Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Juventud Torremolinos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mirandés is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirandés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán Cano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mirandés asked and Celta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirandés can pretend not to have heard.
Aritz Arambarri 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.
15 games, 13 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Mirandés now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasco Sousa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martín Pascual trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Jack Perkins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Aritz Arambarri 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.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vinicius Balieiro will call it something else in private.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jesús Marín was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Mirandés dressing room was either.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirandés they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Marchi 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mirandés is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Aritz Arambarri 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán Cano 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirandés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Jack Perkins is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dani Ceballos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mirandés needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirandés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Marchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Portillo and Mirandés agree another 2 years.
Francisco Portillo is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jack Perkins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Algeciras in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Marchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Mirandés know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mirandés will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pablo López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jack Perkins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirandés know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirandés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mirandés will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Oviedo for Mickaël Malsa 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.
Mirandés asked and Getafe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vasco Sousa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mirandés have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirandés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mirandés will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Burgos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Thiago Milanese 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Vasco Sousa 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.
Modena 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jack Perkins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Mirandés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Marchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Moreirense will make the call about Alberto this week. Mirandés have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jack Perkins's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutMartín Pascual asks for a word with the manager
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Mirandés have had the benefit of it.
“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 Mirandés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aritz Arambarri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Elijah Owona 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mirandés told Igor Nikić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirandés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
Jack Perkins is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Position 6, 60 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Elijah Owona 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.
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Sergio Postigo will call it something else in private.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jesús Marín chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.