Maccabi Netanya

Israeli Premier League
29 Feb 2032
Sunday
Process
291 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Omri Shamir

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omri Shamir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 120% of everything Maccabi Netanya earn

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Omri Altman

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omri Altman, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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 dugout

Pedrinho is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Market

The Matheus Davó story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matheus Davó signs something — a contract at Maccabi Netanya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Omer Nir'on has been promised minutes

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 Omer Nir'on has written the date down.

In brief

Back issues
290 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Maccabi Netanya finish in position 8

34 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Davó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Omer Nir'on

“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.

Match

Matheus Davó sends Maccabi Netanya past Hapoel Kfar Saba

It finished 1‑0, and it was Matheus Davó’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

Player ratings

Basam Za'arura was unplayable

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.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Wylan Cyprien

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Wylan Cyprien.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Matheus Davó

7.97, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Maccabi Netanya had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Squad

Maccabi Netanya are still strangers to each other

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.

In brief

289 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Maxim Plakushchenko leads the rout of Hapoel Raanana

4‑1, and Maxim Plakushchenko took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Maccabi Netanya tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

The Beitar Jerusalem deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Omer Nir'on reports back to Maccabi Netanya with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Maxim Plakushchenko yet — 8.11

At 36 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Mazin Saleh gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mazin Saleh has just signed for Maccabi Netanya, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

Maccabi Netanya end the wait against Hapoel Raanana

It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omer Nir'on 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to David Odia

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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Anis Ayash at his very best

Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Maccabi Netanya.

In brief

  • Player ratings Matheus Davó was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Ben Tao
  • Squad Favorito wants to go home
288 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

2 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Maccabi Netanya turn down Omiya Ardija for Pedrinho

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Match

The wait goes on for Maccabi Netanya

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Match

The goals have deserted Maccabi Netanya

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Maccabi Netanya can tell you which week it ends in.

Boardroom

Maccabi Netanya close the window on a squad of their own making

5 in and 9 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.

Market

So close: David Odia’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Beitar Jerusalem moved on, David Odia reports back to Maccabi Netanya, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Pedrinho beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Ivan Ignatjev

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anis Ayash is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

287 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Beitar Jerusalem come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Maccabi Netanya did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Terms done: David Odia is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Beitar Jerusalem waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

David Odia hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Omri Shamir

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omri Shamir will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

The wait goes on for Maccabi Netanya

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Match

The goals have deserted Maccabi Netanya

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Maccabi Netanya can tell you which week it ends in.

Transfer targets

Paul Gartler will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Boardroom

Omri Shamir has agreed to leave Maccabi Netanya for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

286 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Pedrinho has said yes to Foolad

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Netanya have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Omer Nir'on puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Tomer Glazer is a medical away from Maccabi Netanya

The deal with Hapoel Beer Sheva 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Maccabi Netanya

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Maccabi Netanya are no longer polite ones.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Maccabi Netanya

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A move Yishay Brosh would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yishay Brosh is living that version at Maccabi Netanya, and it tends to show in the first month.

Match

Maccabi Netanya come up short against Hapoel Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel Aviv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Omri Altman
  • Player ratings Anis Ayash ran the middle of the pitch — 7.30
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
285 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Omer Nir'on has said yes to Beitar Jerusalem

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Netanya have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Lior Mashansky puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Pedrinho attracts admirers

The name of Pedrinho has come up in conversations Maccabi Netanya were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Davó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Maccabi Netanya

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Oleksii Sydorov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Maccabi Netanya come up short against Bnei Yehuda

Bnei Yehuda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Wylan Cyprien

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Wylan Cyprien.

In brief

284 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

5 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Maccabi Netanya taken apart

0‑3 to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Squad

Omer Nir'on stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Omri Shamir asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

David Odia is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Davó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Wylan Cyprien

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Maccabi Netanya

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Uri Glazer left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

283 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

29 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Bnei Sakhnin

0‑1 to Bnei Sakhnin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 115% of the Maccabi Netanya income

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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Uri Glazer left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

The dugout

Wylan Cyprien knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Maccabi Netanya

Maccabi Tel Aviv top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Wylan Cyprien

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

In brief

282 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Dolev Haziza leads the rout of Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

5‑1, and Dolev Haziza took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Maccabi Netanya tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó scores twice — 8.74

Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

A brace, and Dolev Haziza takes the afternoon — 8.25

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dolev Haziza provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Vintage Dor Hugi — 7.95

At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.95, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Harel Bechor asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

6 goals as Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Uri Glazer, on a 5‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

281 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

15 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Age has not caught Dolev Haziza yet — 8.14

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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 ratings

Basam Za'arura beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Dolev Haziza sends Maccabi Netanya past Beitar Jerusalem

It finished 1‑0, and it was Dolev Haziza’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura 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 dugout

No hiding place for Omri Altman

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omri Altman, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Uri Glazer: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

When it matters, Dor Hugi plays

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 dugout

Wylan Cyprien does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

280 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

8 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu, 34, rolls back the years — 7.92

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Only the photograph left for David Odia

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Odia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam 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.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Johnbosco Samuel Kalu and Maccabi Netanya agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Hapoel Haifa

1‑2 to Hapoel Haifa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Player ratings

Anis Ayash runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Uri Glazer answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Market

A long bet from Maccabi Netanya on Rafão

He is 19, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

279 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Age has not caught Johnbosco Samuel Kalu yet — 7.96

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Nadav Niddam in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu’s goal not enough for Maccabi Netanya

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Maccabi Haifa, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Omer Nir'on

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omer Nir'on, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 101% of the Maccabi Netanya income

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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Uri Glazer to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

Home is on Favorito's mind

“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; Maccabi Netanya are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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

278 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Harel Bechor asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Dor Hugi for 16 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Maccabi Netanya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Basam Za'arura 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.

Squad

Home is on Pedro Souza's mind

“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; Maccabi Netanya are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Maccabi Netanya

Something was said to Wylan Cyprien and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

The dugout

When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays

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 dugout

Nadav Niddam knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

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.” Uri Glazer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

277 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

17 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody wants to play Maccabi Netanya right now

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Match

Matheus Davó sends Maccabi Netanya past Hapoel Kfar Saba

It finished 2‑0, and it was Matheus Davó’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó in the eights

A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

The half-term report on Maccabi Netanya

Position 5, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

Player ratings

Dor Hugi was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout

A satisfied Uri Glazer

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Uri Glazer could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Pedrinho gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

276 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

10 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.

Player ratings

Dolev Haziza, 36, rolls back the years — 8.14

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Only the photograph left for David Odia

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Odia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Davó 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.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Dolev Haziza sends Maccabi Netanya past Hapoel Raanana

It finished 1‑0, and it was Dolev Haziza’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

Squad

25 clean sheets for Omer Nir'on

A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Omer Nir'on now has 25 of them across 204 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.

The dugout

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.” Uri Glazer kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

275 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

3 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

A brace, and Basam Za'arura takes the afternoon — 8.60

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Basam Za'arura provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Maxim Plakushchenko yet — 8.12

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Basam Za'arura the difference as Maccabi Netanya beat Hapoel Acre

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Basam Za'arura. 3‑1 against Hapoel Acre, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Basam Za'arura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó in the eights

A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

No hiding place for Omri Altman

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omri Altman, and the manager let it.

Market

Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

  • Boardroom 98% of the income goes out in wages at Maccabi Netanya
  • Player ratings A costly moment from Pedrinho
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
274 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

27 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 35 days out

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.

Squad

Maccabi Netanya count the cost of losing Shon Peretz

19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Davó 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 dugout

No hiding place for Omer Nir'on

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omer Nir'on, and the manager let it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Hapoel Beer Sheva

0‑1 to Hapoel Beer Sheva, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Uri Glazer answers for it

“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.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Wylan Cyprien

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

273 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Amit Cohen out for 42 days

42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Netanya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Matheus Davó wins it after the whistle should have gone

90 minutes played. Matheus Davó found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Hapoel Tel Aviv went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam 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.

Match

Matheus Davó the difference as Maccabi Netanya beat Hapoel Tel Aviv

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matheus Davó. 1‑0 against Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Matheus Davó

Marked 8.01 — 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 dugout

Uri Glazer: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

Squad

Fernando Lopes wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Netanya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays

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

272 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

13 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 49 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.

Squad

18 days out for Nadav Niddam after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Harel Bechor asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

David Odia has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

The wait goes on for Maccabi Netanya

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Maccabi Netanya

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Maccabi Netanya can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Nadav Niddam 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Basam Za'arura

“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.

In brief

  • Player ratings Pedrinho runs at them all day
  • The dugout Dor Hugi has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout Uri Glazer on the point
271 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

6 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 57 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

26 days out for Nadav Niddam after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Pedrinho: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

6 saves: Omer Nir'on was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Matheus Davó signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matheus Davó commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 3 years.

Match

Maccabi Netanya cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

The dugout

No hiding place for Wylan Cyprien

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wylan Cyprien, and the manager let it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Maccabi Tel Aviv

0‑2 to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Anis Ayash — 7.12

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, 7.12, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

In brief

  • Boardroom Wages swallow 95% of the Maccabi Netanya income
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout When it matters, Matheus Davó plays
270 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

29 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 33 days out

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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya bow out of the cup

Maccabi Petach Tikva go through and Maccabi Netanya go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings

Omri Shamir runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Maccabi Netanya lose Shon Peretz

48 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Omri Altman gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Uri Glazer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maccabi Netanya dressing room was either.

In brief

269 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

40 days out for Nadav Niddam after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Dor Hugi yet — 8.12

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Matheus Davó

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

At last: Maccabi Netanya win one

5 matches without a win, and then this, against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Match

Dor Hugi the difference as Maccabi Netanya beat Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dor Hugi. 1‑0 against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Basam Za'arura 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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Uri Glazer, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

268 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 49 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Omer Nir'on: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Harel Bechor asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

5 matches without a win for Maccabi Netanya

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Maccabi Netanya are no longer polite ones.

Market

David Odia has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

The run is over for Maccabi Netanya

8 matches without defeat, and then Beitar Jerusalem. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya come up short against Beitar Jerusalem

Beitar Jerusalem left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

267 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Nadav Niddam out for 56 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Maccabi Netanya

The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

The wait goes on for Maccabi Netanya

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.

Squad

Dolev Haziza stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Dolev Haziza and Maccabi Netanya agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Hajduk Split tell Maccabi Netanya: Dmytro Zudin is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Li On Mizrahi takes the honours

Marked 7.69 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Maccabi Netanya had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

266 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 93 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 63 days out

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.

Market

David Odia has said yes to Hapoel Raanana

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Netanya have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 25 signed and 25 gone

That is the business done at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Andre Acquah rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Match

Whatever happens, Maccabi Netanya do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Hugo Pinto

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Vratsa have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

265 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 100 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.

Squad

71 days out for Nadav Niddam after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Pedrinho agrees terms with Foolad

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Netanya people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

Gitai Sofir keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Netanya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Ofek Biton was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Fernando Lopes at Maccabi Netanya

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fernando Lopes is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Boardroom

8 academy players handed senior numbers at Maccabi Netanya

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Match

6 unbeaten for Maccabi Netanya

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Maccabi Netanya did not have in the autumn.

In brief

264 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Amit Cohen out for 107 days

107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Netanya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 79 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Harel Bechor asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Maccabi Netanya turn down Hapoel Kiryat Shmona for David Odia

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

The step up is real for Shalev Janach

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Eyes on Pedrinho again

The phone has started ringing about Pedrinho again, and this time the name on the line is Foolad. Maccabi Netanya are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

One of our own: Ben Levy joins the Maccabi Netanya first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ben Levy is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts

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 Dor Hugi is on it.

In brief

263 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

11 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 86 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Pedro Souza

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona watching David Odia

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Maccabi Netanya have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya try to borrow Issiaga Soumah

Legia 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Davó plays

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.

Market

Dor Hugi linked with a move away

The name of Dor Hugi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

262 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

4 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amit Cohen damages knee ligaments — 123 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 93 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Maccabi Netanya turn down Maccabi Haifa for Nevot Ratner

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Amit Weissman

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Maccabi Netanya have done the hard part with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya make their move for Almog Natcho

$350.0K on the table at Maccabi Haifa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Nevot Ratner signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nevot Ratner commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

TSC tell Maccabi Netanya: Vahid Gicić is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

One of our own: Guy Peretz joins the Maccabi Netanya first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guy Peretz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

261 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amit Cohen

131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Nadav Niddam out for 101 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Oz Bilu is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Transfer targets

Ahrobiznes tell Maccabi Netanya: Francesco Cereser is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

No place for Omer Nir'on in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Omer Nir'on has his answer from Maccabi Netanya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Vahid Gicić is in the works

Maccabi Netanya have made the call to TSC. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Maor Levi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

260 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 109 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

$51.0K settles it between the clubs for Dan Hemed

Hapoel Beer Sheva have accepted the money. What Maccabi Netanya do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Harel Bechor puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Shalev Janach

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Bnei Yehuda are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Maccabi Netanya will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Maxim Kalabus

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mlada Boleslav have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

No place for Oz Bilu in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oz Bilu has his answer from Maccabi Netanya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

259 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

14 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nadav Niddam breaks a bone — 116 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Terms done: Oz Bilu is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Kfar Saba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Nevot Ratner is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

David Odia puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

David Odia keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Netanya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Will Grainger rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Penarol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Johnbosco Samuel Kalu for 14 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Maccabi Netanya will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anis Ayash is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

258 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

7 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Omer Nir'on hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Maor Levi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Dan Hemed due for a Maccabi Netanya medical

Everything agreed with Hapoel Beer Sheva, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Hugo Pinto will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Botev Vratsa is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Boardroom

Maccabi Netanya agree a free transfer for Iftach Sigler

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.

Transfer targets

Metalist tell Maccabi Netanya: Kristian Mba is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Wictor Gabriel has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

In brief

257 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

30 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Netanya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Pedro Souza hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Hugo Pinto due for a Maccabi Netanya medical

Everything agreed with Botev Vratsa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Boardroom

Maor Levi signs for Bnei Sakhnin while still at Maccabi Netanya

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Maor Levi has agreed terms with Bnei Sakhnin for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Hapoel Haifa tell Maccabi Netanya: Cyrus Margono is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya ask about Will Grainger

A loan enquiry to Penarol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

256 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

23 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Francesco Cereser

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ahrobiznes have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anis Ayash 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Kristian Mba is in the works

Maccabi Netanya have made the call to Metalist. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts

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 Dor Hugi is on it.

The dugout

Nevot Ratner knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Still no signature from Oz Bilu

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Maccabi Netanya could get for him.

Market

The Matheus Davó talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

255 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

16 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Oz Bilu is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Kfar Saba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Nevot Ratner has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Gitai Sofir hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Samu pulls a muscle — 15 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ivan Ignatjev

Maccabi Netanya asked and Dinamo Moscow 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 dugout

No hiding place for Omer Nir'on

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omer Nir'on, and the manager let it.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Matheus Davó gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Davó is on it.

In brief

254 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

9 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Maccabi Netanya turn down Bnei Yehuda for Oz Bilu

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Oz Bilu

“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.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Squad

Maccabi Netanya count the cost of losing Richard Mahama

40 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Itay Cohen signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Itay Cohen and Maccabi Netanya agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Ivan Ignatjev is in the works

Maccabi Netanya have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

253 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

2 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Manor Peretz breaks a bone — 16 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Lotem Asras

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lotem Asras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Alessio Cacciamani

Maccabi Netanya asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

No hiding place for Samu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samu, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anis Ayash 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.

Market

Talks stall between Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

Shalev Janach signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Shalev Janach commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 3 years.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

252 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A fracture rules Manor Peretz out for 23 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts

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 Dor Hugi is on it.

The dugout

Samu knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Samu linked with a move away

The name of Samu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

Boardroom

The Maccabi Netanya production line keeps running

47 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Dor Hugi

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Dor Hugi’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

In brief

251 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

19 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Manor Peretz breaks a bone — 30 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Gitai Sofir hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Uzoigwe Odinaka is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Pedro Souza wants to go home

“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 Maccabi Netanya know it.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Davó plays

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 dugout

Omer Nir'on knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omer Nir'on trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

250 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nevot Ratner has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Manor Peretz breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Omer Nir'on

“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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anis Ayash was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

85% of the income goes out in wages at Maccabi Netanya

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.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

249 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

5 May 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

45 days out for Manor Peretz after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Lotem Asras is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Dor Hugi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dor Hugi commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnbosco Samuel Kalu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays

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 dugout

Nevot Ratner knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nevot Ratner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Maccabi Netanya

Something was said to Matan Peretz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Market

The clock does Nevot Ratner’s negotiating for him

3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Maccabi Netanya could ask drops and the wages Nevot Ratner can ask rise.

In brief

248 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Manor Peretz out for 53 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Oz Bilu has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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 dugout

Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts

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 Dor Hugi is on it.

The dugout

Nevot Ratner knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nevot Ratner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

No hiding place for Junior Aliyu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Aliyu, and the manager let it.

Market

Samu linked with a move away

The name of Samu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Aviv Kanarik has been promised minutes

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 Aviv Kanarik has written the date down.

In brief

247 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

21 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Gitai Sofir hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Uzoigwe Odinaka

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Uzoigwe Odinaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Basam Za'arura

“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.

Squad

Beni Feldman signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Beni Feldman and Maccabi Netanya agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Matheus Davó gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Davó is on it.

Squad

Omri Shamir 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.

Market

Matheus Davó linked with a move away

The name of Matheus Davó keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

Market

Oz Bilu runs his contract down

3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Maccabi Netanya money.

In brief

246 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nevot Ratner is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Omer Nir'on gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Market

Talks stall between Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 96% of the Maccabi Netanya income

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 dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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 dugout

Samu asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

245 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Samu: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Lotem Asras is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Samu signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samu commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Wylan Cyprien gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Squad

Fernando Lopes wants to go home

“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 Maccabi Netanya know it.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Market

The Dor Hugi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

244 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

31 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Dor Hugi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Squad

Omri Shamir 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 dugout

Oz Bilu knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Samu linked with a move away

The name of Samu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

243 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

24 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Gitai Sofir hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Alex Talpa: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Only the photograph left for Uzoigwe Odinaka

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Uzoigwe Odinaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Squad

Gitai Sofir out for 40 days

The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Gitai Sofir, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Davó plays

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 dugout

Oz Bilu knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oz Bilu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Matheus Davó linked with a move away

The name of Matheus Davó keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

  • Market The clock does Oz Bilu’s negotiating for him
  • The dugout Omer Nir'on has been promised minutes
  • Squad International call for Omer Nir'on
242 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nevot Ratner has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Omer Nir'on gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Squad

Pedro Souza wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Netanya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Boardroom

Wages eat 97% of everything Maccabi Netanya earn

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.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

The dugout

Nevot Ratner knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

241 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

10 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ofek Biton

“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 dugout

Dolev Haziza gets picked when it counts

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 Dolev Haziza is on it.

The dugout

Nevot Ratner asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omri Shamir 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.

Market

The Dor Hugi talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

The clock does Nevot Ratner’s negotiating for him

5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Maccabi Netanya could ask drops and the wages Nevot Ratner can ask rise.

Squad

Fernando Lopes remains an outsider

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 Maccabi Netanya would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

240 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

3 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Maccabi Netanya out

Out, 0‑0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Oz Bilu

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oz Bilu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Omer Nir'on decides it from twelve yards

1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

The dugout

Junior Aliyu says Maccabi Netanya went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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.

Squad

Ofir Dabbur is the month’s best young player

At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Maccabi Netanya will try not to make too much of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Basam Za'arura

“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.

Player ratings

The kick that got away from Maxim Plakushchenko

Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.

In brief

239 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

24 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Nevot Ratner has agreed to leave Maccabi Netanya for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Market

Only the photograph left for Uzoigwe Odinaka

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Uzoigwe Odinaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Gitai Sofir out for 69 days

The medical room confirms 69 days on the sidelines for Gitai Sofir, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu 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 dugout

Johnbosco Samuel Kalu gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Matheus Davó gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Davó is on it.

Squad

Matheus Davó named player of the week

One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Matheus Davó has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.

Market

Alex Talpa told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alex Talpa has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Maccabi Netanya.

In brief

238 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

17 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Maccabi Netanya tear Hapoel Kfar Saba apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Hapoel Kfar Saba, and it could have been more.

Match

The season ends: position 8 for Maccabi Netanya

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 34 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Player ratings

A brace, and Matheus Davó takes the afternoon — 8.93

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matheus Davó provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Nevot Ratner is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

The dugout

Ofek Biton says Maccabi Netanya went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Dor Hugi yet — 7.80

At 35 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.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Omer Nir'on

“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.

Squad

Anis Ayash signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anis Ayash commits to Maccabi Netanya for another 3 years.

In brief

237 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

10 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Maccabi Netanya tear Hapoel Raanana apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Hapoel Raanana, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Ofir Dabbur scores twice — 9.06

Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Vintage Dolev Haziza — 8.22

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.22, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Only the photograph left for Lotem Asras

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lotem Asras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Uzoigwe Odinaka signs for Hapoel Kiryat Shmona while still at Maccabi Netanya

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Uzoigwe Odinaka has agreed terms with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Omer Nir'on stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Omer Nir'on and Maccabi Netanya agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Lior Mashansky arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lior Mashansky has, at Maccabi Netanya, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Match

At last: Maccabi Netanya win one

6 matches without a win, and then this, against Hapoel Raanana. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

In brief

236 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Oz Bilu is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Match

The wait goes on for Maccabi Netanya

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Gitai Sofir puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Maccabi Netanya close the window on a squad of their own making

0 in and 9 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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Itai Zafrani rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Boardroom

Ferdinand Notani signs for Bnei Yehuda while still at Maccabi Netanya

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ferdinand Notani has agreed terms with Bnei Yehuda for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Dolev Haziza stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Dolev Haziza and Maccabi Netanya agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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.

In brief

235 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Omer Nir'on

There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Ofek Biton asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

5 matches without a win for Maccabi Netanya

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Maccabi Netanya are no longer polite ones.

Match

5 matches without a goal for Maccabi Netanya

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Transfer targets

Alessio Cacciamani will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Copenhagen is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Shareef Kayouf

Maccabi Netanya asked and Hapoel Haifa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

200 appearances for Ofek Biton

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Johnbosco Samuel Kalu

“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.

In brief

234 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Shareef Kayouf turns down Maccabi Netanya

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hapoel Haifa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Elad Madmon

Maccabi Netanya asked and Maccabi Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Amit Weissman

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Maccabi Netanya have done the hard part with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Match

4 matches without a win for Maccabi Netanya

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Maccabi Netanya are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Maccabi Netanya

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Hapoel Tel Aviv

0‑1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

No place for Oz Bilu in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oz Bilu has his answer from Maccabi Netanya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

233 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Terms done: Oz Bilu is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Acre waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

Elad Madmon will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Transfer targets

Amit Ohana is a medical away from Maccabi Netanya

The deal with Hapoel Beer Sheva 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Maccabi Netanya

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Matheus Davó was unplayable

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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Maccabi Netanya against Bnei Yehuda

0‑1 to Bnei Yehuda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Still no ink between Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Maccabi Netanya, another week without a signature from Nevot Ratner.

In brief

232 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Only the photograph left for Lotem Asras

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lotem Asras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Jakub Pira

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Maccabi Tel Aviv take the points off Maccabi Netanya

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nevot Ratner

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nevot Ratner, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

98% of the income goes out in wages at Maccabi Netanya

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.

The dugout

Uri Glazer answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Alessio Cacciamani is in the works

Maccabi Netanya have made the call to FC Copenhagen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Niv Gabay is in the works

Maccabi Netanya have made the call to Maccabi Haifa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

231 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Maccabi Netanya

A 0‑3 beating by Bnei Sakhnin was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Matan Peretz puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Bnei Sakhnin end the Maccabi Netanya run at 9

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Davó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Samu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samu, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Pedrinho was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Maccabi Netanya

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Uri Glazer: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

230 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Vintage Dor Hugi — 8.45

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.45, and nobody on the pitch better.

Match

9 unbeaten for Maccabi Netanya

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Maccabi Netanya did not have in the autumn.

Market

Kammonke Willie has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya make home a hard place to visit

10 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.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya find a way past Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona made Maccabi Netanya work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for Matheus Davó

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

The form table has caught Samu

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

229 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Ofek Biton sends Maccabi Netanya through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ofek Biton obliged against Hapoel Beer Sheva. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Maccabi Netanya.

Match

8 unbeaten for Maccabi Netanya

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Maccabi Netanya did not have in the autumn.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Ofek Biton in the eights

A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Market

Still no ink between Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Maccabi Netanya, another week without a signature from Nevot Ratner.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ofek Biton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ofek Biton, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza gets picked when it counts

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 Dolev Haziza is on it.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omri Shamir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

228 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Avi Natcho out for 14 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Maor Levi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Netanya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Match

Whatever happens, Maccabi Netanya do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Match

The run at home goes on for Maccabi Netanya

9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

The goals have deserted Maccabi Netanya

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Maccabi Netanya can tell you which week it ends in.

The dugout

No hiding place for Basam Za'arura

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Basam Za'arura, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Boardroom Wages eat 101% of everything Maccabi Netanya earn
  • The dugout Samu dropped after a run of poor form
  • The dugout When it matters, Dor Hugi plays
227 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Avi Natcho out for 22 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Matan Peretz hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Pradella: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Pedrinho

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

The dugout

No hiding place for Johnbosco Samuel Kalu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johnbosco Samuel Kalu, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Maccabi Netanya pick somebody else ahead of Samu

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.

Player ratings

Maxim Plakushchenko stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.33 on the card, and the Maccabi Netanya support went home talking about one name.

In brief

226 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Avi Natcho out for 30 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Kammonke Willie is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Omer Nir'on

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omer Nir'on, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omri Shamir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

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.” Uri Glazer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Player ratings

Oz Bilu runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Wylan Cyprien

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.

In brief

225 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Avi Natcho breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

A brace, and Matheus Davó takes the afternoon — 9.10

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matheus Davó provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Dor Hugi, 35, rolls back the years — 8.09

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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 terraces

Maccabi Netanya supporters have found a favourite in Ofir Dabbur

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Ofir Dabbur 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.

Match

Matheus Davó sends Maccabi Netanya past Hapoel Kfar Saba

It finished 2‑0, and it was Matheus Davó’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

Match

Nobody wins at Maccabi Netanya

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Maccabi Netanya at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 7, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

In brief

224 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Kammonke Willie keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Maccabi Netanya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Lotem Asras

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lotem Asras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

Samu gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Oz Bilu was unplayable

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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 91% of everything Maccabi Netanya earn

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.

The dugout

Samu dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Dor Hugi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

223 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Matan Peretz puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Dor Hugi, 35, rolls back the years — 8.17

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Match

Dor Hugi sends Maccabi Netanya past Hapoel Acre

It finished 1‑0, and it was Dor Hugi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maccabi Netanya.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Maccabi Netanya pick somebody else ahead of Samu

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 dugout

A satisfied Uri Glazer

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Uri Glazer could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Matheus Davó has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

222 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Chastening afternoon for Maccabi Netanya

A 0‑3 beating by Hapoel Beer Sheva was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

The dugout

Saher Taji says Maccabi Netanya went back on their word

“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.

Market

Kammonke Willie has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Davó 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 dugout

No hiding place for David Odia

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Odia, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Maccabi Netanya

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Uri Glazer answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

The form table has caught Samu

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

221 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Maor Levi

“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 dugout

When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays

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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Uri Glazer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maccabi Netanya dressing room was either.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Samu

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

Match

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Tel Aviv cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Hapoel Tel Aviv came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Omri Shamir

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Beer Sheva in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Market

Dor Hugi linked with a move away

The name of Dor Hugi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

220 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

David Odia signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Odia and Maccabi Netanya agree another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Samu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samu, and the manager let it.

Match

Maccabi Netanya find a way past Bnei Yehuda

Bnei Yehuda made Maccabi Netanya work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for Johnbosco Samuel Kalu

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

Maccabi Netanya pick somebody else ahead of Samu

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 dugout

A satisfied Uri Glazer

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Uri Glazer could afford to be generous.

Market

Kammonke Willie told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kammonke Willie has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Maccabi Netanya.

In brief

219 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matheus Davó breaks a bone — 18 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Maccabi Netanya

A 0‑5 beating by Maccabi Tel Aviv was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Matan Peretz hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Johnbosco Samuel Kalu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johnbosco Samuel Kalu, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Inquest at Maccabi Netanya

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Uri Glazer faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uri Glazer after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

A long afternoon for Omer Nir'on

Beaten 5 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.

In brief

218 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

26 days out for Matheus Davó after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Maccabi Netanya through in the cup

A 1‑0 win over Bnei Sakhnin, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Match

Maccabi Netanya through in the cup

A 3‑0 win over Bnei Sakhnin, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Player ratings

Vintage Wylan Cyprien — 7.88

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Kammonke Willie is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Maccabi Netanya — 7.89

1 for Saher Taji, marked 7.89, 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Lotem Asras

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

217 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Matheus Davó breaks a bone — 34 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Ofek Biton has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Match

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona take the points off Maccabi Netanya

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

200 appearances for Nadav Niddam

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Squad

A late step up for Ofer Gelbard

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Player ratings

Dolev Haziza runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam is still paying for one afternoon at Maccabi Netanya

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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Uri Glazer left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

  • The dugout The form table has caught Samu
  • The dugout No hiding place for Maor Levi
  • Player ratings Off the pace: Nadav Niddam
216 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matheus Davó breaks a bone — 41 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Maxim Plakushchenko yet — 8.20

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Lotem Asras is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Ben Tao

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

Maccabi Netanya pick somebody else ahead of Samu

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 dugout

Dolev Haziza gets picked when it counts

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 Dolev Haziza is on it.

Match

Maxim Plakushchenko rescues a point for Maccabi Netanya

It needed Maxim Plakushchenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Beitar Jerusalem, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Saher Taji
  • The dugout Samu asks for a word with the manager
  • Player ratings Anis Ayash was unplayable
215 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

David Odia damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

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.

Squad

A fracture rules Matheus Davó out for 49 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Dor Hugi's — 8.91

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Vintage Maxim Plakushchenko — 7.82

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Itai Zafrani rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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.

Match

Maccabi Netanya see off Hapoel Haifa

Three points for Maccabi Netanya, 2‑1 the final word against Hapoel Haifa in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Maccabi Netanya keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

  • The dugout Samu dropped after a run of poor form
  • The dugout Uri Glazer has his say
  • The dugout Matheus Davó has become a man the manager trusts
214 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

David Odia damages knee ligaments — 21 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Matheus Davó out for 57 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Tomer Zarfati has said yes to Hapoel Kfar Saba

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Netanya have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Osher Davida will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Kammonke Willie is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 18 signed and 17 gone

That is the business done at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Boardroom

Ofek Biton has agreed to leave Maccabi Netanya for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Alex Talpa is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

In brief

  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Samu
  • The dugout Ofek Biton gets it from the manager
  • The dugout Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts
213 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

David Odia damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

64 days out for Matheus Davó after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Elad Madmon

Maccabi Netanya and Maccabi Tel Aviv have settled on $4.8M. 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.

Transfer targets

Elad Madmon will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Maor Levi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Ofek Biton has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Shalev Janach is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Boardroom

5 academy players handed senior numbers at Maccabi Netanya

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

In brief

212 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David Odia

35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Netanya lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Matheus Davó breaks a bone — 71 days out

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.

Transfer targets

$4.2M settles it between the clubs for Osher Davida

Maccabi Tel Aviv have accepted the money. What Maccabi Netanya do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Ben Tao

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Talks stall between Maccabi Netanya and Nevot Ratner

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

The dugout

When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays

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 dugout

Nevot Ratner asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

  • Market The Samu talk will not go away
  • Market Maor Levi placed on the list
  • The dugout Pedrinho has been promised minutes
211 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: David Odia out for 42 days

42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Maccabi Netanya lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Dolev Haziza out for 17 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Tomer Zarfati agrees terms with Hapoel Raanana

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Netanya people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Itai Zafrani turns down Maccabi Netanya

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Maccabi Tel Aviv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Tel Aviv tell Maccabi Netanya: Itai Zafrani is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Home is on David Odia's mind

“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; Maccabi Netanya are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Davó plays

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.

Market

No place for Alex Talpa in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Talpa has his answer from Maccabi Netanya; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

210 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

24 days out for Dolev Haziza after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Osher Davida rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Tomer Zarfati puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Tomer Zarfati

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomer Zarfati will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Real improvement from Alex Talpa at Maccabi Netanya

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alex Talpa is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Maor Levi is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Netanya has been clear about where Maor Levi stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

In brief

209 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Dolev Haziza out for 31 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Elad Madmon rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Iddrisu Moro hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Davó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Dor Hugi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Market

Dor Hugi linked with a move away

The name of Dor Hugi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Maccabi Netanya say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Oz Bilu knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Match

Maccabi Netanya in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 44 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.

In brief

208 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Dolev Haziza out for 38 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Netanya will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Oz Bilu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Elad Madmon

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Lotem Asras has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Netanya they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Market

Maccabi Netanya promote Almog Levy from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Almog Levy 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.

Market

Manor Peretz steps up from the Maccabi Netanya academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manor Peretz 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.

Squad

Maccabi Netanya lose Lotem Asras

29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

  • The dugout When it matters, Dolev Haziza plays
  • The dugout No hiding place for Pedrinho
  • The dugout Oz Bilu knocks on the manager’s door
207 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dolev Haziza breaks a bone — 46 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Tomer Zarfati agrees terms with Beitar Jerusalem

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Netanya people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Alex Talpa puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadav Niddam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A late step up for Wictor Gabriel

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

Matheus Davó has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Market

The Matheus Davó talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Saher Taji knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saher Taji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

206 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

54 days out for Dolev Haziza after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Itai Zafrani rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Uzoigwe Odinaka puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Tomer Zarfati is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Dolev Haziza stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Dolev Haziza and Maccabi Netanya agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Transfer targets

Bnei Yehuda tell Maccabi Netanya: Or Mesika is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Boardroom

7 new boys at the Maccabi Netanya academy

Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.

In brief

205 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

61 days out for Dolev Haziza after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Elad Madmon will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Junior Aliyu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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.

Squad

A late step up for Denis Kulikov

At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ofek Biton

“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 dugout

Dor Hugi gets picked when it counts

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 Dor Hugi is on it.

The dugout

Ofir Dabbur asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

204 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dolev Haziza breaks a bone — 68 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Borussia Mönchengladbach come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Maccabi Netanya did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Oz Bilu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Elad Madmon

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Lotem Asras

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lotem Asras will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Netanya the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

Maor Levi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza gets picked when it counts

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 Dolev Haziza is on it.

In brief

203 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

76 days out for Dolev Haziza after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Netanya will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Terms done: Tomer Zarfati is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Beitar Jerusalem waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Netanya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Kristian Mba rejects the move

Maccabi Netanya had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metalist, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Itai Zafrani

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matheus Davó 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 dugout

Matheus Davó has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Squad

David Odia is a square peg at Maccabi Netanya

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Pradella

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pradella, and the manager let it.

In brief

202 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Lotem Asras has said yes to Hapoel Tel Aviv

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Maccabi Netanya have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The dugout

Kammonke Willie: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Itai Zafrani will not be coming to Maccabi Netanya

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maccabi Tel Aviv is saying, and nobody at Maccabi Netanya is enjoying the guessing.

Market

Ofer Gelbard asks to leave Maccabi Netanya

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Kristian Mba due for a Maccabi Netanya medical

Everything agreed with Metalist, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Samu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Davó 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.

Transfer targets

Maccabi Netanya rebuffed over Or Mesika

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bnei Yehuda have kept their man, and Maccabi Netanya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

Nadav Niddam gets picked when it counts

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 Nadav Niddam is on it.

In brief

  • Squad The formation has left Junior Aliyu behind
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Lotem Asras
  • The dugout Oz Bilu knocks on the manager’s door
201 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Kammonke Willie hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Netanya can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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.

Transfer targets

OFI tell Maccabi Netanya: Rafael Melo is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Boardroom

The Maccabi Netanya board find $1.3M for the manager

Money, not words, and it is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending $1.3M well is entirely his problem now.

The dugout

Dor Hugi has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ben Tao

“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 dugout

A promise honoured at Maccabi Netanya

Something was said to Omer Dahan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

200 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Omer Dahan: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Li On Mizrahi honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Maccabi Netanya had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

Dolev Haziza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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.

Market

Talks stall between Maccabi Netanya and Ofek Biton

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

Omer Dahan is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Netanya has been clear about where Omer Dahan stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

199 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Maccabi Netanya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Basam Za'arura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ofek Biton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ofek Biton, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Davó plays

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.

Market

The Matheus Davó talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Basam Za'arura knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Basam Za'arura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

198 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

No hiding place for Kammonke Willie

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kammonke Willie, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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 dugout

Ofek Biton asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Samu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samu signs something — a contract at Maccabi Netanya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

197 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Nadav Niddam 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.

Boardroom

91% of the income goes out in wages at Maccabi Netanya

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.

The dugout

When it matters, Dor Hugi plays

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.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Matheus Davó

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Matheus Davó’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

In brief

196 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Samu 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura 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 dugout

Dolev Haziza has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Maccabi Netanya 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Omer Dahan

“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.

Market

The Dor Hugi story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dor Hugi signs something — a contract at Maccabi Netanya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

195 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Maor Levi: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Netanya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Samu in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

Matheus Davó gets picked when it counts

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 Matheus Davó is on it.

Market

The Matheus Davó talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Oz Bilu asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

194 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi 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.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadav Niddam 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 dugout

When it matters, Nadav Niddam plays

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 dugout

Oz Bilu asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Samu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samu signs something — a contract at Maccabi Netanya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

The penny has dropped for Gitai Sofir

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Maccabi Netanya the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

In brief

193 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

9 seasons of Tomer Zarfati

42 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Maccabi Netanya know what they have.

Squad

Dor Hugi in a row with a teammate

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 Netanya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Maccabi Netanya training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Basam Za'arura 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 98% of the Maccabi Netanya income

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 dugout

When it matters, Dor Hugi plays

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.

Market

The Wylan Cyprien talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Netanya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

192 Edition

The Maccabi Netanya Post

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oz Bilu puts it in writing

“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 Netanya, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tomer Zarfati: 9 seasons and counting

42 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Maccabi Netanya know exactly what they have.

Squad

A falling-out at Maccabi Netanya

Dor Hugi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Basam Za'arura 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 dugout

Basam Za'arura gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Dolev Haziza gets picked when it counts

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 Dolev Haziza is on it.

Market

Maccabi Netanya and Ofek Biton are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

The dugout

Ofek Biton knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Netanya, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Dor Hugi story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dor Hugi signs something — a contract at Maccabi Netanya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief