Marked for Yurdy Ramos
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2030
Real Santander refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 43 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.
Market4 Nov 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Camilo Durán in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Nov 2030
The manager makes an example of Breinner Román
“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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
The captaincy has been taken off Jaime Mora. Real Santander will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad4 Nov 2030
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Sep 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Real Santander may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Camilo Durán in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Sep 2030
Camilo Durán in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Sep 2030
The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Freddy Sanchez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“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
Steady
Match15 Jul 2030
Real Santander refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 43 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.
Market15 Jul 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.
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Santander is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Camilo Durán 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for José Torres, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market15 Jul 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Real Santander, another week without a signature from Yurdy Ramos.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Pressure builds in the Real Santander boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The numbers do not look good at Real Santander
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market14 Jan 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Santander they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Camilo Durán in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Bonetto, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Jan 2030
This league is too small for Luigi Ortiz
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Real Santander will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Real Santander may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Camilo Durán 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Breinner Román
“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.