Marked for Matteo Cingolani
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Sep 2029
Arvydas Valskis damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match22 Sep 2029
3‑0, and Alexander Johansson took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Marko tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mattia Angelicchio did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market24 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Marko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Sep 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 Marko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Marko
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nontas Pantelakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Grigorios Tzolis kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2029
Arvydas Valskis damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 Sep 2029
38 days out for Fanis Tzandaris after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Marko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yauhen Klimovich has just signed for Marko, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Marko
Giorgos Masouras 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
Íñigo will join Marko for nothing
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Íñigo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Marko have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match15 Sep 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Alexander Johansson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Marko.
The terraces17 Sep 2029
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.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Lorenzo Nyarko
“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
Squad10 Sep 2029
Arvydas Valskis damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEL Larisa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Marko
Alexander Johansson 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Marko
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nontas Pantelakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Marko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Sep 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Marko can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Market10 Sep 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Killian Girolet has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Marko.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Marko
Giorgos Masouras and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
The numbers do not look good at Marko
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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Alexander Johansson 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 dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Mathias Abdou
“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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Lucas Puchetta 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 Lucas Puchetta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Arvydas Valskis has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Feb 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Marko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Diego Coxi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Coxi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Marko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Feb 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 Marko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Matteo Cingolani has just signed for Marko, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Marko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nontas Pantelakis 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.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panetolikos have kept their man, and Marko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market12 Feb 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Marko, another week without a signature from Sergio Fernández.
The dugout12 Feb 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Marko has been clear about where Frédéric Miyenga stands, which is more than many ever get.