Marked for Jonathan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Chaves
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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
João Valido in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Chaves training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Rodrigues is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match20 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Chaves
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Chaves go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Robyn Esajas 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
João Valido knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaves, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
Jonathan dropped after a run of poor form
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Chaves?
-
Looking ahead
Rafael Barbosa faces his old club
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 58. 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
4 matches without a win for Chaves
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chaves are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Chaves
João Valido 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Chaves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bradford City have kept their man, and Chaves go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Lopes 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.33 on the card, and the Chaves support went home talking about one name.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Pedro Pelágio knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pedro Pelágio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
João Valido and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A move Diogo Pereira would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diogo Pereira is living that version at Chaves, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Chaves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Paulo Machado 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Leiria left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Pedro Pelágio
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Chaves
10 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.
The dugout9 Nov 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Luis Conceicao to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
João Valido knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaves, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Iago runs at them all day
-
The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Jonathan
-
Market
Chaves and Diogo Pereira are talking past each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for João Vítor
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chaves lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Chaves asked and Estoril Praia 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 targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Leixões keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
Pedro Pelágio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Progreso: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Botafogo have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.20. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Conceicao was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chaves dressing room was either.