Marked for Gerardo Martínez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Valladolid paid $5.3M and Oviedo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Oviedo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Oviedo have done the hard part with Elche, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Boca Juniors is saying, and nobody at Oviedo is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Santi Cazorla 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Oviedo
Alberto Reina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Oviedo asked and Córdoba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
A hiding for Oviedo
Beaten 1‑5 by Barcelona, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Oviedo
Santi Cazorla 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Chris Ramos among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Chris Ramos on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Oviedo and Barcelona.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Costas, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gerardo Martínez and Oviedo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Oviedo dressing room in a hurry
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Oviedo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Tasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Gonzalo Díaz to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Oviedo asked and Málaga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what Deportivo La Coruña would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 24 in, 1 out at Oviedo
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Oviedo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santi Cazorla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Oviedo
Alberto Reina 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Fran Vélez gets it from the manager
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Carlos Fernández did the work nobody counts — 6.74
9 combined actions and 6.74. 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.
The dugout7 Sep 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Gonzalo Díaz to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Deportivo La Coruña; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Oviedo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Oviedo
Santi Cazorla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Carlos Fernández’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Oviedo.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Oviedo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Tasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
22 new faces, and Oviedo 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Gonzalo Díaz could afford to be generous.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Oviedo have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.