Marked for David Tuček
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Feb 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Feb 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Feirense may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Rafael Paulino 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
11 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Miguel Campos 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.
Transfer targets17 Feb 2031
Feirense asked and Torreense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Feb 2031
Maritimo left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Oct 2030
Lázaro Brítez damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Market7 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 The request is on a desk at Feirense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Oct 2030
Only the photograph left for Salvador Blopá
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Salvador Blopá will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Feirense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Salvador Blopá 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.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.87, and 2 involvements.
Match5 Oct 2030
Leixões left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Feirense
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Campos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvador Blopá, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jun 2030
David Tuček hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feirense can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jun 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Feirense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Davide Bianchi 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
At 21 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words exchanged at Feirense
Dimitris Stavropoulos 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 Jun 2030
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvador Blopá 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.
Market24 Jun 2030
Predrag Ilic is 19, and Feirense have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
Salvador Blopá 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 Feirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Miguel Campos out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feirense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitória waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Feirense is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jun 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Jun 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Feirense have done the hard part with Porto, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Jun 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 Feirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Feirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Suleimane Baldé commits to Feirense for another 4 years.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aranđel Stojković, and the manager let it.