Marked for Andreas Christou
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
10 unbeaten for Ermis
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Ermis did not have in the autumn.
Market14 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Ermis
Kevin Haveri 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tord Salte 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 terraces14 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Andreas Christou 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Labros Ioannou, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Andreas Christou at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Match12 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
8 unbeaten for Ermis
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Ermis did not have in the autumn.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Ermis
Gabriel Maioli 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Xo'jamurod Tursunov is living that version at Ermis, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Dániel Farkas 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
Three points for Ermis, 2‑1 the final word against Doxa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Dec 2027
Ermis sink to position 13
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Ermis
Gabriel Maioli 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tord Salte 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 ratings13 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Aldair Ramírez at his very best
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ermis.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Giorgos Marinos
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match11 Dec 2027
It needed Aldair Ramírez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against AE Kition, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Harald Martin Hauso’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The mood at Ermis 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Ermis
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ermis is running low.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Ermis
Gabriel Maioli 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Dániel Farkas 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“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.
Match27 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Tord Salte 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 Ermis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2027
“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 Ermis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Oct 2027
4 matches without a win for Ermis
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ermis are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Martin Hauso 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ermis come up short against APOEL
APOEL left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“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
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andreas Christou is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market30 Aug 2027
The shirt still fits. Giorgos Panagi is back at Ermis, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ermis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tord Salte has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Ermis
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Martin Hauso 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
1‑2 to Anorthosis, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Michael Creek out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ermis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andreas Christou is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ermis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Ermis's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ermis has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ermis
Karlo Bručić 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Ermis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Malekkidis 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
A bad afternoon for Ermis against Apollon
1‑2 to Apollon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages eat 108% of everything Ermis earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Oct 2026
Omonoia refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 34 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Pantelis Michail 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.
Squad19 Oct 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 Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Stevan Jovetić
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Omonoia against Apollon
0‑1 to Apollon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
5.66 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.