Marked for Fábio Lima
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lázaro Brítez
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market18 Nov 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Nov 2030
7 saves: Mateus was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market18 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at Feirense
Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Souza Silva 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.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Fábio Lima did the work nobody counts — 6.90
11 combined actions and 6.90. 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.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Ninety minutes of Simon Adingra at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Feirense.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Sep 2030
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Feirense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Sep 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Portimonense, and it could have been more.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
Salvador Blopá: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.78, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 Sep 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market23 Sep 2030
“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 Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Age has not caught Fábio Lima yet — 7.81
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Rafael Paulino 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvador Blopá 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Aug 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
Thomas Prickett: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dimitris Stavropoulos has agreed terms with Vitoria Guimaraes for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad5 Aug 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stéphane Diarra and Feirense agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guilherme Figueiredo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words exchanged at Feirense
Salvador Blopá 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.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rio Ave have kept their man, and Feirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Aug 2030
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Campos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Aug 2030
A promise honoured for Fábio Lima
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Feirense told Fábio Lima something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jun 2030
“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 Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jun 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Feirense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Igor Milioransa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Feirense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Feirense asked and Tondela said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thomas Prickett is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Feirense
Rafael Paulino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Lázaro Brítez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lázaro Brítez has just signed for Feirense, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salvador Blopá was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
Wages eat 92% of everything Feirense 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jun 2030
24 days out for Miguel Campos after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Feirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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 Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jun 2030
Feirense say no — this time
The offer from SuperSport United for Salvador Blopá was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Feirense
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout3 Jun 2030
Davide Bianchi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Dimitris Stavropoulos 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Salvador Blopá 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.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Farense have kept their man, and Feirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Apr 2030
A fracture rules Miguel Campos out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feirense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Apr 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Feirense
Alysson Edward 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvador Blopá 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.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Fábio Lima 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 Feirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joao Miranda, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Mar 2030
“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.
Market18 Mar 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Igor Milioransa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Feirense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Marked 7.95 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad18 Mar 2030
William Gomes 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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salvador Blopá was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Feirense can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match16 Mar 2030
A 1‑1 draw with Tondela leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Feirense dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Mar 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Mar 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A falling-out at Feirense
William Gomes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Uri Lima has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Diarra 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.
The terraces4 Mar 2030
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fábio Lima, and the manager let it.
Market4 Mar 2030
“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.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Nobody on the pitch touched William Gomes
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Feirense had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Feb 2030
Nowhere to hide for Feirense
0‑4 against Benfica B, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market18 Feb 2030
BATE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Feirense did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market18 Feb 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Feb 2030
William Gomes 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.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Salvador Blopá 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.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aranđel Stojković, and the manager let it.
In brief
-
The dugout
No place for Fábio Lima on the big day
-
Boardroom
Doors closed at Feirense
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jan 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom21 Jan 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market21 Jan 2030
Estrela da Amadora pay $650.0K, 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Jan 2030
João Pedro 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 Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Feirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jan 2030
Fábio Lima is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Feirense has been clear about where Fábio Lima stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Dec 2029
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Francisco Souza Silva provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Pedro Borges: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Dec 2029
It finished 3‑1, and it was Francisco Souza Silva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Feirense.
Squad24 Dec 2029
João Pedro 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 Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Dec 2029
Farense blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Farense tried to reorganise, Feirense did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stéphane Diarra is on it.