The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Braga moved on, André Gomes reports back to Vitoria Guimaraes, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Thijs Muller has just signed for Vitoria Guimaraes, and for once the answer mattered.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kevin Gutiérrez scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitoria Guimaraes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Catarino Pascoal 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Dieu Michel will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Belenenses escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wolmer will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Belenenses close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 3 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.
Francisco Moura 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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Sem Verdonk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Belenenses will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The offer from Utrecht for Sem Verdonk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitoria Guimaraes is saying, and nobody at Belenenses is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Belenenses asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dieu Michel. 2‑1 against Leixões, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match26 Jan 2036
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Belenenses. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Belenenses asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Oliveirense; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
7 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Braga have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 17 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Afonso Lopes. 1‑0 against Nacional, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Joao Goncalves 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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A brace, and Dieu Michel takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dieu Michel provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Andraž Miklič 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 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.
Trofense held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Belenenses answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ralph Schuster on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Robert Petculescu 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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 22 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ralph Schuster could afford to be generous.
Dieu Michel 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 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.
Gil Vicente will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Huguinho has pre-agreed a move to Belenenses, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gonzalo Pan is living that version at Belenenses, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Belenenses, and both men came out saying it was fine.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses 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.” Cristian Jiménez Osuna and Belenenses agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Matteo Colombara has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Belenenses have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Belenenses have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ed McJannet has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Belenenses have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Robert Petculescu has just signed for Belenenses, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Belenenses can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Belenenses could ask drops and the wages Sem Verdonk can ask rise.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belenenses lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Zé Pedro
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sem Verdonk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dieu Michel 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Vitoria Guimaraes will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Miha Sitar has pre-agreed a move to Belenenses, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.15, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I watch every Belenenses game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vizela runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belenenses lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Vitoria Guimaraes will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Cristian Uparela has pre-agreed a move to Belenenses, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sem Verdonk has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belenenses lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Dieu Michel scored in the 85th minute, Varzim had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Belenenses took the lot.
Víctor Machado 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Belenenses will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dieu Michel. 1‑0 against Varzim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Belenenses 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.
“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 Belenenses know it.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Belenenses asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belenenses lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Adam Letlat has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The deal that would have taken Christian Benedict Hansen to Trofense has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Belenenses with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses 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.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Belenenses lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Belenenses close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 35 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Víctor Machado 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.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andraž Miklič 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Raye Cissé has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Belenenses have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Neithan Barbosa. 1‑0 against Oliveirense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Belenenses lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Belenenses will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lusitânia Lourosa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Belenenses, and it is not being withdrawn.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Belenenses lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Belenenses will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Aug 2035
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Belenenses. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Belenenses have done the hard part with AVS, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Francisco Moura 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
In brief
SquadAndraž Miklič falls out with a teammate over standards
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Belenenses will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Belenenses 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 Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Andraž Miklič 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.
Belenenses asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Christian Benedict Hansen again, and this time the name on the line is Caldas. Belenenses are listening politely and promising nothing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Belenenses will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Víctor Machado 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.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andraž Miklič 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Bull Salzburg have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. António Neto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. António Neto has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Jesús Juárez 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.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Belenenses asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Cristian Jiménez Osuna 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 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Belenenses have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Belenenses. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Belenenses, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Full confidence, expressed in the dull, deliberate language boards reserve for when they mean it. The window that follows will show whether the words came with money attached.
In brief
SquadBernardo Moreira is training like a man with a point to make
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Belenenses have had the benefit of 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.
“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.
Boardroom21 May 2035
102% of the income goes out in wages at Belenenses
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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; Belenenses are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
73 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Benedict Hansen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Jiménez Osuna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
“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; Belenenses are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Belenenses, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Dani Carvalho is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cristian Jiménez Osuna signs something — a contract at Belenenses or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Sem Verdonk talk too
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Belenenses heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Belenenses, another week without a signature from Sem Verdonk.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 73 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Francisco Moura 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.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vinícius Fabri. 1‑0 against Porto B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Adam Letlat 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Felipe Barbosa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nuno Gomes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bernardo Correia has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Afonso Cunha has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Víctor Machado 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 Vinícius Fabri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Braga B, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Sem Verdonk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Benfica B next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ralph Schuster could afford to be generous.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marco Tavares is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
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.
Braga B next, and one man in the Belenenses dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Cristian Jiménez Osuna 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 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cristian Jiménez Osuna. 1‑0 against Sporting CP B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom26 Mar 2035
102% of the income goes out in wages at Belenenses
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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 Zé Pedro.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dani Carvalho. 3‑1 against Pacos de Ferreira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
Sem Verdonk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Marked 7.84 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Víctor Machado will call it something else in private.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Francisco Moura 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.
Everybody at Belenenses saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Belenenses prefer.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Benedict Hansen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Marco Tavares has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Tavares. 2‑0 against Fafe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.92, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
Belenenses asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Christian Petito 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Belenenses people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for 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 Belenenses, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Belenenses close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 9 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vinícius Fabri 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
António Neto 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Belenenses have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jesús Juárez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Belenenses asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. António Montez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vinícius Fabri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 7, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Marco 09 had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Belenenses did not stop to explain themselves.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vinícius Fabri 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.
Marco 09 made Belenenses work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
Sem Verdonk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Camilo Barrios will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
António Neto 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Víctor Machado. 2‑0 against Fafe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 134% of the Belenenses income
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.
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.
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.
A 3‑0 win over Felgueiras, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings18 Sep 2034
Marco Tavares, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Benedict Hansen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Belenenses the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Belenenses this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Machado 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8.10. 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.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Belenenses is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Víctor Machado 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Words at Belenenses training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vinícius Fabri 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Belenenses are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Belenenses can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Belenenses they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Belenenses close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 19 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Belenenses is enjoying the guessing.
Cristian Jiménez Osuna 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 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.
Belenenses asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Belenenses people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Belenenses have done the hard part with Braga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Las Palmas have kept their man, and Belenenses go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The goal that put Santa Clara ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Belenenses equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.