Marked for Máximo Zúñiga
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Oct 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Oct 2030
Noah refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market21 Oct 2030
Only the photograph left for Gabi Pereira
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabi Pereira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Gabi Pereira 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 Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
When it matters, Yan Eteki 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
At 22 nothing has moved for months. Not backwards, which would at least be a conversation — simply nowhere, and somebody at the club has to decide whose fault that is.
Market21 Oct 2030
“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 dugout21 Oct 2030
“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
Match25 Feb 2030
Noah are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 35 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad25 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Costache was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Feb 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mario González has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Noah have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anatoliy Ayvazov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
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 dugout25 Feb 2030
“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.
Market25 Feb 2030
The name of Takuto Oshima keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pyunik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Noah
Yan Eteki 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 Feb 2030
Valentin Costache 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 dugout18 Feb 2030
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout18 Feb 2030
Gor Manvelyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Noah 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 dugout18 Feb 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“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.
Market18 Feb 2030
The Yan Eteki talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Noah know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Noah would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Yegor Pozdnyakov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Feb 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Noah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yan Eteki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Noah
Jordy Monroy 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.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Noah asked and Mlada Boleslav 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 dugout11 Feb 2030
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad11 Feb 2030
“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 Noah know it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Noah are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market11 Feb 2030
He is 17, and nobody at Noah signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Dec 2029
Noah up to position 2
35 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Yan Eteki 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 dugout31 Dec 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad31 Dec 2029
Noah are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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 dugout31 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anatoliy Ayvazov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marin Jakoliš’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Davit Davtyan has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
Valentin Costache damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Market24 Dec 2029
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Noah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Noah
Kalifala Doumbia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yan Eteki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad24 Dec 2029
“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 Noah know it.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
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 dugout24 Dec 2029
Lucio Valdez 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Dec 2029
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Noah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Dec 2029
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Noah
Kalifala Doumbia 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yan Eteki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
Valentin Costache has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Noah 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.
Market10 Dec 2029
Noah and Gabi Pereira are talking past each other
“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 dugout10 Dec 2029
Kalifala Doumbia 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 dugout10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Máximo Zúñiga, and the manager let it.
Market10 Dec 2029
Yan Eteki linked with a move away
The name of Yan Eteki keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Noah say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentin Costache
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Noah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Oct 2029
“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 Noah, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Máximo Zúñiga: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Noah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Coneglian will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Noah the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Noah
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yan Eteki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jordy Monroy, and the manager let it.
Market22 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Noah, another week without a signature from Kalifala Doumbia.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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; Noah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.