Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfriyanto Nico will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some 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.
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.
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.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 68 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persija pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Successful dribbles: 48. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexander Jeremejeff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jean Mota is on it.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persija now.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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.” Bagus Irawan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 8 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Imran Musa. 2‑1 against Persijap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
SquadWords at Persija training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSIM waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persija is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Radovan Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Alexander Jeremejeff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals in one match, Gustavo Almeida on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Persija and Bali United.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Bali United next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persija know it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persija told Pedro Igor something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radovan Pankov 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.
He is 21 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persija can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Persija have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Witan Sulaeman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persija pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Bruno Tubarão is on it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
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 Bagus Irawan left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfriyanto Nico will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Stjepan Lončar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Radovan Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Riestra have kept their man, and Persija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Three points for Persija, 1‑0 the final word against Arema in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
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 Irawan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutJean Mota has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diogo Brito
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Persita made Persija work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Witan Sulaeman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Jeremejeff provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persija have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mauro Zijlstra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.44 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Persik next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
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 Irawan kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
28 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A 2‑0 win over Madura United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
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 dugout11 Jun 2029
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 Irawan, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Persib had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Half the programme played, position 2, 36 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
“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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persija told Ivan Mamut something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
27 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.
A 3‑1 win over Maluku Utara United, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings21 May 2029
A brace, and Imran Musa takes the afternoon — 8.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Imran Musa provided it, and the 8.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 35 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alaaeddine Ajaraie provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persija can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
25 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Jeremejeff and Persija agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Stjepan Lončar 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Carlos Eduardo now has 50 of them across 161 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
The dugout7 May 2029
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 Irawan, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Witan Sulaeman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club 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.
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 Alaaeddine Ajaraie is on it.
A 1‑1 draw with Persis leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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.” Bagus Irawan chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
24 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.
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.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Jeremejeff. 1‑0 against Bali United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Persija had all but put away. Borneo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“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.
9 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.
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.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Almeida. 1‑0 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Witan Sulaeman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 7.11 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Maluku Utara United; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Stjepan Lončar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Alexander Jeremejeff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persija can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bagus Irawan on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Witan Sulaeman 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.
9 combined actions and 6.54. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
12 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Bagus Irawan could afford to be generous.
21 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ahmad Hardiyanto is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Alexander Jeremejeff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Witan Sulaeman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Imran Musa has just signed for Persija, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Jeremejeff. 1‑0 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Simón Monterroza 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Irfan Jauhari
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 4 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pedro Igor has just signed for Persija, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Sergio Terrazas is a Persija player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persija know it.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMarco Lindner asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radovan Pankov 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Jan 2029
7 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.
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 Alaaeddine Ajaraie is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Persija asked and Leones said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dony Tri Pamungkas has his answer from Persija; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Persija enter the window
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 Bruno Tubarão is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Carlos Eduardo: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Persija will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fajar Fathurrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ricki Ariansyah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Vitor has just signed for Persija, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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 Alexander Jeremejeff is on 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 Bruno Tubarão is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Mamut signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 60 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persija will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tyronne trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 151 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
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.
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.
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 Jordi Amat has written the date down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andritany Adhiyasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Persija game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persebaya runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persija, another week without a signature from Jordi Amat.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Mamut signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaaeddine Ajaraie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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 Diogo Brito has written the date down.
“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.
“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 Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fajar Fathurrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marco Lindner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Carlos Eduardo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
17 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andritany Adhiyasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radovan Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Player ratingsFrom twelve yards, and Jean Mota misses
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Jeremejeff and Persija agree another 2 years.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
5 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.
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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 60 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fajar Fathurrahman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radovan Pankov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at 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.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Radovan Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bagus Irawan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexander Jeremejeff is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Stjepan Lončar's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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 Irawan, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 12 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Almeida. 1‑0 against Persijap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Persis had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Persija did not stop to explain themselves.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Jeremejeff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Red Bull Salzburg 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.
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ady Setiawan 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.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hansamu Yama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persija have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Rezaldi Hehanusa is back at Persija, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Carlos Eduardo: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ady Setiawan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hanif Pato 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marinus Riyadi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Agung Irawan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Septian Supriadi 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Rizky Ridho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rizky Ridho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bruno Tubarão is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bagus Irawan after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Position 3, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ady Setiawan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Persija and Persita in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A brace, and Ivan Mamut takes the afternoon — 9.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Mamut provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rizky Ridho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Mamut. 3‑1 against Persik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rizky Ridho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against PSBS Biak; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The offer from Persita for Paulo Ricardo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Bagus Irawan to a room that had heard them before.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ady Setiawan 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.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dewa United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Persita for Rizky Ridho was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alexander Jeremejeff’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persija.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Rizky Ridho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Persija scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.77 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ady Setiawan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Rizky Ridho again, and this time the name on the line is Persita. Persija are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Persib spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Half the programme played, position 6, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
He is 15 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.
The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Ricky Asnawi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 May 2028
Rizky Ridho 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.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 May 2028
Rizky Ridho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persija told Irfan Jauhari something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Hansamu Yama
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ady Setiawan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Boardroom86% of the income goes out in wages at Persija
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Bruno Tubarão
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Persis made Persija work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rizky Ridho 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 dugout1 May 2028
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 Irawan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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, 6.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.76 on the card, and the Persija support went home talking about one name.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rizky Ridho 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.
A brace, and Ivan Mamut takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Mamut provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean Mota provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Minute 97, against Borneo, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutJordi Amat asks for a word with the manager
1 for Fajar Fathurrahman, marked 7.32, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Minute 89, against Bhayangkara Presisi, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“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 8 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rizky Ridho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persija has been clear about where Ady Setiawan stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rizky Ridho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Manahati Lestusen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Persija have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Carlos Eduardo now has 25 of them across 118 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
“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 9 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rizky Ridho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rizky Ridho has his answer from Persija; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.38 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Persebaya were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 Irawan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
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 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.
200 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Rizky Ridho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is 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.
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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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 Bagus Irawan left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Rizky Ridho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 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 Bruno Tubarão is on it.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Persita; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ady Setiawan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bagus Irawan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
SquadAdy Setiawan falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Paulo Ricardo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persija has been clear about where Paulo Ricardo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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.” Bagus Irawan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hansamu Yama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Persik.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutBruno Tubarão has become a man the manager trusts
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rizky Ridho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Persija moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Bagus Irawan, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rizky Ridho has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persija have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Eksel Runtukahu had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Alexander Jeremejeff and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persib have kept their man, and Persija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alaaeddine Ajaraie is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Persib for Paulo Ricardo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Persija had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Persis, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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 name of Theo Leeming has come up in conversations Persija were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Arema paid $110.0K and Persija took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Persija asked and Persijap said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ady Setiawan 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.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persija lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ricki Ariansyah is living that version at Persija, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Alexander Jeremejeff is on 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andritany Adhiyasa has his answer from Persija; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persija have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mauro Zijlstra has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Witan Beckham 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.
6 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Persija will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The offer from Persib for Mauro Zijlstra was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Theo Leeming has come up in conversations Persija were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
33 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Persija now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ady Setiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Persija could ask drops and the wages Mauro Zijlstra can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Persija have had the benefit of it.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marinus Asnawi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricky Asnawi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Al-Husseini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Persija game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Borneo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Alexander Jeremejeff is on it.
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.
2 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.
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.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
“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 ratings13 Dec 2027
Ivan Mamut was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hansamu Yama is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 shut-outs in 9 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Andritany Adhiyasa has been having a lot of them.
55 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persija lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Al-Husseini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
Alexander Jeremejeff was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Al-Husseini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Nadeo Argawinata has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Persija the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persija lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Ady Setiawan for 19 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persija will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tyronne, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Ady Setiawan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every 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 Alexander Jeremejeff is on 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.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ricky Hidayat 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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 Bruno Tubarão is on 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.