Marked for Ylan Aka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Dudu Hatamoto
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dudu Hatamoto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around São João de Ver the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 May 2029
Dudu 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sem Morales, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2029
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.
The dugout14 May 2029
David Teixeira knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at São João de Ver, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 May 2029
The clock does David Teixeira’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee São João de Ver could ask drops and the wages David Teixeira can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Apr 2029
Anger at São João de Ver spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad30 Apr 2029
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. São João de Ver lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Apr 2029
Tiago Campas 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 São João de Ver can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at São João de Ver is running low.
Squad30 Apr 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 São João de Ver this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Márk Jagodics for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. São João de Ver will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market30 Apr 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at São João de Ver can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Dudu Hatamoto knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at São João de Ver, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Mar 2029
David Teixeira has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around São João de Ver they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Dudu 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.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Kaíque Maciel gets picked when it counts
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 Kaíque Maciel is on it.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Sem Morales 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 Sem Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Mar 2029
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what São João de Ver could get for him.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Ylan Aka takes up the language
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Mar 2029
Position 9, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Mar 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 São João de Ver, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Tiago Campas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at São João de Ver is pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Dudu Hatamoto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Dudu Hatamoto 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Ylan Aka gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2028
No end in sight to São João de Ver's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at São João de Ver has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Oct 2028
130 days out for Márk Jagodics after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. São João de Ver will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Oct 2028
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at São João de Ver can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” São João de Ver may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Dudu Hatamoto 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Trofense left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kaíque Maciel and São João de Ver agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“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 São João de Ver know it.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
Wages eat 96% of everything São João de Ver earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
No hiding place for Ylan Aka
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The dugout
When it matters, Kaíque Maciel plays
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
No thanks: Abdu Conté rejects the move
São João de Ver had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Casa Pia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
São João de Ver asked and Casa Pia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Victor Braga 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Silvério Júnio 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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Santa Clara: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Rio Ave have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Jair Monteiro 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.
Market31 Jul 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs São João de Ver money.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at São João de Ver is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tondela is saying, and nobody at São João de Ver is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The offer went to Braga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
São João de Ver asked and Tondela said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Torreense, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Dudu Hatamoto 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Silvério Júnio 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs São João de Ver money.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Jovany Correia
“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.