Marked for Ignacio Serrano
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Feb 2041
David Schopper damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Squad25 Feb 2041
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Feb 2041
1‑3 to Racing Santander, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match23 Feb 2041
No clean sheets in sight for Mirandés
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad25 Feb 2041
Bartosz Tomaszewski 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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2041
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Feb 2041
Ander Madariaga damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Player ratings11 Feb 2041
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad11 Feb 2041
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Feb 2041
Pablo López among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Pablo López on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mirandés and Eibar.
Match9 Feb 2041
Pablo López scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Eibar, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad11 Feb 2041
Bartosz Tomaszewski 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 terraces11 Feb 2041
Everybody has an opinion about Igor Nikić
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Squad11 Feb 2041
The manager makes an example of Rommell Ibarra
“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.
Player ratings11 Feb 2041
Chances created: 6. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2041
Ander Madariaga damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Match12 Jan 2041
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Mirandés scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad14 Jan 2041
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mirandés may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jan 2041
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Jan 2041
It finished 2‑1, and it was Vladimir Soucek’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mirandés.
Squad14 Jan 2041
Bartosz Tomaszewski 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.
Player ratings14 Jan 2041
Vladimir Soucek was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Jan 2041
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Jan 2041
The clock does Ignacio Serrano’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Mirandés could ask drops and the wages Ignacio Serrano can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2040
Ander Madariaga damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Player ratings10 Dec 2040
Age has not caught Pablo López yet — 7.99
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 Dec 2040
Toni Tamarit 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.
Match8 Dec 2040
Three points for Mirandés, 1‑0 the final word against Oviedo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 Dec 2040
Words at Mirandés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartosz Tomaszewski 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.
Player ratings10 Dec 2040
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Dec 2040
The manager makes an example of Elias Khalil
“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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2040
Wages eat 110% of everything Mirandés 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.
Market10 Dec 2040
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Mirandés money.
In brief
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Boardroom
Mirandés keep producing them
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Player ratings
The pass was always on for Defo Conte
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Nov 2040
Ander Madariaga damages knee ligaments — 152 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 152 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.
Player ratings5 Nov 2040
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Nov 2040
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2040
Bartosz Tomaszewski 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.
Squad5 Nov 2040
The manager makes an example of Ander Madariaga
“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 Nov 2040
It needed Toni Tamarit to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Almería, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market5 Nov 2040
“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.
Market5 Nov 2040
The Elias Khalil talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirandés know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings5 Nov 2040
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Jul 2040
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mirandés
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad23 Jul 2040
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2040
Eduardo Santiago is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jul 2040
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mirandés may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Jul 2040
Toni Tamarit 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 Mirandés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Schopper commits to Mirandés for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2040
Bartosz Tomaszewski 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.
Market9 Jul 2040
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Mirandés money.