Marked for Sergio Borges
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Anger at Marco 09 spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Marco 09
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Marco 09 is running low.
Market23 Apr 2029
Igor Amaral hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Marco 09 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Marco 09
Jakub Zevl and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Théoglade Moukilou 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitalijs Stolcers, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Luis Maldonado 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 Luis Maldonado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
Romario Hernández damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 terraces24 Jul 2028
Marco 09 sell a favourite for $260.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Filipe Garcia was one of the reasons people came, and $260.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The deal with Oliveirense 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A move Boy Nijgh would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Boy Nijgh is living that version at Marco 09, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market24 Jul 2028
Filipe Garcia has left for Leiria in a $260.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets24 Jul 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Marco 09 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Porto 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
Romario Hernández damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Market29 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Edu Pinheiro
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edu Pinheiro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Marco 09 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Marco 09
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edu Pinheiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Marco 09
Kauê Lima 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Marco 09
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market29 May 2028
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Marco 09 no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Squad29 May 2028
The formation has left Emrullah Ertuş behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Marco 09 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout29 May 2028
“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.
Market29 May 2028
The shop window has Lucas Fogaça in it
Marco 09 have let the market know Lucas Fogaça can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Marco 09 has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Marco 09
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Marco 09 is running low.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Romario Hernández 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Charles 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Dean Beţa 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Micael Babo 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Marco 09 could get for him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad24 Apr 2028
João Cardoso is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Marco 09 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romario Hernández 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.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Marco 09 asked and Santa Clara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Marco 09
Charles 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
No hiding place for Charles
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charles, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Charles is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
João Cardoso has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and João Cardoso has written the date down.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Marco 09 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market21 Feb 2028
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Marco 09 could get for him.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Bruno Miguel 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.