The Vélez Gazette
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Graduation day at Vélez
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Afimico Pululu 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
One of our own: Juan Manuel Castillo joins the Vélez first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Manuel Castillo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
Carlos Aguirre steps up from the Vélez academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlos Aguirre has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Feb 2027
One of our own: Murci joins the Vélez first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Murci is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
Vélez promote Miguel Medina from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Miguel Medina has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match6 Feb 2027
Lucas Robertone sends Vélez past Almirante Brown
It finished 1‑0, and it was Lucas Robertone’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Vélez.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jano Gordon 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
One of those days for Lucas Robertone
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
- Squad Words exchanged at Vélez
- Squad Yoel Marchi signs on for more
- The dugout The view from the dugout