Marked for Loukas Stamellos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Charalabos Kyriakidis has just signed for Panetolikos, and for once the answer mattered.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panetolikos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Marvelous Nakamba 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Lucas Barrera is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Panetolikos asked and Lincoln City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Panetolikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Petros Donis has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Panetolikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandru Măţan and Panetolikos agree another 4 years.
Market2 Aug 2027
AEL Larisa did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $46.0K for Joel Valdemarín, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panetolikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Panetolikos asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Manrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2027
The mood at Kifisia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market24 May 2027
“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 Kifisia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Kifisia
Tiago Manso 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Kifisia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Pombo 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luciano Maidana, and the manager let it.