135 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The mood at Makedonikos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Makedonikos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
301 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Olympiacos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to AEK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dani Morer
142 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Makedonikos can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dani Morer 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.
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: OFI keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Makedonikos have gone to AEK 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.
Makedonikos offered $43.0K; AEK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Morer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Makedonikos asked and AEL Larisa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Panionios is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Makedonikos is enjoying the guessing.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEL Larisa have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Makedonikos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Makedonikos had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Benjamín Rojas has just signed for Makedonikos, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Callens 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.
Kabissan Gomis is 20, and Makedonikos 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 May 2027
94% of the income goes out in wages at Makedonikos
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.
Nobody at Makedonikos 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Hugo Busto 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Makedonikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 8 and 17 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Makedonikos can pretend not to have heard.
Maxime Pélican 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Palacios 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Makedonikos will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Makedonikos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Darío 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Palacios 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.
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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
93% of the income goes out in wages at Makedonikos
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.
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 Giorgos Kyriopoulos is on it.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Darío and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Palacios 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.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Hugo Busto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Pélican 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.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ben Drake has just signed for Makedonikos, and for once the answer mattered.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pablo Santana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Germán has written the date down.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Miguel Vieira is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Maxime Pélican 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 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.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Darío 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 Mar 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Palacios 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eiler Aponzá trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Tobi Adeleke is on it.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Darío 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Callens 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Makedonikos 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.
Branko Vrgoč damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Callens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Makedonikos asked and Ferro Carril Oeste said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Egaleo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
Position 8 on 17 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Panionios, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
4 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.
Darío and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Pepe 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.
At 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Pepe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Minute 87, against PAOK B, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Callens was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.22 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Makedonikos had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michalis Papadopoulos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Germán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Pepe 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Germán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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 Tasos Amanatidis is on it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Makedonikos the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Maxime Pélican 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Boris Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Asteras Tripolis B? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Maxime Pélican 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 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
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.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boris Palacios 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giorgos Kyriopoulos 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then PAS Giannina scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Atromitos go through and Makedonikos go home, 3‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Makedonikos and Atromitos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michalis Papadopoulos after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
$600.0K settles it between the clubs for Ioan Yakovlev
Panionios have accepted the money. What Makedonikos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $651.4K — a club that wants Ioan Yakovlev enough to be asked twice.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Escobar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris Thessaloniki have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Makedonikos have made the call to Panathinaikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Germán
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Pablo Escobar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Makedonikos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Makedonikos has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.