8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pacos de Ferreira has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pacos de Ferreira 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Johan Balanta wants continental football; whether Pacos de Ferreira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Half the programme played, position 10, 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.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Pacos de Ferreira had all but put away. Tondela will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Miguel Mota will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pacos de Ferreira the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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: Marquinhos Cipriano. 1‑0 against Portimonense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pacos de Ferreira can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pacos de Ferreira is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed with Farense and then the doctor spoke. Pacos de Ferreira have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Cardoso 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pacos de Ferreira have done the hard part with Farense, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Cardoso 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 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pacos de Ferreira will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pacos de Ferreira is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonçalo Cardoso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nuno Cunha 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 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.
David Grilo 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pacos de Ferreira will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Pacos de Ferreira, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Cardoso 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pacos de Ferreira 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 Pacos de Ferreira 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 Pacos de Ferreira 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 Gonçalo Cardoso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Nuno Cunha is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pacos de Ferreira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Felgueiras is saying, and nobody at Pacos de Ferreira is enjoying the guessing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ricardo Yordanov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Pacos de Ferreira asked and Santa Clara 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 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 name of Leonardo Santos has come up in conversations Pacos de Ferreira were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.05, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Pacos de Ferreira until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Pacos de Ferreira had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Johan Balanta is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pacos de Ferreira can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pacos de Ferreira have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Pacos de Ferreira and Académico de Viseu have settled on $370.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Johan Balanta is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ferro 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.
Pacos de Ferreira 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.
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.
Nobody at Pacos de Ferreira 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJoão Fernandes asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pacos de Ferreira will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pacos de Ferreira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Cáceres is living that version at Pacos de Ferreira, 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vitinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.