Marked for Bob Omoregbe
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for David Costa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Costa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torreense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout10 May 2027
Lucas Paes: 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.” Torreense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Torreense
Javi Vázquez 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 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Torreense can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Costinha
“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.
Market10 May 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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Torreense game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Oliveirense runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad10 May 2027
Unai Pérez 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.
Squad10 May 2027
The weekend belonged to Dany Jean
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torreense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Javi Vázquez 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
João Marques 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Manu Pozo
8 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Torreense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Alfaro 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Pedro Costa left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Bob Omoregbe 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 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torreense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anísio Cabral is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad8 Mar 2027
At 19, Anísio Cabral is already the best thing here
An average of 7.02 in a first team he is several years too young for. Torreense have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Stopira signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stopira and Torreense agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Torreense can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
No hiding place for Adriel
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adriel, and the manager let it.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Oliveirense to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torreense and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Pedro Costa to a room that had heard them before.