55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Omonia 29M lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Omonia 29M have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonia 29M can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Omonia 29M lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kelvin Lamptey-Mills will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Omonia 29M the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Igor Petrović 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chahid el Allachi 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 name of Daniel Ortiz has come up in conversations Omonia 29M were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Agia Napa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marios Laifis 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 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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Petrović 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. Ypsonas have kept their man, and Omonia 29M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Omonia 29M lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Omonia 29M, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Chalkanoras Idaliou for Riccardo Gnudi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kelvin Lamptey-Mills will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Omonia 29M the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mattia Sangalli 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chahid el Allachi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Daniel Ortiz has come up in conversations Omonia 29M were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Omonia 29M is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Omonia 29M have made the call to Karmiotissa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Omonia 29M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marios Laifis 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Igor Petrović 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.
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.
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Omonia 29M lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Omonia 29M have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Mattia Sangalli 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 Chahid el Allachi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Omonia 29M asked and Ypsonas 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 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.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Uriel Ramos is in the works
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Digenis Morfou moved on, Daniel Ortiz reports back to Omonia 29M, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Juan David Ramírez 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 Chahid el Allachi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 phone has started ringing about Kelvin Lamptey-Mills again, and this time the name on the line is APEA Akrotiri. Omonia 29M are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 20-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
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. Omonia 29M will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Omonia 29M they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Igor Petrović 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 Sergiou was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tymofii Nivinskyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Omonia 29M the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Marios Laifis 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.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Petrović 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Omonia 29M will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonia 29M, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ibrahim Abdullahi is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Digenis Morfou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonia 29M can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Omonia 29M have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Olympiakos Nicosia 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.
The offer went to Akritas Chlorakas this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Omonia 29M offered $54.0K; Apollon said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Petrović 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Spartakos Kitiou, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
A brace, and Raúl Sánchez takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Raúl Sánchez provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Omonia 29M people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonia 29M can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Omonia 29M they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Omonia 29M have gone to Apollon with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Mattia Sangalli 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and APEA Akrotiri waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonia 29M can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tymofii Nivinskyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Omonia 29M the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The name of Ibrahim Abdullahi has come up in conversations Omonia 29M were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Omonia 29M
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chahid el Allachi 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. Arda have kept their man, and Omonia 29M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A date was given and it came and went. Nobody upstairs will call it a broken promise, and nobody downstairs will call it anything else for a long time.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Omonia 29M people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Omonia 29M is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Omonia 29M have done the hard part with APOEL, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Omonia 29M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Petrović 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonia 29M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Spartakos Kitiou for Ibrahim Abdullahi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Omonia 29M they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Omonia 29M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chahid el Allachi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Omonia 29M have made the call to Universitatea Craiova. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henry Bates Andreou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Omonia 29M the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Omonia 29M, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Omonia 29M have done the hard part with APOEL, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Igor Petrović 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. Volos NPS have kept their man, and Omonia 29M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Omonia 29M have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Franco Ramos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Igor Petrović 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Ramos signs something — a contract at Omonia 29M or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stavros Vasilakos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Omonia 29M will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Omonia 29M. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Raúl Sánchez on the training pitch
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Daniel Ortiz
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Omonia 29M have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Franco Ramos 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 Igor Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Omonia 29M know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonia 29M, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Omonia 29M 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Omonia 29M would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Omonia 29M could ask drops and the wages Nikos Vafeas can ask rise.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Omonia 29M they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Omonia 29M, another week without a signature from Stavros Vasilakos.