Marked for Edimer Zea
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
Camilo Durán in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Santander this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 85% of everything Real Santander earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Santiago Tamayo without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Santiago Tamayo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Real Santander now.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Edimer Zea moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Real Santander than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2027
Juan David Lázaro damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Tamayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Juan Pablo Habib 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Camilo Durán gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Dilan Tapia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Real Santander
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Camilo Durán 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 Aug 2027
Santiago Tamayo 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Pablo Habib, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Dilan Tapia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager makes Harlem Salas a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Real Santander. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Santiago Tamayo 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 Aug 2027
Santiago Jiménez 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Real Santander
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Real Santander signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Harlem Salas knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Santander, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Pressure builds in the Real Santander boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Camilo Durán 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 Aug 2027
Julian Angulo 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 dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Ahumada, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.