yılmaz 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 is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Umraniyespor kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Gaziantep will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Alanyaspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Bariş Kalaycı was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.77. 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 Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Ankaragucu for Fatihan Kâhya 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.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
6 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gaziantep they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Victor Gidado 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.
Add another name to the list: Ankaragucu have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fatihan Kâhya. The answer from Gaziantep has not changed — yet.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jonathan Okoronkwo 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 ratings19 Jan 2037
Karamba Gassama was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.05. 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.
14 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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gaziantep lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gaziantep will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Ankaragucu for Kamil Efe Üregen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karamba Gassama is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The goal that put Hatayspor ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Gaziantep equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
11 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.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Dec 2036
Bariş Kalaycı was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.04. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karamba Gassama. 2‑1 against Giresunspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
3‑3 against Pafos, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gaziantep have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Victor Gidado 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.
6 goals in one match, Fatihan Kâhya on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gaziantep and Pafos.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.66 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jonathan Okoronkwo 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 Dec 2036
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
Marked 8.50 — 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.
2‑3 away to the standard of Borussia Dortmund. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gaziantep are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karamba Gassama 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gaziantep pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Nov 2036
A brace, and Victor Gidado takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Victor Gidado provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces24 Nov 2036
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 38 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Gaziantep and Besiktas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lazar Babić: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gaziantep is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gaziantep this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Victor Gidado 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gaziantep and Adana Demirspor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
0‑0 against Vojvodina, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Victor Gidado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 9.35 — 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.
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.
Karamba Gassama 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.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Victor Gidado 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.
8.66. 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.
Marked 8.63 — 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.
Player ratings3 Nov 2036
Victor Gidado was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
2‑3 away to the standard of Vojvodina. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
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.
Jonathan Okoronkwo 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.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Words at Gaziantep training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Gidado 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.