He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by 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 Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Güemes would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The name of Gianfranco Baier has come up in conversations Güemes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Thomás Amilivia
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Güemes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by 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 Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadThe selectors could not leave David Veliz out
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
The shirt still fits. Andrés Moretti is back at Güemes, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The shirt still fits. José Martínez is back at Güemes, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Güemes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Güemes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Güemes can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.