There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Apollon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Garry Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Connor Goldson is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Apollon are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Apollon, another week without a signature from Andreas Siikkis.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Apollon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Apollon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Connor Goldson and Apollon agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Garry Rodrigues 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.
Something was said to Andreas Siikkis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Joel Asoro is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Apollon, another week without a signature from Gabriel Lima.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Apollon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Apollon would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Apollon hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Apollon are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Meyer 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.
Orhan Džepar 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Joel Asoro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Apollon have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Apollon told Max Meyer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Lazar Marković is on it.
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.
Nearchos Zinonos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ioannis Stylianou to a room that had heard them before.
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 Lazar Marković is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emanuel Aiwu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nearchos Zinonos 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andreas Siikkis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Apollon have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Thomas, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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.” Ioannis Stylianou kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Apollon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Omonoia Aradippou kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Apollon will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A brace, and Pedro Marques takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pedro Marques provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Apollon, 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.” Apollon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Philipp Kühn reports back to Apollon with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Garry Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Gustavo Assunção and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Apollon 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apollon can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emanuel Aiwu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nobody at Apollon 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Apollon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
36 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apollon can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Apollon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Nobody at Apollon 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Apollon told Andreas Siikkis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The minutes were not coming at Apollon, so they will be looked for at PAEEK. A loan out is not a goodbye, but it is always a question: about the player, or about the plan.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Nearchos Zinonos 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.
Nobody at Apollon 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Malekkidis 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Apollon told Giorgos Malekkidis something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Apollon may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Ivan Ljubić delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ivan Ljubić scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Pedro Marques.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Apollon are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Willian Lira will call it something else in private.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Apollon would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apollon can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Philipp Kühn reports back to Apollon with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Omonoia Aradippou left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ioannis Stylianou to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Bruno Gaspar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Apollon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morgan Brown will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Apollon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apollon can pretend not to have heard.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pedro Marques. 1‑0 against AEL, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Apollon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Apollon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Something was said to Ali Youssef and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Apollon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
11 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ioannis Stylianou on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Alen Ožbolt is on it.