Guy Melamed was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Hamode Kanaan 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Cédric Don 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.
10 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ben Revivo to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Maccabi Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Guy Melamed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Hamode Kanaan 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.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Pafos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ben Revivo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bnei Sakhnin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa 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.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Ethnikos Achnas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hamode Kanaan. 2‑0 against Bnei Yehuda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Jelle Bataille 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Cédric Don 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. Bnei Sakhnin have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Hapoel Raanana for Yair Mordechai was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Jelle Bataille 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 Hamode Kanaan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Tel Aviv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Liam Hermesh. The answer from Maccabi Haifa has not changed — yet.
Hapoel Raanana will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Maccabi Haifa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Maccabi Haifa have had the benefit of it.
Everything agreed with Maccabi Netanya, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jelle Bataille was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Bnei Yehuda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Yair Mordechai has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 9.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Maccabi Haifa will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruninho wants continental football; whether Maccabi Haifa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamode Kanaan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Out, 1‑1 to Maccabi Netanya, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Omri Glazer: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Hamode Kanaan 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yoav Karadi is living that version at Maccabi Haifa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jelle Bataille was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 43. 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.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zohar Zasano and Maccabi Haifa agree another 4 years.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Cédric Don has come out of that comparison in the side, and Maccabi Haifa have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silva Kani, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ben Revivo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room was either.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Kenny Saief
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Hamode Kanaan 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.
9 combined actions and 7.00. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ben Revivo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruninho provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Cédric Don takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cédric Don provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Hamode Kanaan 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille 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. Ofir Melikson 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.
Successful dribbles: 57. 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.
Jelle Bataille 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Cédric Don 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ben Revivo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
1 for Ali Mohamed, marked 7.63, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamode Kanaan 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.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Beitar Jerusalem next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ben Revivo kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutEden Refaelov asks for a word with the manager
Hamode Kanaan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bnei Yehuda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ben Revivo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamode Kanaan 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.
Kenji Gorré 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ori Benayoun is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pierre Cornud and Maccabi Haifa agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jelle Bataille was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 3‑1 win over Hapoel Kfar Saba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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 7.91 for the rest 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 Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Raanana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamode Kanaan 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ben Revivo on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Raanana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Guy Melamed 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cédric Don. 1‑0 against Hapoel Beer Sheva, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ben Revivo on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Haifa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Yonatan Abada 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ori Melikson 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Ben Revivo left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Maccabi Haifa
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Zohar Zasano
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Maccabi Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hamode Kanaan 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. Mattersburg have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.67, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Netanya have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Maccabi Haifa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Empoli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kenji Gorré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Bnei Yehuda for Zohar Zasano was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona paid $1.4M and Maccabi Haifa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Guy Melamed 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.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Beitar Jerusalem were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jelle Bataille was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maccabi Haifa have made the call to Empoli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The shirt still fits. Hamode Kanaan is back at Maccabi Haifa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Maccabi Tel Aviv wanted more than $5.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Netanya have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Maccabi Haifa spend $6.3M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $6.3M for Hamode Kanaan, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Lior Kasa has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Maccabi Haifa know which stage they are at.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Maccabi Haifa are still learning each other
The offer from Beitar Jerusalem for Cédric Don was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$6.3M on the table at Hapoel Beer Sheva. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Maccabi Haifa have gone to Hapoel Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Jelle Bataille 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eli Dabbur is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guy Weissman 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eitan Natcho is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadPierre Cornud falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 Maccabi Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Maccabi Petach Tikva for Silva Kani was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa 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.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Leyton Orient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.