Marked for Ivane Chegra
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 5 in, 5 out at Egaleo
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Egaleo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nick Perc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAOK have kept their man, and Egaleo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Egaleo
Ivane Chegra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch7 Feb 2028
“I watch every Egaleo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Panathinaikos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Feb 2028
André wants to go home
“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 Egaleo know it.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andreas Kristiansen commits to Egaleo for another 4 years.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jan 2028
Egaleo bow out of the cup
AEK go through and Egaleo go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match24 Jan 2028
Egaleo up to position 3
30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
No sign of nerves from Jason Boyata at 17 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jason Boyata did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Egaleo
Raúl Navarro 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.
Match19 Jan 2028
Egaleo leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Egaleo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanis Bakoulas 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 dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kostas Triantafyllopoulos, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages swallow 90% of the Egaleo income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Jan 2028
Egaleo finish in position 3
30 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match15 Jan 2028
At last: Egaleo win one
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Hellas Syros. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Egaleo
Raúl Navarro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diogo Pereira. 3‑2 against Hellas Syros, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Egaleo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nick Perc 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Egaleo asked and Radnicki Nis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Jan 2028
Egaleo are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
Egaleo supporters have found a favourite in Ivane Chegra
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivane Chegra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match1 Jan 2028
7 matches without a win for Egaleo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Egaleo are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Egaleo had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Egaleo
Diogo Pereira 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Egaleo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Egaleo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanis Bakoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch3 Jan 2028
“I watch every Egaleo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Panionios runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Nov 2027
The knee: Antonio Leal out for 14 days
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Egaleo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Nov 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad8 Nov 2027
18 days out for Miguel Clavería after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Egaleo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Zean Dalügge takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match6 Nov 2027
Nobody wins at Egaleo
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.04, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Antonio Leal 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 Egaleo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Zean Dalügge at his very best
Marked 9.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Egaleo.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Egaleo supporters have found a favourite in Ivane Chegra
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivane Chegra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
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Player ratings
Diogo Pereira runs at them all day
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The dugout
André gets it from the manager
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Match
The half-term report on Egaleo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
The knee: Antonio Leal out for 39 days
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Egaleo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match18 Oct 2027
Nobody above Egaleo
First, on 13 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
No sign of nerves from Jason Boyata at 16 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jason Boyata did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match16 Oct 2027
The run at home goes on for Egaleo
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Egaleo
Raúl Navarro 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Fanis Bakoulas 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 terraces18 Oct 2027
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jason Boyata. 1‑0 against Panargiakos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Egaleo
Vuk Draškić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Egaleo
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Egaleo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanis Bakoulas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Home is on André's mind
“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; Egaleo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Jason Boyata gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Nobody at Egaleo 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nick Perc’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Fanis Bakoulas: 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.” Egaleo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Miguel Clavería out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Egaleo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Nick Perc beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Egaleo
Antonio Leal 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Egaleo make home a hard place to visit
9 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Egaleo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanis Bakoulas 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 terraces20 Sep 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match18 Sep 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Antonio Leal’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Egaleo.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Diogo Pereira
“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
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dimitris Tatsis damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
102 days out for Miguel Clavería after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Egaleo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Egaleo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
In brief
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Market
Egaleo say no — this time
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Squad
Words exchanged at Egaleo
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Squad
Words at Egaleo training over how hard people work
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The dugout
Ivane Chegra keeps his manager's vote