Marked for David Păcuraru
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Farul Constanța until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Farul Constanța have done the hard part with Lokomotiv Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Alexandru Buzbuchi 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CFR Cluj have kept their man, and Farul Constanța go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emirhan İlkhan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ionuţ Cojocaru. 1‑0 against Hermannstadt, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch7 Feb 2028
21 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Ionuţ Cojocaru at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Farul Constanța.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Jan 2028
Unirea Slobozia will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Farul Constanța were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market3 Jan 2028
“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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Farul Constanța did not have in the autumn.
Market3 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Farul Constanța have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ionuţ Vînă 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.
Transfer targets3 Jan 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.
Loan watch3 Jan 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 Farul Constanța, and 5 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces3 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Dec 2027
Alexandru Măţan had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Rapid Bucharest were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Alexandru Buzbuchi 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 terraces6 Dec 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 8.32 — 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ionuţ Vînă was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ianis Spînu and Farul Constanța agree another 3 years.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Corvinul Hunedoara to sit and watch. I want to come back to Farul Constanța and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Farul Constanța lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match4 Nov 2027
0‑1 against Zalgiris, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Match7 Nov 2027
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Farul Constanța are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alexandru Buzbuchi 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.
Match7 Nov 2027
CFR Cluj left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch8 Nov 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 Farul Constanța, and 5 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Farul Constanța training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionuţ Vînă 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Something was said to Emirhan İlkhan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Steve Furtado
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farul Constanța lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Gregor Ilicic 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Munteanu and Farul Constanța agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Farul Constanța will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Corvinul Hunedoara to sit and watch. I want to come back to Farul Constanța and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Emirhan İlkhan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Farul Constanța 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
No place for Fabinho in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fabinho has his answer from Farul Constanța; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Steve Furtado
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farul Constanța lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Sep 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market13 Sep 2027
The offer from Oțelul Galați for Cristian Sima 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match11 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Emirhan İlkhan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Farul Constanța go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces13 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ionuţ Vînă was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Steve Furtado
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Farul Constanța lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Aug 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market16 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Cristian Sima
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Sima will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Farul Constanța the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Levski is saying, and nobody at Farul Constanța is enjoying the guessing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Cristian Mihai 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 targets16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Farul Constanța training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionuţ Vînă 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 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Ionuţ Vînă
“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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Farul Constanța had all but put away. CSM Reșița will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Farul Constanța training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Buzbuchi 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Steve Furtado 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 watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Farul Constanța game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Somandru, and the manager let it.
Loan watch3 May 2027
25 appearances at Vorskla and the goals keep coming. Farul Constanța are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Market3 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandru Măţan signs something — a contract at Farul Constanța or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 May 2027
André Seruca has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Farul Constanța 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.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I am playing every week here and I feel like a footballer again.” 16 appearances and 1 goals on loan, and a decision waiting in the summer.
The dugout3 May 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 Farul Constanța, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Farul Constanța may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Eric Somandru is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Steve Furtado 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Păcuraru, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Eric Somandru 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 Farul Constanța, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Farul Constanța that is a harder question to answer.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Farul Constanța would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
29 starts now, an average of 6.64, and the team sheet at FC Bacău has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Market15 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Răzvan Tănasă’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.86 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Killian Camélé 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Slatina
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at CSM Slatina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vlad Prejmerean 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
It needed Iustin Doicaru to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against CS Tunari, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudiu Apró, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Farul Constanța's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Farul Constanța has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ionuţ Vînă 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Farul Constanța asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match21 Feb 2027
CFR Cluj left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch22 Feb 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 Farul Constanța, and 7 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
26 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
Farul Constanța take on the side everybody is chasing
FCSB arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ionuţ Năstăsie out for 142 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSM Slatina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Florin Ştefan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Both jobs done by George Leaţă — 7.55
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.55, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Sepsi OSK made CSM Slatina work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Vlad Prejmerean 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ianis Dragusin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
180% of the income goes out in wages at CSM Slatina
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Corvinul Hunedoara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Tsoungui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSM Slatina, another week without a signature from Borisav Burmaz.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ianis Dragusin after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 ahead2 Nov 2026
Steaua Bucharest next, and one man in the CSM Slatina dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Florin Ştefan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Florin Ştefan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Mihai Răcăşan 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vlad Prejmerean 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Raman Chibsah
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
At 19 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Cătălin Preduţ: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match14 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 win over Farul Constanța, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. 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 dugout19 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Borisav Burmaz. 2‑1 against Gloria Bistrița, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Vlad Andreş 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. David Păcuraru 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Tsoungui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Szilárd Magyari
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CSM Slatina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 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 CSM Slatina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
CSM Slatina close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Florin Ştefan 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
CSM Slatina asked and ŁKS Łódź said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Tsoungui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.