It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Levadia know it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Artem Makavchik has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutKirill Hleb knocks on the manager’s door
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Mollo Bessala falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Levadia, another week without a signature from Nikita Kashuy.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Levadia have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Flora ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces12 Nov 2029
A cup hiding at Flora leaves Levadia explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
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 Levadia have had the benefit of it.
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.
Artur Pikk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Vister will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia 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.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mollo Bessala 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Artur Pikk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mollo Bessala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 Levadia 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Artem Makavchik has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mollo Bessala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miloš Jovičić is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Levadia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Mollo Bessala 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Levadia know it.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Artur Pikk 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutArtur Pikk has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutOskar Hõim asks for a word with the manager
SquadQuestions about Shay Reid on the training pitch
Artur Pikk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mollo Bessala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Artem Makavchik is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Makavchik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mihkel Ainsalu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mollo Bessala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with Olympiacos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Miloš Jovičić obliged against Narva Trans. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Levadia.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Levadia asked and Dinamo Bryansk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Levadia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flora, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadia have done the hard part with Ryazan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 Levadia 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Levadia, another week without a signature from Mattias Männilaan.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Vister will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Bobchenok trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mollo Bessala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mollo Bessala is on it.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Artem Makavchik has moved up it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oskar Hõim trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 2, 43 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadia can pretend not to have heard.
Artur Pikk 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.
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.
Levadia have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Levadia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flora, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Artur Pikk is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Zhechko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexandr Rendakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Vister will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alexandr Grin is living that version at Levadia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Kristjan Kask 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bylis have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia 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.
Levadia asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Olimpija Ljubljana have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Levadia have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mollo Bessala is on it.
Position 2 on 43 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Position 2, 43 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Levadia asked and Dinamo City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flora keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marius Vister has agreed terms with Parnu for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Levadia asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask 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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kristiyan Hadzhinikolov provided it, and the 7.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marked 8.51 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Levadia are 2 in the table and the town has noticed
40 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Vister will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Position 2, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadia have done the hard part with Ventspils, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mollo Bessala 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.
6 goals in one match, Miloš Jovičić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levadia and Paide.
11 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Kristjan Kask 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Miloš Jovičić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marek Teniste was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Levadia dressing room was either.
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.
5 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.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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 8.09 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Levadia will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Mollo Bessala 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 May 2029
Kristjan Kask 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 is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 May 2029
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Levadia. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 6.67 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Kalimullin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Half the programme played, position 2, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Artur Pikk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Flora; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mollo Bessala is on it.
Sillamae Kalev will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levadia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oskar Hõim has, at Levadia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mollo Bessala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match14 Apr 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Levadia. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 18 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
6 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Shay Reid is living that version at Levadia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Miloš Jovičić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ruslan Teverov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kristjan Kask is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marek Teniste on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A brace, and Miloš Jovičić takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miloš Jovičić provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mollo Bessala 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marek Teniste on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Tammeka, and it could have been more.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
A brace, and Miloš Jovičić takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miloš Jovičić provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Kask was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Miloš Jovičić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.84, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miloš Jovičić is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Kristjan Kask falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Artem Makavchik signs something — a contract at Levadia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutReuben Cooper knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ruslan Teverov is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kirill Krutorozhkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Levadia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
$260.0K settles it between the clubs for Kristen Lapa
Flora have accepted the money. What Levadia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Levadia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Slavia Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Kask was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristjan Kask trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levadia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Flora is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Mollo Bessala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia asked and Ventspils said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 132 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadia can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flora is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Levadia and Flora have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Kristjan Kask 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
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.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadia can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levadia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Artem Makavchik signs something — a contract at Levadia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Kask was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristjan Kask trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristjan Kask trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 Levadia 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.
Mollo Bessala 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 Nov 2028
Kristjan Kask falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Artem Makavchik signs something — a contract at Levadia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Levadia had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The one award on the pitch nobody else can win. 12 games in a season in which nobody scored past him, and a career that will be measured against this one.
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 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.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Kask was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Mattias Männilaan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mihkel Ainsalu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Levadia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Mollo Bessala 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Levadia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristjan Kask trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristjan Kask trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Kask was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miloš Jovičić is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Reuben Cooper
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask 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 announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paide keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mollo Bessala 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 Sep 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miloš Jovičić is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Levadia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Levadia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Taijo Teniste is on it.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
$6.0K settles it between the clubs for Marko Meerits
Paide have accepted the money. What Levadia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with NK Maribor is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Levadia and Paide in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsMollo Bessala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paide is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
Mollo Bessala 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 Aug 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Kask 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.
Levadia asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The deal with Olympiacos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slavia Prague is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karl Kallaste will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with Slavia Prague is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mollo Bessala 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.
Levadia asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Levadia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ilya Rabeshko has his answer from Levadia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Position 3 on 41 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Marin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kreida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexey Zhechko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levadia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Levadia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Levadia asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
8 new faces, and Levadia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.53 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Mollo Bessala 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, wages agreed, and Parnu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A mark of 8.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Mollo Bessala and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida 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.
Levadia asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Levadia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Ventspils is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Marin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia 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.
In brief
Boardroom115% of the income goes out in wages at Levadia
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia 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 Levadia 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Denisenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mollo Bessala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kreida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Kristjan Kask and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Miloš Jovičić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.49. 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihkel Ainsalu 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 Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 club 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 it has been tried.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karl Kallaste will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Denisenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mollo Bessala was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihkel Ainsalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mihkel Ainsalu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Kalimullin has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Levadia 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. Alexey Zhechko provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7 goals in one match, Miloš Jovičić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levadia and Parnu.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia 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 Levadia 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ruslan Teverov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Levadia have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Vian Stankov is 20, and Levadia 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.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mihkel Ainsalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mollo Bessala’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Levadia.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Zhechko 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.
6‑0, and Mollo Bessala took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Levadia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A brace, and Miloš Jovičić takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miloš Jovičić provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 40, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vladislav Kreida has agreed terms with Flora for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marked 9.55. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Levadia.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joonas Klavan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Liivak 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Tammeka spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Nomme Kalju will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levadia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
A brace, and Miloš Jovičić takes the afternoon — 9.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miloš Jovičić provided it, and the 9.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
An order from above at Levadia: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Vladislav Kreida and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Miloš Jovičić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida 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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Ruslan Teverov plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Denisenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mihkel Ainsalu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 Levadia 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Levadia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Konstantin Pikk 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.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Nikita Kait falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mollo Bessala signs something — a contract at Levadia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karl Kallaste will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kreida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
7 new faces, and Levadia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with America de Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Marin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mihkel Ainsalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kreida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tammeka have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Levadia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FCI Tallinn waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Denisenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadia have done the hard part with Puskas Akademia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mihkel Ainsalu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ventspils have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vladislav Kreida is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Kreida trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadWords at Levadia training over how hard people work
Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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 Levadia 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Levadia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mollo Bessala signs something — a contract at Levadia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levadia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ilya Rabeshko has, at Levadia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadia have done the hard part with Isloch, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ruslan Teverov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Kreida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brent Klavan 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Markus Ojamaa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levadia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Ruslan Teverov 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ruslan Teverov is on it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kait 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.