Marked for Brian Mancini
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 May 2031
Douglas Jardel, 35, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 May 2031
Nobody wants to play Tacuarembo right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 May 2031
Pablo López 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 ratings12 May 2031
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.
Squad12 May 2031
Mateo Acosta 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.
Match10 May 2031
A 1‑0 win over Oriental, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match12 May 2031
Halfway: Tacuarembo sit in position 8
17 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout12 May 2031
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 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout12 May 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Brian Mancini
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces5 May 2031
Supporters organise against the Tacuarembo board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Player ratings5 May 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market5 May 2031
“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 Tacuarembo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 May 2031
Pablo López 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 Tacuarembo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Tacuarembo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Acosta 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 terraces5 May 2031
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match3 May 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pablo López. 2‑0 against Artigas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout5 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Lucas López
“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.
Boardroom5 May 2031
90% of the income goes out in wages at Tacuarembo
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.
In brief
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Squad
Felipe Coates makes the team of the month
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The form table has caught Brian Mancini
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Apr 2031
Brian Mancini 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 Tacuarembo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuarembo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Mateo Acosta 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
0‑1 to Cerro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Diego Méndez beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“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 dugout21 Apr 2031
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
Nazareno Luque 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 Tacuarembo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Mar 2031
“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 Tacuarembo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Mar 2031
The drought breaks for Tacuarembo
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Uruguay Montevideo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Pablo López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Mar 2031
It finished 3‑1, and it was Nazareno Luque’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tacuarembo.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Acosta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Pablo López reaches 200 appearances
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Match29 Mar 2031
Tacuarembo hit back inside 2 minutes
Uruguay Montevideo held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Tacuarembo answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Tacuarembo's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tacuarembo has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.14, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market24 Mar 2031
“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 Tacuarembo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Pablo López 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Mateo Acosta 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 dugout24 Mar 2031
“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.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Brian Mancini dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match22 Mar 2031
A 1‑1 draw with Atenas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Mar 2031
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Mar 2031
The cup run ends for Tacuarembo
1‑3 against Danubio, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match15 Mar 2031
6 matches without a win for Tacuarembo
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Tacuarembo are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Pablo López 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.
Match15 Mar 2031
Rampla Juniors left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Lapeyra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mauricio Nievas, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Mar 2031
Supporters organise against the Tacuarembo board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match8 Mar 2031
4 matches without a win for Tacuarembo
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Tacuarembo are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Diego Simoes 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Acosta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Mar 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas López, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Boardroom10 Mar 2031
Tacuarembo can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Mar 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
“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.
Market3 Mar 2031
“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 Tacuarembo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.13, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
An order from above at Tacuarembo: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Nazareno Luque 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 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Acosta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Mar 2031
Pablo López scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Fenix, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
Gastón Díaz 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Feb 2031
0‑3 against Colon, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Diego Simoes
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Tacuarembo will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Player ratings24 Feb 2031
Diego Méndez beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Pablo López 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 dugout24 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Mateo Acosta
“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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Pedro Lapeyra 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
Nobody left the Tacuarembo dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Feb 2031
“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 ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Diego Simoes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
5 academy graduates step up at Tacuarembo
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad17 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Acosta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Feb 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Camilo Gonzalez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Feb 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rodrigo Torres has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Feb 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joaquin Ferreira 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.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
Tacuarembo board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad3 Feb 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Douglas Jardel commits to Tacuarembo for another 2 years.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Pablo López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jan 2031
Deibys Moyano damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Market20 Jan 2031
“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 Tacuarembo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Diego Simoes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Cristian Santana arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristian Santana has, at Tacuarembo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market20 Jan 2031
Cristian Santana is 18, and Tacuarembo have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad20 Jan 2031
5 new faces, and Tacuarembo 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.
Market20 Jan 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tacuarembo, another week without a signature from Edwin Fernández.
Market20 Jan 2031
The clock does Santiago Vargas’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tacuarembo could ask drops and the wages Santiago Vargas can ask rise.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
Felipe Coates 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 Felipe Coates trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 Jan 2031
Supporters organise against the Tacuarembo board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Deibys Moyano damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match13 Jan 2031
Every point is an argument now for Tacuarembo
Position 14 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Nazareno Luque 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 targets13 Jan 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Mancini, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Tacuarembo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Lapeyra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Jan 2031
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tacuarembo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market13 Jan 2031
The Diego Méndez talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tacuarembo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Jan 2031
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuarembo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Pablo López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Mateo Acosta 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 targets6 Jan 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad6 Jan 2031
This league is too small for Nazareno Luque
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tacuarembo will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market6 Jan 2031
“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.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
Tacuarembo can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
Brian Mancini 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
Transfer targets9 Dec 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Wanderers is saying, and nobody at Tacuarembo is enjoying the guessing.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pablo López and Tacuarembo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Pablo López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom9 Dec 2030
Still nobody in the Tacuarembo dugout
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Transfer targets9 Dec 2030
Tacuarembo asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Dec 2030
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Mancini, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
A promise honoured at Tacuarembo
Something was said to Brian Mancini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Transfer targets9 Dec 2030
A loan enquiry to Montevideo City Torque: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 May 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market6 May 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words exchanged at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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.
Match4 May 2030
A bad afternoon for Albion against Juventud
1‑3 to Juventud, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad6 May 2030
Luciano Batista 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 dugout6 May 2030
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 1‑3 Ignacio Jimenez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad6 May 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Albion can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout6 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Alexis González
“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
Match27 Apr 2030
Nowhere to hide for Albion
0‑3 against Fenix, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market29 Apr 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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Apr 2030
Every point is an argument now for Albion
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Tempers go at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“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.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
Nobody left the Albion dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Albion can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Apr 2030
A hiding for Albion
Beaten 0‑3 by Montevideo City Torque, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match13 Apr 2030
8 matches without a win for Albion
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Albion are no longer polite ones.
Market15 Apr 2030
Brian Mancini has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match13 Apr 2030
The goals have deserted Albion
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Albion can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom15 Apr 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Albion
Hernán Toledo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Apr 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lautaro Bilbao commits to Albion for another 4 years.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Albion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Batista was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Brian Mancini
“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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Albion dressing room in a hurry
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Market
Alexis González told to find a new club
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Mar 2030
The wait goes on for Albion
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.
Market1 Apr 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.
Match30 Mar 2030
The goals have deserted Albion
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Albion can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Tempers go at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luciano Batista 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 dugout1 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nahuel Vives, and the manager let it.
Market1 Apr 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Franko Siegler has his answer from Albion; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ignacio Jimenez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match30 Mar 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Nacional will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Mar 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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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 Mar 2030
Luciano Batista 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 dugout11 Mar 2030
The manager makes an example of Alonso Herrera
“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 dugout11 Mar 2030
“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.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
Brian Mancini 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 Brian Mancini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Mar 2030
Uriel Ojeda told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Uriel Ojeda has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Albion.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
Point won or two lost for Albion?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Racing? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.57 for the rest of it.
Market4 Mar 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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Albion
Santiago Costa 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Albion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Batista was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Mar 2030
Albion make home a hard place to visit
8 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 dugout4 Mar 2030
“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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“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 Albion know it.
Match2 Mar 2030
It needed Lautaro Bilbao to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Boston River, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Feb 2030
Nowhere to hide for Albion
0‑3 against Danubio, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A falling-out at Albion
Hernán Toledo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Luciano Batista 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
Nahuel Vives 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.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
Doors closed at Albion
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Franko Siegler and Albion agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
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 0‑3 Ignacio Jimenez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
Lucas Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Albion will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Feb 2030
Brian Mancini 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 Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Graduation day at Albion
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Albion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luciano Batista 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.
Market11 Feb 2030
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Federico Pereira has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market11 Feb 2030
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fernando Viera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Feb 2030
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Franco Barrios 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Looking ahead11 Feb 2030
Danubio next, and one man in the Albion dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Feb 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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words exchanged at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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 dugout4 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alonso Herrera, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Albion 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Albion know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad4 Feb 2030
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Market4 Feb 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Albion, another week without a signature from Juan Alonso.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
Camilo Cuello 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
Upbeat
Market28 Jan 2030
Camilo Cuello 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 Albion can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jan 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Albion
Hernán Toledo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Luciano Batista 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 dugout21 Jan 2030
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 Lucas Rodríguez is on it.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
Brian Mancini 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.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“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.
Market21 Jan 2030
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Albion money.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jan 2030
Brian Mancini 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 Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomás Moschion and Albion agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Albion
Santiago Costa 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 targets14 Jan 2030
The clock did what Nacional would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad14 Jan 2030
No place for Ramon Castro in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Albion are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market14 Jan 2030
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Albion, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Jan 2030
Window shut, Uriel Ojeda still here
Albion spent the window trying to move Uriel Ojeda on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Albion keep producing them
-
The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Alexis González
-
Boardroom
The Albion board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Dec 2029
David Stabile 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 Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2029
Everything agreed with Progreso, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market24 Dec 2029
The name of Pablo Viudez has come up in conversations Albion were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Albion
André and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Albion can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market24 Dec 2029
A stepping stone, not a home, for Juan Agreda
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Albion were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Agreda and Albion agree another 4 years.
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 Lucas Rodríguez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Albion are going up
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Market10 Dec 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Albion have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market10 Dec 2029
Camilo Cuello 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 Albion can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Albion have done the hard part with Nacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Albion
André 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.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Albion have gone to Tacuarembo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Albion asked and Platense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Albion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Dec 2029
A stepping stone, not a home, for Lautaro Bilbao
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Albion were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Dec 2029
“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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hernán Toledo and Albion agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Albion
Hernán Toledo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Dec 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Albion go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Alonso Herrera
“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.
Market3 Dec 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
Brian Mancini 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 Brian Mancini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
A $545.8K-a-year partner for Albion
A signature, a photograph, and a line in the accounts. Nobody sings about it and everything else on this page is paid for by it.
Market3 Dec 2029
The name of Luciano Batista keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Albion say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Albion
Santiago Costa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Albion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market26 Nov 2029
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Albion could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Oct 2029
Albion up to position 2
53 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Ramiro Bertalmio: 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.” Albion have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Albion
André 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Mancini, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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 Albion know it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Lucas Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Albion will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Albion is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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 dugout15 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Pablo Viudez
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Brian Mancini 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 Brian Mancini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clock does Bruno Barja’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Albion could ask drops and the wages Bruno Barja can ask rise.
Squad15 Oct 2029
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 Albion would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 Oct 2029
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Juan Manuel López leaves Albion the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market15 Oct 2029
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Ivan Dos Santos leaves Albion the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Martín Leal
-
Squad
José Álvarez is training like a man with a point to make
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Albion
André and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Oct 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Franko Siegler slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Franko Siegler is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market1 Oct 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” David Stabile has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Albion.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Manuel López will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Albion the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market3 Sep 2029
“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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Albion
André and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Albion can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Sep 2029
David Stabile slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. David Stabile is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
Brian Mancini 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 Brian Mancini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Aug 2029
Albion up to position 2
53 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Albion
Hernán Toledo 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“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; Albion are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Manuel Suarez and Albion agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Aug 2029
Bruno Barja has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Albion
Santiago Costa 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“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 Albion know it.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clock does Bruno Barja’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Albion could ask drops and the wages Bruno Barja can ask rise.
Market20 Aug 2029
Albion have made David Stabile available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Albion, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Aug 2029
The season ends: position 2 for Albion
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 53 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Albion is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Albion
Santiago Costa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Pablo Viudez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.23 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Albion asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match4 Aug 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Lucas Rodríguez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Albion.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Ninety minutes of Lucas Rodríguez at his very best
Marked 8.55. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Albion.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Kevin Araujo out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Albion will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
Brian Mancini: 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.” Albion have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Jul 2029
Bruno Barja has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Albion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market23 Jul 2029
“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.
Match21 Jul 2029
Albion cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Albion close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bruno Barja 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Albion
André 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Albion asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
Kevin Araujo breaks a bone — 83 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.19, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market16 Jul 2029
“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 Albion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Plaza Colonia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match14 Jul 2029
Albion cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad16 Jul 2029
André 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 Albion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match14 Jul 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Airala. 2‑0 against La Luz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market16 Jul 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Brian Mancini has his answer from Albion; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Lucas Rodríguez
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Squad
100 appearances for André
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Player ratings
A defender's afternoon for André
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Albion
André 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market25 Jun 2029
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
A promise honoured at Albion
Something was said to Brian Mancini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan move for Martín Pino is in the works
Albion 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan enquiry to Grêmio: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abhishek Deo commits to Albion for another 2 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Alexis González
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Martín Leal knocks on the manager's door