Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mithat Pala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Can Turuc left the room before anybody could ask which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yahia Fofana signs something — a contract at Rizespor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Nobody at Rizespor 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 Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qazim Laci 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rizespor has been clear about where Dal Varešanović stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rizespor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kasimpasa next, and one man in the Rizespor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Taha Şahin has written the date down.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Rizespor scored in the 102th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Mame Mor Faye takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mame Mor Faye provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ali Sowe 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 Qazim Laci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.28 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Dal Varešanović at his very best
Husniddin Aliqulov 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.
Besiktas left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mithat Pala falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rizespor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 Can Turuc to a room that had heard them before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rizespor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qazim Laci 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.
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.
Attila Mocsi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emir Ortakaya is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Qazim Laci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 85 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ali Sowe 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 Mithat Pala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rizespor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rizespor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Qazim Laci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Enes Çinemre is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Can Turuc, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ali Sowe had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Eyupspor were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Rizespor know it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Qazim Laci 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.
A point taken on 94 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mithat Pala 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 needed Ibrahim Olawoyin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Gaziantep, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Can Turuc chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Yahia Fofana
The offer from Bandirmaspor for Emir Ortakaya 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.
“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 Rizespor, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
1‑3 to Konyaspor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qazim Laci 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rizespor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Adedire Mebude reports back to Rizespor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Rizespor 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Add another name to the list: Bandirmaspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emir Ortakaya. The answer from Rizespor has not changed — yet.
Husniddin Aliqulov 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 Qazim Laci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Rizespor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Trabzonspor is saying, and nobody at Rizespor is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Genclerbirligi have kept their man, and Rizespor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Attila Mocsi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kayserispor arrived with $3.5M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rizespor can pretend not to have heard.
Muhamed Buljubašić has gone, the accounts have $3.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qazim Laci 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.
Add another name to the list: Bodrum FK have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Anıl Yaşar. The answer from Rizespor has not changed — yet.
In brief
Player ratingsAli Sowe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rizespor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Rizespor go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Rizespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Rizespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Mihăilă 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 name of Mame Mor Faye has come up in conversations Rizespor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Can Turuc after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
$6.8M on the table at Besiktas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Kayserispor for Muhamed Buljubašić 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $7.4M — a club that wants Orkun Kökçü enough to be asked twice.
Qazim Laci 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Volkan Demiral 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. Ahmet Omur has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Kahveci 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rizespor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rizespor 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 Qazim Laci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Eray Korkmaz has come up in conversations Rizespor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.