Marked for Pipe
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Jun 2034
Marked 7.90 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings12 Jun 2034
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.93, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market12 Jun 2034
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
The deal with Comunicaciones is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match10 Jun 2034
It finished 3‑1, and it was Robert Blaszczykowski’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Güemes.
Squad12 Jun 2034
A row about effort at Güemes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dionel Ansaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Jun 2034
Wages swallow 288% of the Güemes income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The terraces12 Jun 2034
At 20 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2034
A fracture rules Sebastián Salas out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Güemes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Mar 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Güemes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout27 Mar 2034
This is not rotation. Gianluca Pugliese has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Güemes is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2034
A row about effort at Güemes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dionel Ansaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Mar 2034
A falling-out at Güemes
Sebastián Salas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Mar 2034
Ricardo Flores has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Güemes 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 dugout27 Mar 2034
Juan Rugeri 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 Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2034
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Güemes money.
Market27 Mar 2034
Pipe is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Güemes has been clear about where Pipe stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Jan 2034
Supporters organise against the Güemes board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad16 Jan 2034
121 days out for Sebastián Salas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Güemes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market16 Jan 2034
“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.
Squad16 Jan 2034
Words at Güemes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dionel Ansaldo 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.
Boardroom16 Jan 2034
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Squad16 Jan 2034
No place for Franco Russo in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Güemes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market16 Jan 2034
Güemes have made Facundo Melillán available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout16 Jan 2034
Juan Rugeri 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 Güemes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Jan 2034
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Apr 2033
The wait goes on for Güemes
32 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces11 Apr 2033
Supporters organise against the Güemes board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match9 Apr 2033
A hiding for Güemes
Beaten 0‑6 by Ferrocarril Midland, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match9 Apr 2033
Güemes are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match9 Apr 2033
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Güemes and Ferrocarril Midland, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad11 Apr 2033
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.
The dugout11 Apr 2033
“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.
Boardroom11 Apr 2033
The Güemes debt reaches $10.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Boardroom11 Apr 2033
Nobody left the Güemes dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Apr 2033
31 matches without a win for Güemes
The run now stands at 31, and the questions being asked around Güemes are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Apr 2033
A hiding for Güemes
Beaten 0‑4 by San Martín de Burzaco, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match2 Apr 2033
Güemes leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad4 Apr 2033
Dionel Ansaldo 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.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
Doors closed at Güemes
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Boardroom4 Apr 2033
Wages eat 101% of everything Güemes earn
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.
Market4 Apr 2033
“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 dugout4 Apr 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at Güemes
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Daniel Ferrari
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Squad
Pipe makes his debut at 19