“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aris know it.
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 Alex Opoku Sarfo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Lelle, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Juraj Badelj 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.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalabos Charalabous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 combined actions and 6.73. 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.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Wes Foderingham 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Aris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aris can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalabos Charalabous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Charalabos Charalabous is on it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Mislav Zadro'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anderson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Anorthosis in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aris know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 for David Lelle, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Wes Foderingham 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 7.19, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Aris ran out of time with Karmiotissa. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aris know it.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
This is not rotation. Santiago Sala has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Aris is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Aris close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Karmiotissa moved on, Anastasios Pisiias reports back to Aris, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Aris will try again when the window opens; PAEEK may not be selling by then.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aris has been clear about where Andronikos Kakoullis stands, which is more than many ever get.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Digenis Morfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aris is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aris know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Charalabos Charalabous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Christos Almyras 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.
Something was said to Anderson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Charalabos Charalabous is on it.
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 dugoutVeljko Nikolić asks for a word with the manager
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
55 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aris can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. João Celeri had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Mislav Zadro 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
David Lelle 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.
10 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.
Doxa have accepted the money. What Aris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Aris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aris asked and Karmiotissa 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 had been thinking. Charalabos Charalabous 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.
Mislav Zadro 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Aris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. David Lelle is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
55 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Wes Foderingham 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charalabos Charalabous 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.
29 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Aris now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad29 May 2028
7 new faces, and Aris are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Jaden Montnor is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Veljko Nikolić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Wes Foderingham is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wes Foderingham signs something — a contract at Aris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Charalabos Charalabous has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Aris have no good answer.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paralimni lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paralimni they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marko Simonovski 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Simonovski. 1‑0 against Ethnikos Achnas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yacine Bourhane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Wes Foderingham is on it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
24 appearances at Omonoia Aradippou and the goals have stopped going in. Aris lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wes Foderingham signs something — a contract at Aris or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Ethnikos Latsion will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paralimni were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paralimni is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.99, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Gal Kurež 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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
In brief
Looking aheadThe big one: AEZ Zakakiou come into view
Player ratingsDavid Lelle was on a different afternoon to everybody else
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paralimni lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paralimni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Paralimni asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
APEA Akrotiri left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Charalambos Kastanos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Position 2, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Paralimni will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paralimni is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
David Lelle 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Paralimni are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stavros Dimosthenous will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paralimni the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Lelle 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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Simonovski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gal Kurež was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paralimni they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Lelle and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Simonovski 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
AEZ Zakakiou next, and one man in the Paralimni dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Paralimni has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Paralimni know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alen Kozar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paralimni the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Lelle 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Loizos Kosmas 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.
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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Eduardo'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paralimni, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jalil Saadi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paralimni the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paralimni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Simonovski 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.
“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 dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Charalambos Kastanos left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paralimni, 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 Paralimni can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paralimni 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 Paralimni 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 Alison Araçoiaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Lazăr will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paralimni the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Lelle and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Javi Navarro 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paralimni, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word 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 Paralimni, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Iberia 1999 for Adebayo Adeleye 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.
Gal Kurež and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Max Miller 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.
Paralimni asked and Bellinzona 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Symeon Solomou, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Eduardo'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Cesco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Paralimni would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Charalambos Kastanos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paralimni can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartakos Kitiou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Paralimni is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paralimni they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bellinzona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paralimni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alison Araçoiaba and Paralimni agree another 4 years.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aris have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Wes Foderingham 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aris has been clear about where Chahid el Allachi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Something was said to David Lelle and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Paralimni have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Paralimni have done the hard part with Aris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Marko Simonovski 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.
Paralimni asked and AEZ Zakakiou said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimitris Makris is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Grigoris Ioannou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Symeon Solomou 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Veljko Nikolić 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Aris are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ruan Costa has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Yair Mena is on it.