Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Persija had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Paulo Ricardo 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.
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 Jean Mota is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jean Mota signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutPaulo Ricardo knocks on the manager's door
Amir Ganah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hanif Sjahbandi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persija know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Ricardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stjepan Lončar and Persija agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Denis Kolinger has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nobody at Persija 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Persija know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Persija, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Denis Kolinger has written the date down.
Amir Ganah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hanif Sjahbandi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jean Mota is on it.
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Hanif Sjahbandi 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persija know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Persija. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Persija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Persija will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Tubarão signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Ganah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I watch every Persija game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Madura United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Theo Leeming
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Theo Leeming has come out of that comparison in the side, and Persija have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Amir Ganah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persija, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stjepan Lončar signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Denis Kolinger has written the date down.
Jordi Amat and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Persija 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 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.
“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 Persija know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Ganah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Amir Ganah and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Tubarão signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sousa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. PSM kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Persija will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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; Persija are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Amir Ganah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A brace, and Amir Ganah takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amir Ganah provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Jeremejeff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Nadeo Argawinata and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Bagus Beckham, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Jean Mota is on it.
Bruno Tubarão and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Amir Ganah 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.
Persijap made Persija work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bagus Beckham kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
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 Eksel Runtukahu is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Jeremejeff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Almeida. 1‑0 against Persis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.84 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Persija had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” Bagus Beckham, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Sousa is on it.
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Denis Kolinger
6Edition
The Persija Herald
7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Persija 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Jeremejeff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Persija ran out of time with Persis. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jean Mota has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Amir Ganah is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shayne Pattynama signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Persijap the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Persija will enjoy reviewing.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sousa scored, was marked 7.32, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Persija have done the hard part with Persis, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jordi Amat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
1 for Stjepan Lončar, marked 7.53, 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $844.7K — a club that wants Valdeci enough to be asked twice.
6 goals in one match, Alexander Jeremejeff on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Persija and Borneo.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Alexander Jeremejeff decided otherwise. Bhayangkara Presisi had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Persija have gone to Arema with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Persija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Jordi Amat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wahyu Pato is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bagus Saddil has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bambang Sulaeman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fachri Septian 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.
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad10 Aug 2026
10 new faces, and Persija are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
14 seasons and 263 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
7.10, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Still no offer on the table, and Alexander Jeremejeff’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Beer Sheva: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A loan enquiry to Brasil de Pelotas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.