Marked for Issa Sall
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Apr 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Kavala, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johan Rodallega will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kavala the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“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 Kavala know it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kavala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Kavala training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Kartalis 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
Bilal Mazhar knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bilal Mazhar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Markos Sifneos signs something — a contract at Kavala or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
When it matters, Issa Sall 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Markos Sifneos may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market27 Mar 2028
“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.
Market27 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kavala is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kavala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Bilal Mazhar 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Kavala
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Hruštinec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Kavala will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Markos Sifneos 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 Kavala, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Markos Sifneos signs something — a contract at Kavala or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Issa Sall has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kavala 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Feb 2028
“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 Kavala, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kavala they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kavala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Kavala
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Kartalis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“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 Kavala know it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salim Hashimov, and the manager let it.
Market28 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Markos Sifneos signs something — a contract at Kavala or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Issa Sall has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kavala 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Jan 2028
“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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johan Rodallega will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kavala the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kavala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Alexandros Kartalis 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 targets31 Jan 2028
Iraklis have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iván Torregrosa, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Markos Sifneos knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Markos Sifneos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Markos Sifneos signs something — a contract at Kavala or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pavlos Pelkas
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kavala lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kavala have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kavala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Kavala training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandros Kartalis 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Iván Torregrosa
“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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Bilal Mazhar 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.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Kavala take on the side everybody is chasing
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Market
Javi Zarzo linked with a move away
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The dugout
Issa Sall gets picked when it counts
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Squad
Pablo Viudez wants to know why he earns less