From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match4 Sep 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Nueva Chicago did not have in the autumn.
Match4 Sep 2027
A 2-1 win over Estudiantes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
6 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad6 Sep 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Facundo Masuero knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
88% of the income goes out in wages at Nueva Chicago
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Diego Barros 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Nueva Chicago will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rodrigo Ramírez commits to Nueva Chicago for another 4 years.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Facundo Masuero
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Stade Rennais to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nueva Chicago and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Match14 Aug 2027
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nueva Chicago now.
Squad16 Aug 2027
4 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Aug 2027
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market9 Aug 2027
Stabaek pay $4.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match7 Aug 2027
Talleres made Nueva Chicago work for it, but the scoreboard read 1-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
114% of the income goes out in wages at Nueva Chicago
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonel Ortíz and Nueva Chicago agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Aug 2027
Persib are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Nueva Chicago will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Javier Pereyra
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2027
Position 16, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Jul 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 Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
LA Galaxy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nueva Chicago did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages eat 127% of everything Nueva Chicago earn
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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Persib are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Nueva Chicago will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Vega
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match10 Jul 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Gimnasia y Esgrima came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Alan Ruiz wants a proper job in this side
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Alan Ruiz has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Nueva Chicago know, and have known for weeks.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Agustín Cohen has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Nueva Chicago can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match3 Jul 2027
Beaten 1-2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Nueva Chicago have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad5 Jul 2027
38 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ramiro Balbuena asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Nueva Chicago
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market28 Jun 2027
Matías Vera hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match26 Jun 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Aalborg to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nueva Chicago and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 1 matches say the rest.
Squad28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ramiro Balbuena
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market21 Jun 2027
Diego Arroyo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Jun 2027
4 matches without a win for Nueva Chicago
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Nueva Chicago are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Facundo Masuero
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nueva Chicago now.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Rodrigo Ramírez asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
10 matches without a win for Nueva Chicago
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Nueva Chicago are no longer polite ones.
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 May 2027
9 matches without a win for Nueva Chicago
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Nueva Chicago are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Nueva Chicago
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 May 2027
Diego Barros 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.
Match1 May 2027
A 1-1 draw with Chaco For Ever leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 May 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.