50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Karmiotissa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces11 Oct 2032
The mood at Karmiotissa 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Karmiotissa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Andrej Popov 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Karmiotissa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Karmiotissa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Xandre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karmiotissa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karmiotissa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Samuel Alves 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Karmiotissa can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Karmiotissa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lionel Leguizamón 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bruno Leanza is living that version at Karmiotissa, and it tends to show in the first month.
This is not rotation. Diego Blanco has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Karmiotissa is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 May 2032
Samu Casado 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.
A new face in his position, and Samu Casado suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Karmiotissa have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Karmiotissa 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 Karmiotissa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Blanco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karmiotissa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Diego Blanco has agreed terms with Chalkanoras Idaliou for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Karmiotissa 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 Matija Špoljarić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Karmiotissa know it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Karmiotissa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Karmiotissa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Karmiotissa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Karmiotissa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Lionel Leguizamón 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Karmiotissa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Karmiotissa 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Karmiotissa can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chimezie Williams will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karmiotissa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lionel Leguizamón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Words at Karmiotissa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasilis Katsoulidis 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 mood at Karmiotissa 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Karmiotissa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Karmiotissa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Diego Blanco reports back to Karmiotissa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Karmiotissa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1 for Brandon Franco, marked 6.84, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andreas Theokli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Karmiotissa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Karmiotissa and Ypsonas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Cristóbal Gómez is living that version at Karmiotissa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
In brief
SquadWords at Karmiotissa training over how hard people work