Position 18 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Takumi Tsuchiya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Taiju Ichinose has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Rintaro Yajima is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Filip Uremovic 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 looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ventforet Kofu the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Takumi Tsuchiya 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ventforet Kofu. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Takumi Tsuchiya and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
9 new faces, and Ventforet Kofu 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ventforet Kofu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Takuya Okamoto is living that version at Ventforet Kofu, and it tends to show in the first month.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Takuya Okamoto and Ventforet Kofu agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Takuya Okamoto is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ventforet Kofu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ventforet Kofu told Kenshin Yuba something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hajime Mitoma was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Ventforet Kofu dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Yudai Tanaka
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hajime Mitoma after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Gamba Osaka next, and one man in the Ventforet Kofu dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutKeisuke Sato knocks on the manager's door
Takumi Tsuchiya 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ventforet Kofu told Filip Uremovic something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
16 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutKeisuke Sato knocks on the manager's door
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through George Onaiwu
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.
Filip Uremovic 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.
Everybody at Ventforet Kofu saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Still no offer on the table, and Ryuji Sugimoto’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ryuji Sugimoto and Ventforet Kofu agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Oct 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 0‑2 Hajime Mitoma left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ventforet Kofu are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Takumi Tsuchiya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It is 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vissel Kobe? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Takumi Tsuchiya 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.
Minute 86, against Vegalta Sendai, 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Kohei Kawata'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.
It needed Yamato Naito to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vegalta Sendai, 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.” Hajime Mitoma chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuta Koide was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ventforet Kofu can pretend not to have heard.
Filip Uremovic 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ventforet Kofu are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ventforet Kofu will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ventforet Kofu can tell you which week it ends in.
Ventforet Kofu asked and Yokohama F. Marinos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to FC Tokyo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Aug 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 0‑1 Hajime Mitoma left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ventforet Kofu are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
0‑3 to Shonan Bellmare, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ventforet Kofu has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Ventforet Kofu close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu 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 Yuta Koide was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shonan Bellmare go through and Ventforet Kofu go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Ventforet Kofu asked and Shonan Bellmare said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Haruya Ide has just signed for Ventforet Kofu, and for once the answer mattered.
The deal with Kawasaki Frontale is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Renato Augusto 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.
0‑4 against Kashiwa Reysol, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kawasaki Frontale have kept their man, and Ventforet Kofu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 6 of the 23 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Takumi Hasebe 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. Hiroki Ueda 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. Takumi Hasebe 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. Wataru Inoue is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ventforet Kofu asked and FC Tokyo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ventforet Kofu have gone to Kashiwa Reysol with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kohei Kawata and Ventforet Kofu agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
500 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.
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. 10 actions, 6.43, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.