Marked for Tincho
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Álvaro Martín has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Castellón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Castellón, 1‑0 the final word against Cádiz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Castellón
Selton 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marc Rubio on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Castellón
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Saipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Tincho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tincho, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Castellón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$6.4M on the table at Almería. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Málaga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Las Palmas have kept their man, and Castellón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Alberto Jiménez
“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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Marc Rubio to a room that had heard them before.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Castellón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tincho 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The formation has left Selton behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Castellón will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Samuel Soares rejects the move
Castellón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Federico Ceccherini 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 targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Selton is 19, and Castellón 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The formation has left Manuel Olaya behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Castellón will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Castellón
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tincho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Castellón, another week without a signature from Antonio Samaniego.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
No investment in the facilities at Castellón
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ronaldo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Castellón has been clear about where Ronaldo stands, which is more than many ever get.