Marked for Thanos Prodromitis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Gustavo Mancha 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Barros 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Stefan Šavija
“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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Novica Eraković 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Olympiacos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Panetolikos, another week without a signature from Dejvid Hoxha.
Market16 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lenny Lobato may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Sep 2028
Niki Volos are out and Panetolikos go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market2 Oct 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Lazar Kojić goes up and wins it — 7.87
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Mody Boune 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
A bad afternoon for Panetolikos against AEK
1‑3 to AEK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Lucas Román
“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.
Market2 Oct 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.
The dugout2 Oct 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luis Fernando Cruz 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Aug 2028
Kwadwo Opoku 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 Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Unai Garcia 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 Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Barros 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 dugout14 Aug 2028
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.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“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 dugout14 Aug 2028
When it matters, Miguel Luís plays
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.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
Kwadwo Opoku 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 Panetolikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Panetolikos. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
Supporters make their feelings known about Nikola Stajić
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Panetolikos would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Unai Garcia 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 Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“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; Panetolikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Panetolikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Independiente have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Gimnasia La Plata have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Lionel Gómez 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 Panetolikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
When it matters, Miguel Luís plays
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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Panetolikos have let the market know Konrad Michalak can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
The offer from AEL Larisa for Kwadwo Opoku 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jun 2028
The paperwork is done: Panagiotis Avgerinos joins from Marko in a deal worth $42.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad12 Jun 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Panagiotis Avgerinos is living that version at Panetolikos, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Luis Fernando Cruz 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 dugout12 Jun 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Pavlos Karvounis 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Yoël Armougom gets picked when it counts
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 Yoël Armougom is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Lionel Gómez: 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.” Panetolikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahim Auger commits to Panetolikos for another 4 years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Pavlos Karvounis 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.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Panetolikos, and 0 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Novica Eraković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thanos Prodromitis, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Unai Garcia 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 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luis Fernando Cruz commits to Panetolikos for another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lavagnino 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Unai Garcia, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Lionel Gómez
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lionel Gómez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Panetolikos have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Dec 2027
Anagennisi Karditsa will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Panetolikos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match30 Nov 2027
PAOK go through and Panetolikos go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad6 Dec 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Panetolikos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Alexis Segovia at his very best
Marked 9.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Panetolikos.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Panetolikos, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces6 Dec 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Unai Garcia 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
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Panetolikos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Niki Volos pay $350.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“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 Panetolikos know it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Panetolikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lavagnino 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 targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Panetolikos, another week without a signature from Mody Boune.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Thanos Prodromitis 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.