Marked for Leandro Lopes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 May 2029
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Volos NPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 May 2029
Hesham Adel 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 Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 May 2029
Volos NPS may not be able to give Ricardinho what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ricardinho wants continental football; whether Volos NPS can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 May 2029
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Joca 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 dugout28 May 2029
Lenny Lobato has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Volos NPS 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.
The dugout28 May 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Volos NPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 May 2029
A promise honoured for Hesham Adel
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Volos NPS told Hesham Adel something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market28 May 2029
Volos NPS have let the market know Leandro Lopes can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Joca
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Squad
Hesham Adel is not doing himself any favours
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Volos NPS
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 May 2029
Sebastian Mladen damages knee ligaments — 101 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Market7 May 2029
Leandro Lopes 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 Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
Words exchanged at Volos NPS
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Joca 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 dugout7 May 2029
Ricardinho 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 Ricardinho is on it.
Market7 May 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.
The dugout7 May 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Volos NPS. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout7 May 2029
Tijn Vergeldt 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 Tijn Vergeldt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 May 2029
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Lazaros Lamprou has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2029
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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Volos NPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
Market9 Apr 2029
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Volos NPS
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Volos NPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Volos NPS can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
When it matters, Ricardinho plays
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 dugout9 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maksym Kovaliov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Mar 2029
43 days out for Giorgos Mygas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Volos NPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Volos NPS
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Volos NPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Belevonis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
When it matters, Ricardinho plays
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.
Market12 Mar 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A wage question at Volos NPS
Giannis Kousoulos has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Luca Costa 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 Luca Costa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Giorgos Mygas out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volos NPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Feb 2029
Nowhere to hide for Volos NPS
0‑3 against PAOK, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Volos NPS close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market5 Feb 2029
Leandro Lopes 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 Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Feb 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel wants continental football; whether Volos NPS can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with Baltika, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Market5 Feb 2029
Panathinaikos pay $560.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vasilis Bratsiotis has, at Volos NPS, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
Giorgos Mygas breaks a bone — 116 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Volos NPS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match6 Jan 2029
5 matches without a win for Volos NPS
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Volos NPS are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Jan 2029
Leandro Lopes 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 Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The deal with Kifisia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Volos NPS
Joca 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Belevonis 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
The name of Joris Gouache has come up in conversations Volos NPS were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2028
A European night to remember for Volos NPS
1‑0 against Excelsior, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match2 Dec 2028
Asteras will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Volos NPS were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Volos NPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Dec 2028
“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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Volos NPS heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastian Mladen and Volos NPS agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volos NPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Volos NPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2028
Volos NPS come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of Basel. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Market30 Oct 2028
“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 Volos NPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lazaros Lamprou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Joca 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
A 1‑0 win over Panetolikos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Lenny Lobato was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The team sheet said everything about Giannis Kousoulos
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 Giannis Kousoulos.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Sep 2028
Leandro Lopes 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 Volos NPS can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Sep 2028
Ricardinho has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Volos NPS can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Volos NPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joca 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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Too much change too quickly at Volos NPS
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout18 Sep 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Mar 2028
Joca stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joca and Volos NPS agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Volos NPS
Lazaros Lamprou 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Volos NPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“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.
Market6 Mar 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Leandro Lopes slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Leandro Lopes is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
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The dugout
Giorgos Mygas asks for a word with the manager
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The dugout
Tedi Cara has been promised minutes
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Joca