Marked for Mink Nipius
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Frets Butuan: 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.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at PSM
Borja Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at PSM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gledson 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 116% of everything PSM 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Aloísio Soares knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aloísio Soares trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Nov 2027
The Kodai Tanaka talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; PSM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at PSM
Borja Martínez 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 Nov 2027
Gabriel Silva 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adi Satryo, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Aloísio Soares asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market22 Nov 2027
The Luka Čumić question follows PSM around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luka Čumić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Borja Martínez and PSM agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Nov 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at PSM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gledson 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Mink Nipius named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mink Nipius is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yoav Karadi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Gabriel Silva: 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.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A falling-out at PSM
Borja Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Gledson 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
98% of the income goes out in wages at PSM
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 dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mink Nipius, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at PSM would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 Nov 2027
The Kodai Tanaka talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad1 Nov 2027
PSM have started building around Mink Nipius
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
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.