Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Juventud Torremolinos is running low.
Lesedi Steve Alset 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emre Akbaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Juventud Torremolinos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto Flores trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Juventud Torremolinos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Juventud Torremolinos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sabadell in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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 The request is on a desk at Juventud Torremolinos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mateo González after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Camacho 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.
Juventud Torremolinos asked and Antequera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Juventud Torremolinos has been clear about where Bozada stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Juventud Torremolinos, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventud Torremolinos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything agreed with Athletic Bilbao, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Bernabé 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Álex Camacho 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Juventud Torremolinos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutÁngel Climent knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juventud Torremolinos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Juventud Torremolinos know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bernabé is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mateo González after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.