1. On Tuesday, after a sea of news and rumors, Vladimir Ivitch, coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, announced that he is now leaving in the middle of the season to coach the Russian club Krasnodar. "A better league, an interesting challenge," he explained.
Leave the scandal that a club the size of Maccabi Tel can't keep a coach in the middle of a championship race. At least keep him until the end of the season, it's not Arsenal that offers Ivic to come, or Barcelona, it's all Krasnodar - minus a mediocre team.
But in my eyes that is the secondary story.
There is a fundamental problem with the entire handling of the case.
From the moment the news was published, the Tel Aviv club chose to remain silent, while the Serbian coach also said in the past round: "I can't comment if this is my last game. I'm here right now, that's all."
Is it really his right and the club's right to withhold such important information from the fans?
Although the team belongs to Canadian businessman Mitch Goldhar, it is not a tractor wheel manufacturing plant in Emek Hafer, but a team whose every game fascinates tens of thousands of fans, who invest the best of their money and time, and whose Maccabi Tel Aviv occupies an important part of their lives.
We are also not talking about strategic plans for next season, but about the here and now, an emergency situation.
Who will coach a team that wanted to win the title in the upcoming game?
Sure it's their business, obviously they should get an update.
Nothing would have happened if the coach had admitted that he decided to leave and the team leaders had told about their plans, these are still not the secrets of the Iranian nuclear power.
It's Israeli football, that's all.
It's a shame, but this is how football looks all over the world.
Sterile, distant.
Clubs control most of the information with fancy websites, and the big clubs even have a TV channel.
You will always see smiles, amusements, birthday parties for the afsani there - and there is no way you will hear about beatings in the dressing room, or heartbreaking crying after a layoff.
"Take a picture, take a picture, you make a living here, even when you don't."
2. This week the funeral procession was held for Pele, the Brazilian football genius who shone when the game was much simpler and accessible, and not like the one that is managed today by cold and manipulative businessmen.
For me, there was never a question as to who is the greatest footballer of all time - Pele, Maradona or Messi - because it is impossible to compare the game during the time of the Brazilian icon with the glory days of the Argentine geniuses.
The player's pace, athleticism, training.
It is not certain that Pele would have become a giant today.
And don't be convinced that Messi would fit into the style of the 1950s and 1960s.
What's more, in my opinion there is no one who has contributed to the industry like Pela.
Fella
One and only, photo: AP
He starred in the days when the TV camera didn't follow every step, and the football fan fed mainly on crumbs that arrived weeks late.
And yet Pele was as great as the game itself.
Children who had never seen him in action wanted to be like him.
He was a name that became a brand and hovered over us until the day he died, and you can be sure that long after.
3. Allowed to be published following the departure of the Brazilian star and also because of the statute of limitations: June 23, 1998, World Cup in France, Brazil vs. Morocco, at the Stade de la Beaujolais in Nantes.
An Israeli journalist rushes up the stairs to take his place in the stands, his head preoccupied with countless things.
Will it be enough for the opening whistle, did he close the door, turn off the light?
The journalist is in a hurry, not noticing that a man in a fancy suit is coming down quickly in front of him.
Those who stood on the sidelines could sense the impending collision, perhaps even smell a disaster that would change the face of history.
Less than a meter apart, maybe two steps, the man in the suit stopped.
The journalist also hurried to hit the brakes and looked ahead, staring at the Holy Spirit and muttering a stuttered "Sorry".
Pele smiled his trademark smile and elegantly sidestepped the nuisance.
A great miracle happened here.
Imagine what would happen if I broke the king's pelvis?
But why are you excited, it's all Pele and not Vladimir Ievich, the new coach of the Russian Krasnodar.
If it was him, the details would remain secret until the winter of 2123.
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