Marked for Nil Muñoz
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MEAP Nisou can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MEAP Nisou can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Emergency meeting at MEAP Nisou
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer from Shamakhi for Lazaros Alexiou 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.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2029
The deal with Omonoia Aradippou 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$391.2K from the owner keeps MEAP Nisou afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Theocharis Chari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A row about effort at MEAP Nisou
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shadaï Lengi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Apr 2029
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Diogo Silva
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diogo Silva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MEAP Nisou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Shadaï Lengi 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of George Asamoah
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Pabos Aristotelous 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Panagiotis Kylilis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market30 Apr 2029
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs MEAP Nisou money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MEAP Nisou
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MEAP Nisou can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Eric Appiah Ansu 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Telavi have kept their man, and MEAP Nisou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
No signings allowed at MEAP Nisou
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The MEAP Nisou debt reaches $11.7M
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Davit Davtyan 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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lazaros Alexiou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Oskar Klat 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 May 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets22 May 2028
Everything was agreed with another club and then the doctor spoke. MEAP Nisou have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at MEAP Nisou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eric Appiah Ansu 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Theocharis Chari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market22 May 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout22 May 2028
Shadaï Lengi 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.
Market22 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MEAP Nisou, another week without a signature from Nil Muñoz.
Market22 May 2028
The clock does César Sousa’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee MEAP Nisou could ask drops and the wages César Sousa can ask rise.
Market22 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MEAP Nisou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.