Marked for Sergio Jara
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the San Telmo boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rodrigo Dinocco
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Telmo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Tassitani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sergio Jara has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2027
13 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Sep 2027
Sergio Jara hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Sep 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Laba 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.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Racing Santander to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Telmo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Match18 Sep 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
The numbers do not look good at San Telmo
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for San Telmo
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market23 Aug 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Yangali 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for San Telmo against Mitre
0‑1 to Mitre, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Franco Tisera 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.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
“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 San Telmo, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at San Telmo
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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑3 to Estudiantes, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match24 Jul 2027
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Market26 Jul 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted San Telmo
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at San Telmo can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Yangali 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Franco Tisera 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nicolás Baigorria will call it something else in private.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ramiro Montoya
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Telmo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Sergio Jara hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jun 2027
San Telmo say no — this time
The offer from Borneo for Juan Pablo Rial was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Jun 2027
Antonio Roble has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Yangali 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
152% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
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 terraces14 Jun 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.