Marked for André Vakulyuk
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 May 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 May 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Asteras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 May 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
58 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market27 May 2030
He is 20, and nobody at Asteras signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad27 May 2030
André Vakulyuk 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 André Vakulyuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Apr 2030
“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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asteras they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“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; Asteras are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad29 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Apr 2030
86 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 Apr 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Asteras can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Apr 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Grzegorz Krychowiak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Asteras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
André Vakulyuk 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 André Vakulyuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Apr 2030
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Asteras has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 Apr 2030
Asteras have let the market know Grzegorz Krychowiak can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Apr 2030
“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.
Market1 Apr 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Bouzoukis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Asteras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market1 Apr 2030
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Asteras hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Apr 2030
The medical room confirms 114 days on the sidelines for Jan Vondra, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Apr 2030
André Vakulyuk 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Mar 2030
“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 Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Andrés Tello
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Tello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Asteras the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match25 Mar 2030
Asteras up to position 3
48 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Dimitris Emmanouilidis 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.
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
103% of the income goes out in wages at Asteras
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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Issiaga Sylla 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 Issiaga Sylla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market25 Mar 2030
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Asteras could get for him.
Market25 Mar 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Asteras know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Alexandros Siovas has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Asteras can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Issiaga Sylla and Asteras agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Nikola Šipčić 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Dimitris Chatsidis
8 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match1 Dec 2029
Three points for Asteras, 1‑0 the final word against Volos NPS in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Nov 2029
“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 Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A season average of 7.49 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match24 Nov 2029
Three points for Asteras, 3‑1 the final word against AEL Larisa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Marked 8.61 — 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Asteras lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Market26 Nov 2029
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Asteras could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Alexandros Siovas has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asteras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oswaldo Valencia, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
A season average of 7.33 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Loan watch5 Nov 2029
“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 Asteras, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Oct 2029
“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 Asteras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Asteras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Asteras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Migouel Alfarela, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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; Asteras are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Nikola Šipčić 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
Kifisia left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.73, and no argument anywhere in the ground.