Marked for Kyriakos Antoniou
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alper Ademoğlu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Faysel Kasmi
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Riyad Messaoudi 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 dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michalis Patiras trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kostas Pileas signs something — a contract at Achyronas-Onisilos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes Midana Sambú a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Achyronas-Onisilos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Achyronas-Onisilos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 May 2027
Maurício puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Achyronas-Onisilos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 May 2027
Hélio Cruz in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Achyronas-Onisilos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Home is on Maurício's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Achyronas-Onisilos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Achyronas-Onisilos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alper Ademoğlu 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Balázs Bese
“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.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Achyronas-Onisilos, another week without a signature from Hélio Cruz.
Market3 May 2027
The Midana Sambú story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Midana Sambú signs something — a contract at Achyronas-Onisilos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Achyronas-Onisilos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Achyronas-Onisilos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Maurício keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Achyronas-Onisilos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Hélio Cruz 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Angelos Argyriou 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luís Farinha, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Apr 2027
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad19 Apr 2027
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tekio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hélio Cruz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Tekio
“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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Digenis Morfou left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Antonis Merkis left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Achyronas-Onisilos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Vintage Joelson — 8.03
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tekio 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hélio Cruz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Agia Napa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Tekio left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tekio will call it something else in private.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The form table has caught Tekio
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Antonis Merkis, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Achyronas-Onisilos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Match3 Apr 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Achyronas-Onisilos can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Angelos Argyriou 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Match3 Apr 2027
MEAP Nisou left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Achyronas-Onisilos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Blás Ortigoza 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.