Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tropi 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Tibério Cunha’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richecard Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Makedonikos now.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tropi 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.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Makedonikos than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Makedonikos, another week without a signature from Manuel De Marco.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richecard Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Makedonikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richecard Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Makedonikos asked and PAOK 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Panetolikos moved on, Tasos Amanatidis reports back to Makedonikos, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jean-Pascal Fontaine and Makedonikos agree another 2 years.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richecard Richard 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panionios have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Makedonikos, another week without a signature from Manuel De Marco.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Makedonikos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Makedonikos can pretend not to have heard.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richecard Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2‑3 to Kampaniakos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richecard Richard 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richecard Richard 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Giannis Christodoulopoulos knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grigorios Fortounis after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
90 minutes played. Manuel De Marco found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and PAS Giannina went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tropi 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel De Marco has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tropi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Makedonikos asked and Panionios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Faroukou Cissé trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Makedonikos opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Faroukou Cissé stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Makedonikos will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Iraklis Gerolakkou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Makedonikos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEL Larisa keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Makedonikos asked and Atromitos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from MEAP Nisou for Manuel De Marco was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Ilioupoli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Makedonikos asked and Marko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Makedonikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giannis Christodoulopoulos has just signed for Makedonikos, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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; Makedonikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He is 20, and nobody at Makedonikos signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Makedonikos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Noah Verhoeven 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.
Add another name to the list: Panionios have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tasos Amanatidis. The answer from Makedonikos has not changed — yet.
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.
“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; Makedonikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Makedonikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atromitos have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Rubén García 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Makedonikos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Makedonikos and AEK have settled on $30.0K. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Makedonikos can pretend not to have heard.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Ilioupoli wanted more than $150.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tropi 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.
Makedonikos asked and Olympiacos 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 phone has started ringing about Manuel De Marco again, and this time the name on the line is MEAP Nisou. Makedonikos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Volos NPS arrived with $190.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Position 3, 31 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.
Stergios Paraskevas has gone, the accounts have $190.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The offer from APEA Akrotiri for Manuel De Marco was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Panionios, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Emmanuel Nzala has, at Makedonikos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tropi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Makedonikos will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Stergios Paraskevas 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Àlex Blanco is 15, and Makedonikos 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Thomas Karaberis is on it.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Makedonikos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Makedonikos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos 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 Christos Kryparakos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonis Kapnidis is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nassim Khamlichi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 3, 31 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Panargiakos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Makedonikos know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chania have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Add another name to the list: Spartakos Kitiou have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel De Marco. The answer from Makedonikos has not changed — yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Makedonikos can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Makedonikos had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The offer from Spartakos Kitiou for Manuel De Marco was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Erivaldo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chania have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Kryparakos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tibério Cunha. 1‑0 against Kavala, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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; Makedonikos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Faroukou Cissé 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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.
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 dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Grigorios Fortounis to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Makedonikos will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“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 Makedonikos know it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tibério Cunha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Makedonikos 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Christos Kryparakos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Makedonikos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Kryparakos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Yelko Pino 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.
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Moreno 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Makedonikos will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonis Kapnidis is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stelios Tsoukanis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.71 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Makedonikos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Makedonikos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 8 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Makedonikos asked and PAOK 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Makedonikos is enjoying the guessing.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Makedonikos asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tobi Adeleke and Makedonikos agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jorge Moreno 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.
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.
Makedonikos have made the call to Levadiakos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PAOK have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rui Vieira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Olympiacos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Add another name to the list: Doxa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel De Marco. The answer from Makedonikos has not changed — yet.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Makedonikos asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Makedonikos know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Makedonikos have made the call to Egaleo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Makedonikos have made the call to Asteras. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Makedonikos is enjoying the guessing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Makedonikos have done the hard part with Kampaniakos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Makedonikos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Makedonikos, another week without a signature from Tibério Cunha.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Makedonikos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Kryparakos 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The offer from Neftchi for Tibério Cunha was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Makedonikos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jean-Pascal Fontaine 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.
Makedonikos asked and OFI 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Makedonikos has been clear about where Jorge Moreno stands, which is more than many ever get.